Tennessee (6-5, 3-4 SEC) will play Vanderbilt (2-9, 0-7 SEC) Saturday in Week 13 at Neyland Stadium.
Kickoff is slated for 3:45 p.m. EST and will be televised by SEC Network.
First-year head coach Josh Heupel met with media Monday and discussed Tennessee’s final regular season game week. Below is a transcript of Heupel’s media availability provided by the University of Tennessee.
Opening statement
“Since I won’t be seeing you at the end of the week, wishing all of you a happy Thanksgiving. Everybody in Vol Nation, all our players, families, everybody, wish you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Looking forward to this last home game here with our players, in particular our seniors. Opportunity to go compete and finish the regular season the right way. Look forward to having a great home field advantage. Last week, I thought our fan base was just phenomenal. Vol Walk was packed, and then the energy inside the stadium was great early in the football game. Our student body was a huge part of that too. I know this week is tough with it being Thanksgiving, but we look forward to seeing all those men and women back in the stadium on Saturday afternoon. Huge game for us. It’s the finish of the regular season, it’s an in-state opponent, and one that our players and staff will be ready to go for.”
On his Senior Day experience as a player and if he will discuss that experience with his players
“It is one that you remember, parts of it. The four or five years go really quick. When you’re a freshman, it seems like it’s a long way away. By the time you get to the end of it, it goes really quickly. Really appreciative of all that our guys have done, in particular since I’ve gotten here. They’ve been a huge part of laying the foundation to our program and been instrumental in the acceleration of our growth as a program, too. I think the emotion—you get done with warmups, you get a chance to see your family, that part’s unique. And because of that, I think you truly try to soak some things in that maybe you haven’t as much during the course of your career. But then when you go back in that locker room before you run out, then it becomes ball. For our guys, separating the two will be important in preparing the right way and executing once the game’s kicked off. But again, it is certainly something that you will remember.”
On when he realized his team could be competitive
“I think outside expectations, outside noise, is something that myself and our staff has tried to not pay attention to. I think the players have bought into that as well. From the moment I got here, I never placed a ceiling on what our football team could do. You’ve heard me say it, that we’re in a race against ourselves. I’m so proud of the growth from the first day that I got here to who we are now. Certainly want some things to be better at the same time too, as a coach, but the growth of individuals and collectively as a team is really special. I think we’ve laid a great foundation to what we’re going to be in the future.”
NEXT: Josh Heupel kicks off Vanderbilt game week continued