DALLAS — Tennessee football head coach Josh Heupel took the stage on Tuesday morning at SEC Media Day in Dallas.
Tennessee Athletics is on the rise after several Vol and Lady Vol teams achieved great success last year, especially just a few weeks ago when Vol baseball brought home its first national championship in program history.
Heupel was in Omaha for the victory and talked about the team's success in his opening statement at SEC Media Day.
"Got a chance to go to Omaha. What an unbelievable experience to watch the game with coach Barnes, Danny, our athletic director," Heupel said. "Really proud of what they did and bringing home a national championship to Rocky Top."
Heupel also mentioned the growth of Tennessee athletics as a whole and the wave of success they've had this past year.
"You look at the success that our brand, our logo has had recently with baseball, and basketball over the course of the winter, and you look at all the team sports across the board... I think it really speaks to the trajectory of our university, our athletic department, and where it's going... the brand is stronger than it's ever been," he said.
A popular topic heading into the 2024-2025 season is Nico Iamaleava taking over the starting quarterback role. Heupel discussed his growth in the off-season and his early success in last season's Citrus Bowl matchup against Iowa.
"The thing that I've loved about Nico is when he came into the building, he wanted to earn the respect of his teammates, and you do that through your actions, not your words," Heupel said. "Everybody understands how hard he works to become the best that he can at his craft. During the course of the bowl game, it slowed down for him. Now, there's a lot of things that he learned from that game. He's had a great urgency in his preparation all off-season."
Dylan Sampson will also be the team's go-to guy in the running back room, Heupel talked about the important role he'll play this year.
"He will have increased opportunities," he said. "He's done a great job with the ball in his hands and out of his hands. He's become a really good pass protector... Just a dynamic personality that isn't afraid to call on his teammates and make sure that they're meeting the standards. He's going to have a great year for us."
Heupel also has high expectations for the secondary despite the number of former guys who entered the portal last season. Jermond McCoy is a defensive back who transferred from Oregon State. Heupel expects him and the other guys to adjust quickly and be ready for the season.
"Expecting those guys to play at a championship level," Heupel said. "I love the group as far as their length, athleticism, play-making ability, their willingness to be physical, take on destruct blocks, tackle in open space, their care factor, their knowledge and understanding of what we're doing, how they approach their practice every single day. I'm really excited about it."
Heupel has preached all off-season that young guys are held to the same standard as the veterans. In the SEC, he expects every one of his players to lock in no matter the opponent. Heupel said the young guys would need to be consistently urgent in the field this season.
"It's a unique roster in that we're really experienced at certain spots, in particular on the line of scrimmage, and we have some youth that surrounds them. The challenge has been that our young guys can't be young when we get to the fall," he said.
With the season starting in about a month and a half, Tennessee football is set to compete in front of a sold-out Neyland Stadium.
"It's hard to believe that training camp is right around the corner in less than two weeks," Heupel said. "We're ready to go compete. We got great renovations that are going on inside of Neyland Stadium, one of the great venues in all of sports, let alone college football. Our fanbase is extremely passionate, season ticket waiting list of over 15,000 people, and we'll be ready to go kick off here in a little over a month."
The Vols kick off the 2024-2025 season against Chattanooga on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 12:45 p.m. inside Neyland Stadium.
