What Josh Heupel Said About the Tennessee Offensive Line Ahead of Contest vs. Auburn

The Tennessee Vols had a disappointing offensive outing this past week when they faced the Texas Longhorns. Despite only falling by 3 points, the offense left little for fans to get excited about for most of the game. This was due to many factors, but one of them was certainly the blocking by the offensive line and others.

Faizon Brandon is a true freshman quarterback facing off against probably the best defense in the country and also arguably the best pass rusher in the country, Colin Simmons. Though Faizon made mistakes and did not play his best game, he really was not set up for success by his protection.

Similarly, the run game was stifled due to poor blocking and the lack of holes created for the ball carriers to exploit. This was a major flaw that ruined the whole offense. If Tennessee wants to compete at a higher level, they need to block better, and Josh Heupel has addressed the situation.

Josh Heupel on Needing Growth From the Offensive Line

Sep 12, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Faizon Brandon (11) and offensive lineman David Sanders Jr. (70) celebrate after a victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“First of all, that position group, we all understand, needs to play at a higher level consistently for 60 minutes to give us a better chance to move the football. Some of that’s in the run game, certainly in protection as well. All the protection problems, it’s not just five guys; it’s everybody involved in it. It’s tight ends, it’s backs, it’s quarterback, it’s wide receivers doing their job too. But certainly we’ve got to get better. There were times in the run game we’ve got to create a little bit more movement. There’s times where we created movement, get to a little bit of space, unblocked hat makes a tackle, they tackled well. So, it’s all those pieces working together,” Heupel said.

The good news for the Vols is that there is still plenty of time left in the season to correct this issue. Tennessee does have a challenging schedule, though, so fixing this problem sooner rather than later is needed for the Vols to elevate their play to being a College Football Playoff team.

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