VFL Robert Neyland Jr. is impressed with Josh Heupel at Tennessee.
Tennessee (4-2, 2-1 SEC) will host No. 14 Ole Miss (4-1, 1-1 SEC) Saturday at Neyland Stadium in Week 7.
Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. EDT and SEC Network will televise the matchup.
Tennessee enters Week 7 with victories against Bowling Green, Tennessee Tech, at Missouri and South Carolina, while suffering defeats against Pittsburgh and at Florida.
Robert Neyland Jr., a former Tennessee football player and son of legendary head coach General Robert Neyland, discussed the Vols under Josh Heupel.
Neyland Jr. said he is “definitely impressed” with Heupel as Tennessee’s head coach.
“They rushed for 450 yards (at Missouri),” Neyland Jr. told Vols Wire. “Their defense has done pretty good, too. I am just pleased as I can be. I don’t know the last time Tennessee scored 62 points, it has been a good long while.
“I am very impressed with Coach Heupel and his staff. I think Hendon Hooker has done well. He can run, as well as throw.”
Neyland Jr. played for his father on UT’s 1951 national championship team.
Robert Neyland Jr. discusses Jeremy Pruitt and UT football.
KNOXVILLE — Tennessee concluded the 2019 season with a six-game win streak and victorious in seven of its last eight contests.
Tennessee’s seven wins in the final eight contests of the season came after a 1-4 start and losing to Georgia State in Week 1.
Following the Vols’ 38-30 defeat to Georgia State, Jeremy Pruitt took part in his weekly appearance on The Vol Network’s “Vol Calls” radio show.
A caller told the second-year Tennessee head coach that Rome was not built in a day.
“It’s like I told the kids today, when things don’t go your way, what are you supposed to do,” Pruitt replied to the caller. “You’re supposed to put on more steam, right?”
Following the opening week loss to Georgia State is just one example of when Pruitt has embraced General Robert Neyland’s mantra of “if at first the game or the breaks go against you, don’t let up… put on more steam.”
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
This saying is listed as Neyland’s third Game Maxim that remains posted in Tennessee’s locker room.
Robert Neyland Jr. played on Tennessee’s 1951 national championship team and is the son of the legendary UT head coach.
“I am very pleased in the way they came back and I was very encouraged,” Neyland Jr. told Vols Wire of Tennessee’s 2019 season.
The Vols put on more steam during the final eight contests last season as players came together to find ways to win games.
“I think they thought they could walk out there on the field and beat Georgia State,” Neyland Jr. said. “I think along the way Coach Pruitt convinced them that they had the talent to win, but they just were not working hard enough.”
Neyland Jr. thinks “it is excellent” that Pruitt embraces his father’s Game Maxims, and especially making it a point to remind his team to put on more steam.
“He has really hung on to those (Game Maxims) and particularly that one,” Neyland Jr. said.”
Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
As Tennessee is set to kickoff spring practices next month in preparation for the 2020 campaign, Pruitt’s message of his football team applying more steam is highlighted to season ticket holders.
“Everyone is energized about the way we finished last season,” Pruitt said in a Tennessee press release stating football season ticket prices will not increase in 2020. “When Neyland Stadium is rocking, it’s unlike anyplace else in the country. And it sure seems like our players block a little better and hit a lot harder when Vol Nation is revved up.
“We’ve got something special taking place here, and we’re putting on more steam every day to make sure the decade of the Vols starts strong. We need our fans to put on more steam, too.”
