Spring practice of the Josh Heupel era is underway as the first-year Tennessee head coach put his Volunteers through a spirited, fast-paced indoor workout at the Anderson Training Center on Thursday afternoon.
Inclement weather pushed the first practice indoors, just hours after four Vols shined at Pro Day in front of dozens of NFL scouts and personnel representing nearly every league squad. Tennessee spent Thursday working on all three phases and implementing its new terminology.
"There's so much time and energy and work that leads up to those moments where you get an opportunity to truly go out and compete the way you want to as a full team," Heupel said. "It's exciting. I've got notes full of things that we've got to correct as players, coaches and support staff for the next practice, but I love the energy and effort. If you get those things from your players -- great energy, great attitudes -- then you become a tough football team."
Heupel, who has developed multiple NFL quarterbacks in his career, is seeking to get the most out of his quarterback roster that includes sophomore Harrison Bailey, graduate transfer Hendon Hooker and redshirt sophomore Brian Maurer this spring.
"We used the code word attack," Heupel said. "That's a big part of who we are inside of our building. At the quarterback position in particular, I thought they handled the tempo portion of some of our team sets extremely well and handled the communication piece of it. They played within themselves. They made some mistakes out there, but they did a lot of really positive things too. The thing that we've challenged our guys on is 'Don't make the same mistake twice. Be coachable. Accept the coaching in a positive way."
The Vols' second practice of the spring is scheduled for Saturday morning.
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