Teams usually don’t start seasons with seven wins and zero losses unless they’re at least fairly well led from their own locker room, and Tennessee coach Josh Heupel on Wednesday night that he’s loved the leadership he’s getting these days from some of his upperclassmen.
Heupel spent part of his weekly appearance on Vol Calls praising some of his veterans for the leadership they’ve shown since he took the job last year, but specifically how they’ve evolved as leaders since last season.
Senior quarterback Hendon Hooker , one of the oddsmakers’ Heisman Trophy favorites , consistently get praised as a leader by Heupel and by other coaches and players within the Tennessee program, but the head coach on Wednesday added four more names to that list.
He said senior edge defender Byron Young , junior defensive lineman Omari Thomas , senior receiver Cedric Tillman and senior tight end Jacob Warren have also been strong leaders throughout the entire locker room.
Other veterans , senior offensive lineman Jerome Carvin , senior tight end Princeton Fant , junior running back Jabari Small and senior backup quarterback Joe Milton III , have also received praise at various points the past several months. “Byron Young, Omari Thomas , two guys that (are) relatively quiet when you first meet them, that have grown into being a really good player, that have taken ownership, that want that responsibility, that want to have a voice,” Heupel said on the weekly radio show. “Those are two guys that in some ways came out of nowhere to become that guy.
Cedric Tillman at the wide receiver position.
Hendon Hooker , too, just how he’s grown here.
The change in those guys, like their ability to be comfortable in their own skin, in their own voice, in front of an entire, a unit or the entire team, that sounds easy.
It’s really hard.
When you’re amongst your peers, to be able to step out and give something positive or critique those guys or demand more of them is really hard to do. “I’ve said it a bunch: Championship seasons happen because you’ve got championship leadership within your locker room.
Coaches don’t change a whole lot as far as what they’re doing or how they’re approaching their players. “We’ve got great leadership from within.” Heupel circled back to the leadership question moments later when asked why Warren , a second-generation Vol and a former star at Knox County’s Farragut High School , hasn’t been as active as Fant in the passing game in recent weeks.
Warren, who unlike Fant is not a super senior and could return next season, is someone still very much in Heupel’s plans this season and (he hopes) beyond. “Sometimes just as those guys rotate and how things play out , not just play-calls, but the coverages that you’re seeing and the differences on the back end just take a quarterback through a progression,” Heupel said. “Jacob’s done a great job.
He’s a great leader.
There was a question about leadership earlier.
He has been a phenomenal leader for us inside of our program and been a really good player for us this year, a guy that you guys have seen him get better here over the last season and a half. “His football … one of the great compliments I can give him, his best football is still out in front of him.” © 2005-2022 CBS INTERACTIVE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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