NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It was Tennessee's turn to take the stage at SEC Media Days in Nashville on Thursday afternoon.
A hot topic leading up to the event was the results of the NCAA investigation into the recruiting violations from former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt. Current head coach Josh Heupel addressed the findings of that investigation, and his relief to know that the Vols would not receive a postseason ban.
"I felt great that we were going to land where the administration thought we were going to land," Heupel said. "I find out the night before that it's coming out, and you don't know what you don't know. When we got the file in the morning, it was such a relief for our players."
Heupel noted that it would have been easy to self-impose a bowl ban in his first year as Tennessee's head coach since the team was already in turmoil after losing 35 scholarship players, but the coach did not think that would be fair to the players who decided to stick it out through the coaching change.
"The guys that were around were the guys that cared about the Power T, they cared about their teammates," Heupel said. "I felt like it was extremely important that we tried to navigate that space the right way and allow those guys to compete."
Even though Tennessee will not be dealing with a bowl ban moving forward, Heupel stressed that it has been a difficult task to deal with the obstacles they have had over the past two seasons.
"I don't recommend anybody go through this," Heupel said. "The deficit at which we took the field was real. I think when the penalty came out, a lot of people just looked forward. Boy, you better go back and look backward at the things we self-imposed."
Heupel added that the looming investigation was very likely used against Tennessee on the recruiting trail, and now that it is in the rearview, the program has raised its ceiling on what it can be capable of.
"As much of a climb as we have had in the first 24 months, the trajectory of where we were and where we can go, I don't know if there's ever been a better time to be a Vol," he said.
Tennessee will begin the 2023 season at Nissan Stadium in Nashville when the Vols take on Virginia on Saturday, Sept. 2.