Tennessee is one day away from its season finale at the Music City Bowl against Purdue. The Vols are going to publish their eight-game winning season in the five-year afterlife. The Boilermakers will close out a season forged with their ninth win.
On Wednesday morning, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm, along with coordinators from both schools, met with the media to discuss the game.
Here’s everything Heupel, Alex Golesh and Tim Banks are about Purdue and the season finale.
Josh Heupel
First statement
“I must thank each and every one here at the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. The hospitality was definitely fantastic. Our players and staff had a wonderful week here before the start. (We are) very grateful for the hospitality of the bowl, in fact, first elegance in each and every one of the senses. I am glad to have the opportunity to finish our season here within our home country. (We are looking in advance) for a wonderful football match. Purdue is a wonderful football team. mañana, a wonderful competitive arena, looking for a sold-out stadium and lots of laughs here when we finish the season. But, I just wanted to thank each and every one of those involved in the bowl again. .
Question: Is it vital for players to win a bowling game?
Heupel: “I think if you are a big competitor, and those are characteristics that we review to build, recruit and have internal construction every day in what we do, those issues. Issues in your performance. It is issues for you, separately and as a team, so it is definitely a game that our players have pushed for, and it has many themes on our schedule. A bowl game is exclusive because it is vital that you enjoy being at home in your preparation (and) when you get to the Bowl site before this week, but the carrot of the whole week and the best part of the fun is the game itself.
Q: How grateful are you that the Tennessee administration didn’t ban you from bowling?
Heupel: “I appreciate this (decision) from our administration. They will give our players all the equipment and resources, but also only them in their project and will make sure that we have a wonderful player on each and every side. of our program. I said when I accepted the job, all those things that happened before I was given there, I really felt like they were going to be an obstacle. It has been shown that he really plays. The young interns of our program have embraced culture, joined the festival each and every day, and that’s why we’re here and we have this opportunity to play this ball game internally.
Q: What made your offense so effective?
Heupel: “At the end of the day, it’s an exciting football brand. I think young players, young players, game creators (with) wonderful skills, should be a component of it. Ultimately, offensively, you’re going to Ubique tactics to put your kids in a position to succeed. Our speed is a component of how we strive to put pressure on the defense and dictate how the football game goes. »
Q: What is it about Cade Mays entering tomorrow’s game?
Heupel: “Cade would possibly not play in this football match. He won’t be able to play. “
Q: The SEC hasn’t won a bowling game yet. Do you show any of those examples to your team?
Heupel: “It doesn’t matter what league you play in, I think your preparation determines how you play on match day. From the moment we started preparing for the bowl, you’ve heard me say that when it’s not football time, you have to enjoy the two or 3 weeks of preparation for the bowling game. Enjoy the opportunity to have camaraderie and create memorable moments. But when it comes time to be in the building, I don’t care if it’s lifting, if it’s football, if it’s meetings or guided tours, you want to focus on that. This organization is smart in its preparation when it comes to concentrating on football. Now the last 48 hours will be huge for us here too as we finish today and prepare for tomorrow.
Q: What made your team perform so well in the first quarter?
Heupel: “Doing things at a very high level. That is a very undeniable explanation. Young people perceive what we are going to do. They played smart football at the start of the football match. In all 3 stages of the game, they were able to line up and execute.
Tim Banks
First statement
“We are grateful to be here. We thank them for coming and are excited to be here to form the SEC in Nashville. The Bowl was great, those guys took care of us and we’re excited for a great game tomorrow.
Q: What were you informed that you should appreciate about Alex Golesh?
Banks: “You know, I’ve known coach Golesh for many years. I have a reputation for him, his way of painting, his pictorial ethic, and it’s nothing like it, the way I think it would be. he manages the children, how vital they are to him, not only on the court but also off the court. As I told you, the most of you I have noticed before. For me, life is incredibly short. You need to paint with guys your love and trust, and he’s definitely one of those guys. A phenomenal football coach but in fact he is still a wonderful man. It’s been an honor to see him paint and release this attack, and I’ve been waiting so long, and it’s been wonderful so far.
Q: How did Brandon Turnage and Kamal Hadden progress when Alontae Taylor entered the game?
Banks: “Kamal had clever bowling practices. Work hard. Honestly, each and every transfer, and for all the guys, it’s a new system. For Kamal, who hadn’t had a big task coming from college, he was given better, ArrayTurnage, back the same, evidently a broader background based on where he comes from. I don’t know if the learning curve has been so steep for him. Most guys have taken a tremendous step forward. I think their long term is brilliant, any of them.
Q: Do the quick starts of your offense replace the one you call a game?
Banks: “That’s good, you like those guys doing what they do. This clearly puts the parties in conflict in safe conditions where you can make them a little more one-dimensional because they have to launch it or do whatever they want to do. back to the game. It’s great, I know a lot of guys communicate about being a defensive coordinator for a fast-moving team, however, there are a lot of benefits to being that, you just explained one of them. of problems and it’s an exciting football brand. This gives us the opportunity to throw our ears back and finish with the quarterback. “
Q: Do you have to spend time recruiting your own players in the portal era?
Banks: “I think culture has been important. Today, it is more important. Every scenario is different. Some guys leave for the right reasons, maybe others don’t. Ultimately, I think if your culture is strong, I think you will. “end up having more kids who need to be there than they don’t. Each child has a selection to make. That’s life. We believe that what we are doing here. . . you know, it’s a challenge, but if you stay and paint hard, it will be incredibly rewarding. I think we’re going through to deal with each and every factor as we go along, but for the most part, we just depend on our culture and the kids who perceive how much we love them and how much we’re passing on to paintings about them for the best past.
Alex Golesh
First statement
“Really grateful to be here, it’s been a wonderful week. More than anything, it’s been amazing to continue running with our guys as we continue to place the circular paints for what we’re building in Knoxville. These 14, 15 additional trainings have certainly been monumental for us to continue to improve and for the other young people to develop, in many ways. It’s up to us, for the first time, to see those other young people we hadn’t necessarily noticed all year round circulating and having the possibility to paint with them, as much as anything else. But obviously, it’s time to get started, in position to play and really excited to be here.
Q: What were you informed that you should appreciate about Tim Banks?
Golesh: “Yes, the same boat. We will sit here and congratulate each other for the next two minutes. But incredibly cool, super lucky when the guy on the other side is about the team and the players, and coach Banks and I go a long way. Great, super lucky to have the ability to paint with one of the most productive men I’ve ever met, the way he handles the staff, the defense. It’s probably not the simplest task in the country to be the defensive coordinator here, however, the humility and ethics of painting and the way Coach Banks has been with me since 2012. I was the same person, proceeding to pour into the children, and you saw the results. Aspects, and getting to the painting over and over again knowing that someone is supporting you and taking care of the other aspect of the ball is monumental, and I couldn’t think of a larger counterpart in the other aspect. Amazing summer.
Q: How did Dayne Davis and Jeremiah Crawford progress with Cade Mays?
Golesh: “I think (I have) 3 weeks to be ready, to know that you are going to be the boy, or on our stage, those two boys will have a chance to play. Dayne played a lot. We try to worry JJ (Jeremiah Crawford) at the end of the year. JJ is attractive because he couldn’t take part in July, so this is all so new to him. I think he did a really smart job progressing, learning to play the system, learning the speed of the game. Obviously the schematic component of it, I think he did. massive progress. We are excited about the long term of it. Dayne was the same guy every day. I think Dayne came into the season hoping to be a guy that we depend on. He worked like this. He wants to keep improving, but I think that throughout the season he has become the most productive edition of himself. He started to oppose Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and I think he did a really smart job of holding on and proceeding to improve as the game went on. He is not simple to play online, it is not simple to play online in the SEC and he has done a smart job of proceeding to improve the season. I’m excited for those two guys. The percentage of a single reputation over the past 3 weeks has been huge for any of them. Obviously we hoped Cade (Mays) could play, still healing the ankle. We’ll see where his long career ends, but those guys are up for it. We’re excited for them and I hope they get a chance to take a field trip as the game progresses and get a feel for what’s going on. I don’t know if this worries me too much. Obviously, Cade is a huge loss. He played a lot of soccer for us, his leadership, every single thing he did. These two guys are going to be wonderful and having 3 weeks to get ready is really smart for either of them.
Q: What does it mean to you that so many incumbents return this year?
Golesh: “In a lot of tactics, it’s very humiliating that those guys need to come back, I think Cedric Tillman, Hendon Hooker clearly have a long run, they’re still waiting for one more here, but they have a long run at the next point. Those are all the credits to coach Heupel and what he has been able to do in terms of creating a culture that the boys should be in, that the boys have fun. Hendon has been nothing short of a program change for us, an author of culture. I know those are clichéd terms, but this is what it is. The same boy appears each and every day. In a lot of tactics, he makes you bigger as a coach because he’s the same guy every single day. Positive attitude, you ask “Are you smart about the career choice here?” And knowing that he was going to get hit. Whatever you need, from the way he conveys his daily arrangements to the way he handles the guys in the locker room, each and every one of them loves Hendon. As a coach, he provides you with a secure point of confidence before a match. Again, I think all those guys who looked to come back are just telling them that we are doing something right. Does it translate into wins and losses? Having veterans brings wins and losses, but from a recruiting point of view and who we are as a team, that tells you that we are heading in the right direction. Like I said, it’s really humbling as a coach. Cedric, obviously, the production would be really difficult to replace. He’s a guy that in the first 3 or 4 games I don’t think we did a good job to bring him football. As he won the keys I think he showed that he is one of the most productive receivers in the country, one of the most productive receivers, surely, of the SEC. Another offseason in this area, I would expect him to have another very, very great year. It’s huge for us to place him again, especially after graduating the other two guys (Velus Jones Jr. , JaVonta Payton) to catcher positions. Princeton Fant, Jacob Warren coming back, I think they knew they needed another year, Jacob for two, in the system. In fact, they were given more every week too, really proud of those guys. I think they have made great strides for us in this role, to continue to grow as pass receivers, run blockers and pass protectors. Overall, I think we weren’t quite ready to move into the season, and I think those guys did a smart job of getting there and splitting the reps in this position and we can get more varied as those two guys continue to grow and evolve within. from the field. system. We are still waiting for one more and that would give us a really smart kernel in a year. “
Q: After all those players left last year, is it great for them to bowl?
Golesh: “For us as a program, the ability to have extra time to practice is one thing. For those guys to get a compliment in the end, they get to a position like this, in the city like this, for many of them at home, or at least close to home, in a position like this, to remain a week , obviously to play at Nissan Stadium – this team has been through a lot. In order not to exaggerate what they went through, there was a very complicated make-up for them in January, a year ago. I think I said it earlier in the year, the guys who chose to stay, the guys who chose to move on, that’s the payoff. In the end, the season is what the season is and the record is what it is. Our expectations are to keep improving and keep getting better as we go. I couldn’t be more humbled to be here with this crew. They have been through a lot. For going through a coaching reposition in January with a bunch of guys they didn’t decide to play for, I give them a lot of credit. They clung to him. They play hard. They have been informed to love each other. They grew up betting on each other. If we can continue to stay on this path, it is a shocking compliment to them. Obviously for us as learners it is wonderful for our families. It’s a week of games and we approach it that way. It is a component of the procedure. For those who have stood their ground, driven the hard way, continue to be the most productive versions of themselves, give them a lot of credit. You communicate about adversity, they fought both on the field and in the offseason. Lots of people, masses of noise around Knoxville telling them maybe you shouldn’t be here. These guys who stayed, it wasn’t easy. We made it complicated, but we did it on purpose. I couldn’t be more proud. I used the term humiliated. Just walking in here, what an amazing pleasure to be part of an organization of guys who have repositioned the trajectory of the show in so many ways. If something is reported to them, and you keep fighting and hang your head, you don’t know what the end result will be. It’s just about monitoring your procedure day after day, and that’s what this team is all about.
Q: What is the most impressive thing that was noticed in Hendon Hooker?
Golesh: Yes, I’m just thinking about his tenacity, intellectual and physical at the same time. You have a chance when the ball is in your hand. At certain critical times throughout the year, we try to get the ball in your hand. hands, and clearly touches the ball in each and every game, however, I feel very comfortable with him having the ball when he is on the line that is passing to do anything, take position with it, whether it is his ability to run with it, his ability to place the ball where he wants to pass with synchronization and intelligent positioning of the ball, his tenacity, mental strength, physical strength, this kid is a winner, he believes in himself, he believes in his peers and as a coach, everything you need. What is necessary in the end is to have the possibility of winning. I feel that with Hfinishon, you feel like you have a chance to win. Just his tenacity.