Everything Josh Heupel Said While at the 2026 SEC Media Days on SEC Now

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2026 SEC Kickoff Media Days have begun in Tampa, Florida. Josh Heupel took the stage Monday afternoon and addressed questions from the media about the upcoming season. Here's what he said.

Everything Josh Heupel said at SEC Media Days While on the SEC Kickoff Podium

Opening Statement: Good afternoon. Hope everybody enjoyed their short summer vacation. I know everybody is looking forward to getting back to football in a couple weeks. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the UT family lost somebody that would be here covering this event, was extremely close to UT football in Wes Rucker. We lost him tragically this spring in a motor vehicle accident.

Just want his family know' that he continues to be in our thoughts. We miss him. Hope his family has continued to move forward. Obviously we're all here to support them in any way that we can.

Looking back at the last five years over this stretch in Tennessee football, it's been the winningest five-year stretch in over two decades on Rocky Top. There's been a lot of great things that we're extremely proud of. Last year we were one of the youngest football teams in college football and in this league.

We're disappointed in some of the results at the end of last year. Not up to the standard of Rocky Top. Made some changes that I'm excited about and that our players are excited about here as we've started in late January.

On the defensive side of the football, extremely excited about bringing Jim Knowles and some of his staff to Rocky Top. Through our conversations, we're able to have seamless communication, clear communication on expectations.

One of the things that he was looking for in a landing spot and some things that were inevitably going to be important in year one, you look at his track record of developing elite defenses everywhere that he's been, his ability to adapt to different personnel at the different stops, and structurally be a little bit different but put his personnel in a position to be elite. That's one of the things that was important to me.

Extremely excited about Jim and some of the staff. It was important to me having been a coordinator before going to a new university understanding you want to become as good as you can as fast as you can, some of the tools you need with that.

We hired a staff member that's been with him in the unit room, position rooms, on the grass with him on game day at every level of the defense. I think that's part of why they were able to look at their teaching patterns, continue to sync those things up, get it to our players as seamlessly and quickly as possible.

I can't be prouder of how our guys have grabbed onto it. Extremely excited about getting on the grass with those guys here as we start getting ready for kickoff in September.

Jim has a great track record of developing elite defenses. His mind on game day, being able to make subtle adjustments, really excited we have him leading that side of the football.

We also made a change on the sports performance side. Derek Owings, a few hours after winning the national title, came to Rocky Top the following day here in our offseason program. It's been a seamless transition. Our guys have grabbed onto it, bought into it. That's why they've seen the changes they've had in their speed, power, acceleration. Our guys have great trust in him.

Offensively we're coming off another year where we're top 10 in scoring, passing yards, offense. Did that with a quarterback that got to us in early June.

Schematically last year some of you guys may have recognized we were a little bit different, pro spacing, pro style in some of our concepts. Really excited about the growth. It's our job as coaches to put our guys in the best position to be successful. Really proud of what our staff has done and what we'll do this year.

But our identity always has been and always will be our run game. Five straight years we've rushed for over 2,000 yards offensively. First time that's been done since the late '80s, early '90s.

The three past seasons we have had three different thousand-yard rushers, the only team in the SEC to do that. You guys are going to have an opportunity to meet DeSean Bishop, who is a tremendous leader and player here today.

I know much is going to be made about our quarterback situation as we come in, starting our fifth different quarterback in five years. We've done that historically. At some point I'm going to have the opportunity to come back here with a returning starter at quarterback.

Seven out of the last nine years we've had a different starting quarterback, and seven out of the last nine years top 10 in the country in scoring. We're going to have a guy that's going to be ready to compete at an elite championship level.

Whenever you start a young quarterback, it's important the other guys around him play at an extremely high level. We have a lot of guys that will put those guys in a good position to go do their jobs. It's important you tie everything, special teams and defensively, as well.

Great thing is those two guys are going to have an opportunity to go earn it in front of their peers. We're going to let the quarterback competition play out here during the course of training camp. I think that guy, like everybody else, has to earn it in front of their peers.

It's an exciting time to be a Tennessee Vol. This month we launched a 10-year initiative with adidas to make us the flagship partner for them. They have been cutting edge in everything from creative branding and NIL and apparel. Our players have enjoyed that partnership since the beginning of July.

It's a great time to be a fan. We have the best fans inside of college sports. I think the fact that we have over 30,000 names on the season ticket waiting list is a great example of that. I can't wait to get to Neyland with the home schedule we have here, get an opportunity to go compete with them.

This fall is special, too. It marks the hundredth anniversary since General Neyland became the head coach of our program in 1926. A hundred years later, his maxims are still a cornerstone of our football program. We're excited about seeing our fans extremely soon.

Q: What has been the most impressive thing about TK Keys

A: He came in immediately with high level skills and high level traits, but I think the way he has gone about his work has garnered respect from his teammates. With his size, speed, his change of direction, acceleration, fundamental and technical traits that we're asking of that position, and his overall football understanding, and specifically inside of the scope of what we're doing offensively. But tremendous athlete, competes at a really high level, really excited that we get an opportunity to go compete and get better over the course of training camp.

Q:Your starter this year will be facing some experience concerns, whether it's a true freshman or a redshirt freshman. How confident are you that they'll be able to adapt to your high powered complex offense that you mentioned has finished top 10 numerous times in the last several years?

A: We played freshman quarterback in my history. Four or five of those guys started as freshman or redshirt freshman, and at the end of the day, the players got to go learn it, earn it, and they got to compete for it every single day. I do think it's really important that the guys around him function and play at a really high level to limit, you know, the negative opportunities or, you know, the adverse situations that a quarterback can be put in. They all learn how to take care of the football first and foremost, but you gotta play on a competitive edge and allow your playmakers to go make plays as well. And the beauty of the game with your quarterback is each one of them's a little bit different. They're the artists. You got to hand them the paintbrush and let them go paint.

Q: Is there any extra eagerness in your team's part to welcome Texas in the Neyland and face them?

A: You know, the first game of the conference season is important. You want to get off on the right foot, ton of respect for the University of Texas. And, you know, it's a unique game. Peyton, having played here, Arch, you know, currently playing there. So there's a lot of things, I think our fan base is really excited about playing an opponent we haven't played in a long time. And, you know, that's part of, you know, the expansion of the SEC footprint, having an opportunity to play these types of games.

Q: You brought in Jim Knowles this offseason. For whatever reason, historically, it takes about a year or two for players to catch on to his coaching and style. How's that gone so far since he's taken over?

A: Yeah, you look back. He's made some jumps in year one. Maybe not to where he ended, you know, where he's number one, number two, number three in a country in scoring defense, third down defense, whatever, it might be, but he's taking some positive jumps. Having been a coordinator and my conversations with him, some of the things that, you know, he faced, where he was able to take one off the field guy, but that was it, where you're coaching all of your coaches up in the scheme. Also having to get them to buy into the scheme and some of the differences from what they maybe had done previously. Those are our major hurdles that you encounter when you're a new coordinator at a new university. I think, you know, Jim's ability to continue to adapt to personnel is really important to me in hiring because we have really good personnel and have brought good personnel in. I think the fact that we brought in coaches at every level of the defense, that have their true understanding of what he's doing defensively, can get it to the players, player, concisely, and right as we jumped off. I think that's why we started screamball in a good way, but also why we finished it in a really positive manner and continued growth here throughout the course of the summer. So I think all of those things lend itself to us transitioning extremely quickly and if you talk to our players, they feel like the teaching patterns of what they're doing. They've been able to grab onto extremely quickly.

Q: What do you think about going up against Ryan Silverfield at Arkansas this season?

A: Yeah, Ryan has done a really good job when he was at Memphis, when I was at UCF, I had familiarity with him, and then, you know, his track record, since I've left there, you know, he's got familiarity in a footprint, you know, smart organized, and this guy has guys to play at a really high level

Q: How has Braylen Staley developed in the offseason?

A: Yeah, a year ago, there were a lot of questions about our wide receiver core for inexperience coming back. You know, you look at what Braylen did and Mike did, and Chris went on to the NFL, but I think we had three out of the top five receivers in yards inside of the league. Braylen continued to take his game to another level, hyperfocused on how he wants to compete every day, how he takes care of his body, growing in understanding of offensive football, but defensive coverages, he's a guy that has the ability to play in the slot on the outside. I think that versatility in our wide receiver room, both him and Mike, and some of the young guys that we have afford us the luxury of doing some unique things within the scope of what we do offensively.

Q: Can you explain what you're looking for in this quarterback competition? What one guy needs to do to separate over the other?

A: Yeah, I don't think there is just one thing at the quarterback position. That guy's got his hands on football every single play. So you got to learn how to take care, manage the game, learn how not to get you beat, catastrophic plays can make the difference in this league when you play so many one possession games. It comes down to taking care of the football at times. But they also have to play on a competitive edge. They got to be able to distribute the football and get it to your playmakers, get it to them on time, and get it to them accurately where they got a chance to make the play afterwards. But you gotta have complete control and command of what we're doing offensively. You gotta understand protections, you gotta be able to check and adjust, you know, run game, loaded box checks. Those guys are making the decision on every play. So at the end of the day, the guy that will be the guy is the guy that's gonna have complete control of what we're doing and put us in the best position to win football games and score points.

Q: This is the first time since 1988. Where you haven't played Florida? And I believe you don't play Georgia either. I know they want to rotate the schedule more, but are you concerned about losing rivalries like that on an annual basis?

A: Yeah, I think rivalry games absolutely matter. I think one of the unique things that Tennessee is a different era of our fan base kind of points to a different game, could be the Florida game, Alabama game, some other teams as well. I think the passion, the tradition of some of the games are what make college football unique. But I do also like that, you know, as a program and for your fan base, you're gonna have the opportunity, you know, every four years to go to every stadium inside of the SEC footprint.

Q: We hear a lot of things about fan bases and whatnot, but five years in Knoxville. How do you feel like you've been accepted, and how you fit in, and just overall, how's the Josh Heupel era going for you?

A: Yeah, absolutely. Love Rocky, Rocky Top. Our administration, the university, athletic department. We got great leadership on campus, but the city of Knoxville, the state of Tennessee, Vol nation, the fan base. It's as passionate as anywhere inside of college sports. And you look at where we started as a program to where we've gotten to. I mentioned last year, we had disappointed in some of the results, lost to some good football teams that were either in the playoff or were in the playoff hunt. That's the fun thing about playing in this league is you're going to play great opponents every single week. The city of Knoxville, the fan base, you know, being at, at UT, it's extremely special, and, gained a great appreciation for where we sit in the country, how close it is, you get in your car within five hours, the different places that you can be, the beauty, the outdoor life, but it's still, uh, a great college city. You know, it's a really special place that my wife and our family have loved to call home.

Q: What's the pressure been like after losing to Vanderbilt?

A: You don't ever want to lose Vandy. It's one of our rivals. So, you know, you look at that football game, the play right before half where we get hit with a penalty, gives them an extra play they score seven to tie it up, and, a couple possessions later, a few key plays and you're chasing from behind. So, really good football team last year, disappointed in that result, disappointed in really how we played in that second half. But looking forward to traveling to Nashville later in the season and getting an opportunity playing them again.

Q: Talk about the connection, the relationship that you guys are building up this time around with Adidas. And if we might see some different uniform uniforms in the future.

A: Yeah, the partnerships have been fantastic. The way that they've communicated, worked with our administration, but us on the football side of it, our players have truly enjoyed the transition. You know, that's the equipment, what they've done, and, NIL with our current players, being a resource, letting our players test things out. It's been a great partnership up until this and everybody on Rocky Top is really excited about the transition. They got the color right, and our fan base was paying attention to that. But it's been a seamless transition.

Q: Coach, going back to Vanderbilt, uh, them being competitive in the SEC, how does that change the dynamic of things in the league?

A: I think there's ebbs and flows inside of this league. It's highly competitive. They had a really good football team, really mature football team, really good quarterback, and you put all those things together. That's why they were able to win a lot of ball games last year.

Q: Following up on the question about playing Arkansas 3rd straight year. I think the 2 games are separated by 2 or 3 points. What do you recall about the nature of playing them in the game there two years ago in Fayetteville?

A: Yeah, you know, disappointing result two years ago, some things that we didn't handle with structural changes from them defensively. You know, at the beginning of that football game. Ultimately, we're on the wrong side of it, some key plays down the stretch that we did maximize, take advantage of. But, you know, that was a night game inside of this league, a great environment, tough place to play.

Q: With the way they've now changed the rule for the five-year window, how does that affect the way you and your personnel staff recruit, the high school and junior college athlete, and what it changed the way you build your roster?

A: I think every year, with some of the changes that happen inside of college football, you got to be willing to adapt with the rollout of the 5 for 5 is here kind of becomes a transition year on your roster, where you're looking at some of those guys that, you know, play as true freshmen or in year four. What's their long-term projection after the season as far as the NFL, the right time for them to leave or not? Potentially getting some of those guys back. So it's a difficult year. There's a lot to manage inside of the scope of your roster this year, because there's a lot of unknowns with rules that were just recently introduced.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/tennessee as Everything Josh Heupel Said While at the 2026 SEC Media Days on SEC Now.

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