On his reaction to seeing McKenzie Milton return and play for FSU last night
“I got home and turned the ball game on late in the third and went to bed early in fourth, woke up to a barrage of text messages from a bunch of buddies, so this morning I just tried to find the highlights. Unbelievable story. Only him can do what he’s done over the last three years – coming back from in the early hours of that injury, just hoping that he was going to be able to keep his leg to a two and a half to three-year rehab process to get back. It started with just wanting to be able to have a normal, functioning leg, and have a normal life to now becoming a guy that can go play. You can see last night, he’s back to doing the things that he’s able to do. He’s special. Inside the white lines, he’s got great command, great presence, and has unbelievable play-making ability, and you guys saw that last night. It’s special, unbelievable to see him and be able to watch.”
On continuing closed practices
“Really, the two things that you guys are used to, it’s just the practice pressure of what we do and how we start our practices during the course of the season. We’re into some scheme things right away so that’s really the reason why.”
On how much General Neyland’s seven Game Maxims are incorporated into his program
“We read the maxims before every game. Our players see them, it’s in our building, they walk by them every single day. Since I got here, I tried to understand what the players felt like are important traditions and history of Tennessee football, that was one of the things they mentioned right away. It’s why we continue to say it in the locker room, they live it, they breathe it, it’s important to the culture of Tennessee football.”
NEXT: Josh Heupel previews Tennessee-Pittsburgh continued