If you were just casually listening, you may have missed it. Heck, you could have been listening to every word thoroughly and still may have missed it. Tennessee Football head coach Josh Heupel, the master of saying a lot without saying anything, made a subtle statement about the Vols’ defensive backs at SEC Media Days.
In the process, Heupel indirectly revealed how high he is on that unit.
Responding to a question about the amount of turnover in UT’s secondary, Heupel started with his cliche quotes. He said he loves the group, touted their length and athleticism and talked about expecting championships out of them. Then he gave the key quote.
“I mentioned a little bit earlier, but this is the deepest that we’ve been within our roster, and that affords you to have the opportunity to have great competition every single day,” he said.
Now, why would he make that comment immediately after a question about the secondary? He could have said it at any point when discussing personnel anywhere else or just the general state of Tennessee Football heading into 2024, but he did it right after talk surrounding the defensive backs.
That’s because he truly believes he’s got this unit up to snuff.
Nobody will doubt that UT’s achilles heel has been in the secondary ever since Heupel took over. Jeremy Pruitt’s firing resulted in more departures at that position than anywhere else. It’s been a long road to try to get that unit just somewhat competent.
This past offseason, though, Tennessee Football sent a wave of defensive backs into the transfer portal while losing key players to graduation in Jaylen McCollough and Kamal Hadden. The end result is they don’t return one player who started in the secondary at the beginning of last year.
Instead, they added three key transfers in veteran Jakobe Thomas from the MTSU Blue Raiders, Freshman All-American Jermod McCoy from the Oregon State Beavers and veteran Jalen McMurray from the Temple Owls. Thomas is expected to start at one safety spot, McCoy at cornerback and McMurray in the nickel rotation.
Meanwhile, Heupel, Tim Banks and Boo Carter picked up a start in their 2024 recruiting class in Boo Carter, a guy they expect to step in at safety immediately and compete for Freshman All-American honors. He’s the splash player of this group and may be the best freshman.
Finally, there are returning players who should be much better. Andre Turrentine provides depth and experience. Jourdan Thomas, Jordan Matthews and Christian Harrison provide depth. Rickey Gibson III, meanwhile, showed promise down the stretch last year and should break out this year.
Simply put, a closer look at the unit beyond the surface shows a team that, despite losing a ton of talent, could be significantly better in the secondary. Heupel implied that at SEC Media Days, and Tennessee Football fans should be thrilled about that going forward.
