Josh Heupel Speaks to the Media Following Team Scrimmage

Tennessee football head coach Josh Heupel spoke with the media following the first fall scrimmage.

The scrimmgae was held inside Neyland Stadium. Although the seats may have been empty and nose may not have been quite as loud, you want to make it as close to the real thing as you can for proper preparation.

"Great to be out here, inside the stadium for a scrimmage. Uh, you know, as close to a gameday environment as we're going to get before, we kick-off here in a few weeks," Heupel opened with reporters.

"A lot of good, a lot of things to learn from, too. Got situational football in, which is good for everybody, in particular, quarterbacks. Excited to go watch the tape," Heupel said.

It is no secret that the Vols have a battle for the starting quarterback position and today was very important to get those guys back into the stadium to mimic the feel as much as possible. A reporter quickly asked about the benefit of the quarterbacks being in that setting.

"Yeah, it's close to gameday. We try to make practice like gameday. When we get into our team periods, you know, how we function, operate, you know, make it gameday like, officials, that type of thing. This is as close as you're going to get," Heupel said.

Josh Heupel would confirm that for the most part, the team handled everything fairly well.

"Yeah, overall, there's a few things that we can clean up at quarterback, but really on both sides of the football, some subtle details, which at this point in training camp you're constantly growing and pushing to go master the details of the game and that just doesn't end during training camp. Good teams continue to get better throughout the course of the season," Heupel explained.

The Vols have dealt with the yearly injury bug as fall camp began, but that has not stopped Tennessee from progressing, as it is a part of the game. A part that has to be prepared for at all times.

"Your practice habits matter. Keeping guys healthy, some of it you can't control. Guys have continued to push and take advantage of their opportunities. During the course of the season, gameday from week to week there is a flow, and next guy has got to be ready to go."

Back to the quarterback situation as that is the hottest topic for most Tennessee fans. Coach Heupel did not allude to their being a leader in the race, as a matter of fact, Heupel deepened the competition but not ruling out freshman George MacIntyre.

"I'm not naming a start today. All three of those guys have shown some really good characteristics of doing some special things with the ball, also managing the game," Heupel explained at the top of the presser.

The Vols head coach did make it known that there are currently no plans to alter rep counts or anything as of now, in terms of the quarterbacks. Joey Aguilar, Jake Merklinger, and George MacIntyre are all going to have a shot to win the job.

Heupel would speak about the growth of the freshman when asked if he would have a legit shot.

"George, you know we challenged him post spring ball in some of the areas that he had to grow, some of that physical, some of that fundamental and technique. You've seen a lot of that growth from him and you've seen his level of play be dramatically different than where we finished spring ball... I really like what George has done so far."

Josh Heupel Speaks to the Media Following Team Scrimmage

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