Tennessee’s offense was good last season. It should be even better this fall. That would be quite the feat.
The Vols had the No. 3 offense in the SEC last season despite being tasked with learning an entirely new scheme under first-year Tennessee coach Josh Heupel. Now, there is more familiarity amongst UT’s offensive players. That means that Tennessee can, indeed, surpass the bar that Heupel set last season.
The Vols have four starting offensive linemen remaining. That should help. Unlike last season, the Vols know who their starting quarterback is going to be; Hendon Hooker has that role. They also know who some of their key playmakers will be, which includes receiver Cedric Tillman.
The bond between Hooker and Tillman has been strong on the field. Heupel said that has been evident during preseason camp.
“Though the course of training camp, we’ve been able to push the ball down the field and win more of those one-on-one situations,” Heupel said when asked about Hooker and Tillman. “The consistency of throw-and-catch between those two has continued to get better. I feel like they’re both playing at a really high level right now.”
Hooker’s game has improved vastly over the course of the past season. He wasn’t even named the starter last season. Now, he’s a preseason All-SEC quarterback. That’s a lot of improvement. What’s next?
“He’s doing a much better job than early last year of keeping his eyes down the football field,” Heupel said. “You guys have probably seen it out at practice. We’ve put a huge emphasis on when he breaks the pocket. It’s a pass play, not a run play.”
Depth check
Heupel didn’t flinch when asked about his team and its depth this season compared to last year.
“Just in pure numbers, athletic movements, skill sets, (we’re) much deeper, in particular on the defensive side of the football,” Heupel said. “It’s evident in some of the skill spots offensively too…I feel like we are a much deeper football team than we were a year ago.”
Heupel said he expects more players to be involved in the rotation on defense. Offensively, Tennessee has more depth, especially with younger players. At receiver, the Vols’ underclassmen have been focused on breaking through press coverage, which Tennessee is likely to see much more of this season than in 2021.
“Our guys have grown a bunch in understanding different techniques that they’re going to see on the other side of the line of scrimmage,” Heupel said.
Practice report
When asked about practice midway through preseason camp, Heupel said, “Our practice habits are a lot better than they were a year ago. We’ve been able to play and practice cleaner. We’ve got to do that here in the next couple of weeks to make sure we’ve got everybody healthy when we kickoff on Thursday night.”
