When Nico Iamaleava took over as starter for Tennessee Football, the belief was that he would take the Vols to new heights, cashing in on the program Josh Heupel spent three years building. What we didn’t know was that at the same time, the Vols would reach those heights with elite defensive play.
That’s exactly what they did on Saturday against the N.C. State Wolfpack, winning 51-10 and holding them to under 140 yards of total offense. However, this didn’t start with N.C. State. UT hasn’t allowed a defensive touchdown in three straight games, and two of those were against ranked, Power Five teams.
We all thought Tennessee Football under Heupel would build a defense meant to complement Heupel’s elite offense, not win the games themselves, but that’s what they have been doing. When discussing that side of the ball after the game, Heupel said that was the standard.
Did we misread Heupel’s plan? Has he just been using explosive offenses as a vessel to build a complete program? The idea was that creativity would be needed to rebuild the Vols, as they couldn’t get the top talent, but NIL may have changed that. It’s clear UT can compete with anybody on that front.
Ever since taking over as a head coach, Heupel has been getting by with explosive offenses. However, he was at a Group of Five program in the UCF Knights for three years and then at a rebuilding UT program for the previous three years before this year.
All the while, Heupel never really had the chance to build a team with enough elite talent to dominate defensively. We don’t know for sure if that wasn’t his plan, though. It could be just that he needed a splash, and that’s where the offense came in.
Two years ago, with Hendon Hooker, the secondary was still atrocious, the Vols had two linebackers who weren’t equipped for pass coverage, and they couldn’t go three-deep on the defensive line. Everything was about complementing what the offense can do.
Now, Tennessee Football is extremely deep with NFL-caliber edge rushers. The Vols have two NFL-caliber linebackers, one of whom could be a superstar. They have rebuilt their secondary with lockdown transfer cornerbacks like Jermod McCoy.
Most notably, though, is the experience of the interior defensive line. This is where Heupel and the Vols relied most on NIL, and it allowed them to land Jaxson Moi while keeping Omari Thomas, Bryson Eason, Omarr Norman-Lott and Dominic Bailey.
Simply put, Heupel has had a different strategy at all the different levels of the defense, but the result is the same. He has built an elite defense that is equipped for the SEC. Even if the secondary is the weakest link, does it matter when the front seven is so elite?
This is also showing another side of defensive coordinator Tim Banks. In 2022, Banks was just trying to make sure the defense didn’t mess things up too much while letting the offense win. Now, he is much more aggressive and attacking and uses that unit to make plays.
So where did this Heupel come from?
Well, we haven’t looked at his entire backstory. Remember, Heupel was significantly less productive his second year starting at quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners than his first. However, that’s the year he won the national title. Why? His defense took a huge leap forward, so his role changed.
Then he was fired as OU’s offensive coordinator because Bob Stoops wanted to scapegoat him for the defense being an issue back in 2014. He rebuilt his career two years later as the offensive coordinator for the Missouri Tigers under Barry Odom, a defensive guy, which got him his first head coaching job.
Every step of the way, Heupel saw the value in defense despite his elite offense. We saw the first glimpse of that last year against the Texas A&M Aggies. With Joe Milton III struggling, Heupel had to rely on his defense and special teams to grind out a 20-13 win, and he was superb in his play-calling to do that.
Taking all of this into account, while we already knew Heupel’s offense wasn’t finesse, we can safely say his program isn’t finesse at all. We don’t know what’s in store for the rest of the season, but it looks like Heupel always wanted to make Tennessee Football dominant defensively. He’s done just that.
