Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel isn’t shying away from just how good freshman defensive back Boo Carter can be for the Vols. That says a lot about Carter. It also says a lot about Heupel and Tennessee football as they charge into the season lacking experience in an entire position group.
We’ll talk about the Vols entire secondary in just a moment. Let’s get back to Boo.
A coach can’t preach competition then not award as much just because a player may have been born after another. Age alone is no reason to keep a player on the bench, even though it surely has slowed many players’ growth along the way thanks to some archaic coaching. If there’s one thing that Heupel is certainly not, it’s archaic.
“Boo has played really well,” Heupel said following the Vols’ first scrimmage of preseason camp on Friday night. “I thought the last couple of days, even leading into the scrimmage, have been his best days within the scope of what we do defensively. Playing within the framework of that and making plays at the same time. He is a young guy that needs to and will continue to get better every day, but he is a dynamic playmaker.”
An old-school coach wouldn’t have been that accepting – at least publicly – of a true freshman this early in preseason camp. There’s an age requirement – or at least an experience requirement – to play college football at a place like Tennessee and actually garner praise before even doing so, right? Well, apparently not. The Vols will play at least five new, mostly young, Vols in the secondary early this season. Tennessee’s dime package of six defensive backs will most likely consist of at least four first-year Vols.
Perhaps Heupel’s hand has been forced a bit with Carter since junior Jourdan Thomas suffered a season-ending knee injury last week. That left a gaping void at the nickel-back position. However, I’ve seen conservative coaches steer away from freshmen, especially in a position in which one mistake can equal a touchdown, like defensive back. No matter. Heupel would rather roll the dice with a freshman, it seems, at least with Carter. However, that’s not the limit to Heupel’s willingness to take risks. He’s practically like Tom Cruise manning his own stunts.
There’s no slowing Heupel’s tenaciousness when it comes to completely overhauling an aspect of his team that he has deemed not up to snuff. That’s what the Vols did this offseason with their secondary, as they allowed some transfers to hit the door while it was time for other seniors to move on. In all, Tennessee lost six contributing defensive backs from last year’s team. One would never guess as much from listening to Heupel talk.
“For one, they’ve been great for the seven days before we got to the scrimmage tonight,” he said. “They’re competing extremely hard and taking coaching. They’ve made plays. They’ve learned from mistakes. Their athleticism tonight, played some really tight coverage down the field. Just within the game, the subtle details that allow you to play at a really high level. In particular, our corners tonight, I thought they did a really, really good job.”
I know you began reading this column thinking about Carter and the Vols revamped secondary. The headline suggested as much. However, have you considered what the Vols’ lineup will mean for recruiting? Sure, players want NIL money, but they still want to play early if possible.
While that will depend on the depth chart in play at the time, there is no questioning that Heupel won’t hesitate to play a younger, inexperienced player if he’s good enough. Heupel has as many underclassmen on the field as a fraternity rush event has on campus. That should be a good selling point.
Yes, the Vols’ preponderance of youth should help Tennessee recruit more youth. However, it’s worth noting that young players can make mistakes so the Vols should try to win too. That always helps recruiting.
