Tennessee football and head coach Josh Heupel are coming off a disappointing loss to Missouri.
There is no time to dwell on the loss with No. 2 Georgia coming to Neyland Stadium on Saturday. Heupel talked about injuries, the defense and penalties among other items during his Monday press conference.
Here are three takeaways from what Heupel had to say.
Penalty issues persist
Heupel was asked about the penalties that have plagued the Vols this season. It has been an issue — the numbers don’t lie.
Tennessee ranks No. 123 out of 130 FBS teams in penalty yards. It seems they always happen at the worst times as well, often putting Tennessee behind the chains and disrupting any offensive rhythm.
“Well some of it (is) personal accountability,” Heupel said. “Some of it, you look at it, some of the penalties on the offense side of the football, the playing penalties comes down to fundamentals and technique and body position. You do those things right, you have an opportunity to not have some of those things happen. Got to be smart at the end of play as well.
The Vols average 72.5 yards per game in penalties. In 2022, they averaged 69.62 penalty yards per game. In 2021, that number was 60.62.
The numbers aren’t much better when you look back to Heupel’s time at UCF, either. Tennessee practices with refs on the field to help combat the issue, although it hasn’t improved very much.
“I mean, they pay attention to everything that’s going on,” Heupel said. “They’re there for a reason. The way you finish plays and practice isn’t necessarily the same as a game.”
Wide receiver room depth is being tested
Heupel announced that wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. would miss the rest of the regular season with an injury. He suffered the injury against Missouri when he scored Tennessee’s only touchdown.
“Dont’e will be out for the remainder of the regular season,” Heupel said. “We’ll see where we’re at as we get into postseason play.”
Now with Thornton and Bru McCoy sidelined for the season, the Vols will have to lean on their young wide receivers even more. Kaleb Webb and Chas Nimrod were two that Heupel mentioned.
Both Nimrod and Webb will need to see an uptick in their production. Both have caught just one touchdown thus far.
“You’re always going to subtly change your scheme based on what you’ve seen structure-wise and personnel-wise,” Heupel said. “On the other side, you always try to put those guys in a position where they can go win, and in this one there’s a bunch of one-on-ones.
“It’s gonna be tight, contested coverage out on the outside. At the end of the day, they’re gonna have to go win some of those battles.”
