Josh Heupel Has Seen 'Phenomenal' Buy-In from His Team

Josh Heupel introduced his newly minted defensive staff earlier today, speaking highly of each individual piece and what they bring to Tennessee's program. After brief introductions of each, Heupel took questions from the media for a few minutes, with one answer really standing out from the rest.

Heupel was posed with a question about what he has seen from the team regarding "buy-in." His answer sounds promising for Tennessee's future, especially given the adversity these players who have remained at Tennessee have endured.

"At the end of the day, it is always about the players you have," Heupel said. "I don't care if that is players that transition out of your program or who you don't get in recruiting; it is always about who is here."

"The level of buy-in has been phenomenal from our players," Heupel continued. "The accountability factor, those guys wanted it, they have bought into it, they are trusting the process of getting ourselves ready to go compete in spring ball. We call this the first quarter of our off-season with the strength and conditioning side of it. (We) are starting to get some installs as far as what we are doing in all three phases of the game as well, but the guys have been great. Great energy, great buy-in, excited about what we are doing. Great chemistry in the locker room, I think as well. Those are all things we are going to have to continue to develop here as we move through this off-season process."

Since arriving in Knoxville, Heupel has implemented various team-building activities, including playing dodgeball with his players, bringing in soldiers to teach accountability, and hosting a Super Bowl watch party in Neyland Stadium.

Heupel was not the only coach to discuss the desire to learn and get better, as new inside linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary has liked what he has seen from his linebacker group.

Obviously, those two (Henry To'o To'o and Quavaris Crouch) are great players, and we'll see what happens with them obviously in the future, but right now, I'm focusing on the guys that are with us, and like I said, they've been great," Jean-mary said. "They've been great and have been sponges soaking up everything that we're doing, and I've been very, very happy with the guys that are here going through the weightlifting and the conditioning every day as part of the volunteer program."

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