Josh Heupel has introduced himself as a more down-to-earth version of Tennessee head football coach. He’s less haughty and more secure than his immediate predecessors.
He hasn’t distinguished himself so far with any personal attributes. He’s apparently leaving that to his offense.
Under Heupel’s three-year watch, Central Florida ranked in the top 10 in points per game among FBS schools.
The Knights scored at least 42.2 points per game on average. Furthermore, UCF was top five in total offense during those years and was the only team to average at least 522.7 yards per game.
Before UCF, Heupel was offensive coordinator at Missouri. In his first season, the Tigers went from 124th nationally in total offense to 13th, averaging 500.5 yards per game.
The former quarterback at Oklahoma, who was a Heisman Trophy runner-up, coached QBs at his alma mater. Under his tutelage, Jason White and Sam Bradford received the Heisman.
Heupel’s resume is very outspoken on his behalf. The game video of his offenses is not down-to-earth. Vols receiver Velus Jones Jr., got an eyeful during the offseason.
“It’s just like a dream come true playing in this offense,” he said, “especially speaking for my receiver corps and also my tight ends. Like we’re really excited about this offense.”
Jones saw a lot of action in one summer. Rarely did six seconds elapse before another play was run. As a result, defenses got frazzled and made coverage mistakes. Jones was watching the stuff of which dreams are made.
Offensive coordinator Alex Golesh favors one word in describing Tennessee’s intentions: attack.
“What attack means, and it can be quantified, but what attack means is playing harder than your opponent,” he said. “And within that is the tempo, within that is how we play. But in terms of the actual plays in what we do, the kids understand the identity. We’re going to line up really fast. We’re going to play really fast. We’re going to communicate extremely well.”
The offense will rely on a lot of coordination, especially at the quarterback position. The Vols haven’t chosen a starter yet. The attack will need player depth. UT’s supply is questionable at present. The Vols also will have to control the line of scrimmage and that’s hardly a given.
There’s plenty of reasons why this dream could become a nightmare. As Golesh noted last week, the Vols hadn’t yet faced any real adversity. He also noted, “The identity of your offense is something you’re fighting for every day.”
For now, keep the following in mind regarding UT’s offense:
-The tight end position will be resurrected from obscurity. Golesh wants to have four to five available for duty.
“I think the reality is we’ll have three to four and we’re hoping for four,” Golesh said. “And if that number’s two, then it’s two. Then we have to continue to develop in the receiver room to kind of overcome that.”
The offense won’t be all about passing. At UCF, the Knights set a program single-season record in 2018 with 3,448 yards rushing and averaged 265.2 yards per game, which ranked eighth nationally.
“It really starts with the run game,” Heupel said.
In other matters:
-Redshirt senior offensive lineman K’Rojhn Calbert was sidelined for Monday’s practice and offensive line coach Glen Elarbee deferred to Heupel for comment. Heupel did not speak to the media on Monday. Calbert has played in 32 games and has five starts during his career.
-Offensive lineman Dayne Davis said practices tended to be “agonizing” last season, compared to this season, when it feels like “there are no Mondays.”
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who covered University of Tennessee athletics from 1988-2019. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.