KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — With nine days until the highly anticipated 2022 season kicks off, Tennessee football hit Haslam Field Tuesday morning to continue its preparations for the season opener. Three weeks into preseason practice, UT’s fast-paced, high octane offense is beginning to shape up.
After a record-setting offensive campaign last fall, the Vols are putting the pieces together to replicate that success in year two under head coach Josh Heupel. Second-year offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Alex Golesh met with members of the media Tuesday inside the Neyland Thompson Sports Complex and primarily discussed his personnel at several key positions for the Big Orange this fall.
Speaking on his tight ends, Golesh has been impressed with the steps that returning starters Princeton Fant and Jacob Warren have taken this offseason and gave nods to Miles Campbell, Charlie Browder and Hunter Salmon as players that he expects to contribute early in the season.
“From a tight end perspective, I feel really good with Princeton (Fant), I feel really good with Jacob (Warren),” Golesh said. “Feel awesome with those two guys. I feel like they’ve both taken really big steps. I feel like we’re as healthy and as multiple with both of those guys as we’ve ever been in this scheme.
“That next spot going in, we’ve challenged Miles (Campbell) in a lot of ways, and in a lot of ways he’s grown up. In a lot of ways, he’s still got a really long way to go. We’ve challenged Charlie Browder. He has gotten better every single day … I do think between Charlie and Miles, we’ll have a three and a four, with Hunter Salmon in there helping in some ways. Do we have five ready to play in the SEC? Probably not right now. I’m hoping by the time we get to Florida, we do.”
Golesh expects to play seven or eight different wide receivers during the course of a game to help keep that position group fresh. As gameday approaches, he has seen the returning veterans—namely Cedric Tillman and Jalin Hyatt—set an example to the new receivers on how to practice with purpose and meet the standards laid out by the coaching staff.
“We feel like we’re deeper with how many (receivers) can play, and at the same time the young guys are seeing the old guys,” Golesh said. “Squirrel (White), Bru (McCoy), Kaleb Webb, they’re looking at Cedric (Tillman) and Jalin (Hyatt) now.
“There’s guys that they can look at and say, ‘That’s how you do it? Awesome. I’m going to try to replicate it and obviously get better.’ So, drastically (different). It’s easier in year two. The expectations are also higher and the standards are also higher, so our job as coaches, hold them to that standard and then if they don’t achieve that standard, put their feet to the fire.”
At running back, an underlying goal is to preserve the health of the room over the course of the season. Sophomore running back Jaylen Wright was ‘full-go’ during Tuesday’s practice, while freshmen Dylan Sampson and Justin Williams-Thomas continued to impress as their debuts are rapidly approaching.
“Jaylen Wright just went through practice with us,” Golesh said. “He looks like he’s got fresh legs, fresher than almost everybody else. He’s been so eager to go. We’ve been really, really smart with him, knowing the beating that a back in this conference is going to take, but he was full-go today. Looked good, like a cool energy about him. He doesn’t like sitting out, so he’s ready to go.
“Dylan (Sampson), man, like a unique clone of Jabari (Small) in terms of being able to get the ball out in space, really, really good hands, elite vision for a young guy. Like, different than what I thought off of high school film. I liked the high school film – you just didn’t know he was going to have vision like he has. He’s a natural running back. He’s not big, but he’s as fast as any back in this league is going to be, so our job with him is going to be to get him in space and let him go hit home runs at whatever point that allows us to happen.
“Justin (Williams-Thomas), different back. Justin has had to evolve and grow into that role. He’s bigger. He has learned how to play more physical. He’s still learning how to play like a true big back, and his growth has been a little bit slower than Dylan, but he’s shown monumental growth as well.”
Tennessee Football Press Conference | Aug. 23, 2022
Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach Alex Golesh
On how many receivers he is confident are ready to play right now…
“Yeah, I think we’re as deep at the receiver spot in terms of guys we feel good about playing right now. I think they’re still continuing to, one, get healthy. It was good to get a couple of days off, get some guys that we were being really, really careful with, with Jimmy Calloway, Chas (Nimrod), get those guys back healthy—Squirrel (White)—running around.
“I think a lot of it will depend on how this next week-and-a-half goes. I’ve said this before, how they handle camp and spring ball is one thing. How they handle what a real college football player is supposed to be and how they can handle the students on campus now. It’s rush week as I’m driving down Neyland (Drive), so I get it—how do they handle all of that? How do they go through a normal Tuesday, Wednesday, into a Thursday, a Friday, game day. Throwing 15 hours of class at them. I’m not trying to downplay who can play, who cannot play, but who cannot feel like a freshman as a freshman, and if we could play a bunch of guys, that would be awesome.
“I don’t have a number. I feel like we’re two-deep, two-and-a-half-deep there. A year ago, I felt like we started that way, and then I did not feel that way after we started conference play. So, the hope is that we can be at eight guys that can roll through, that can keep us fresh, so we can play as fast as we possibly can. But that would be the goal, is to have seven to eight that can go. I feel like we do at this point.”
On the efficiency of the offense in year two of the system…
“Super, super efficient. Like today, first day that we actually split up scout teams – a year ago, first day of scout teams, we spent half the period doing up-downs because the tempo of how scout team should look was not what we wanted or what the standard is. You’re not teaching the standard anymore of how to practice, of the tempo of what we’re trying to do, whether we’re trying to slow it down or speed it up. So, drastically different.
“You’re having conversations more so about scheme and how you beat a defender in certain looks, more so than actual technique, within a team period. So, you’re able to focus on detail of actual plays, of schemes, more so than we certainly were a year ago at this time.
“I think as we got going, as the year went, I think once the guys understood who we were playing, the difference right now is we feel like we’re deeper with how many guys can play, and at the same time the young guys are seeing the old guys, like we talked about the receivers—Squirrel, Bru, Kaleb Webb, they’re looking at Cedric (Tillman) and Jalin (Hyatt) now.
“There’s guys that they can look at and say, ‘That’s how you do it? Awesome. I’m going to try to replicate it and obviously get better.’ So, drastically (different). It’s easier in year two. The expectations are also higher and the standards are also higher, so our job as coaches, hold them to that standard and then if they don’t achieve that standard, put their feet to the fire.”
On his approach to the offensive game plan for Week 1…
“From a game-planning standpoint, the way we structured it this week is this week is a mock game week for us. So, we’re treating today as a normal Tuesday, tomorrow as a normal Wednesday. We’re game-planning as if we were on a short week, or on a normal week, I should say, and then we’ll repeat it, starting with Sunday. I think my only point to our staff was, let’s only put in what we know for sure we’re going to want to do.
“I think inherently, when you have more time, it’s like a bye week. You put in a bunch and then take stuff out, and I’ve always thought that was backwards. But I’ve also been guilty of doing the same thing, so really a base game plan today, normal down-and-distance tomorrow – tight-zone, third downs – and then Thursday-Friday will be our normal Thursday-Friday prep going into a game week, and then we’ll repeat it again next week.
“We’re treating it like a normal game week. I think for the guys, especially the guys that weren’t with us a year ago, it gives them an idea of how fast it goes. Morning-practice team, Tuesday gets on you really, really fast, both as a coach and a player, so for us, it’s good to go through a normal game week. We’re here early, we’re staying late, we’re doing our normal Sunday through Friday deal, and then we’ll repeat it next week.”
On the tight end position and progression of Miles Campbell and Charlie Browder…
“From a tight end perspective, I feel really good with Princeton (Fant). I feel really good with Jacob (Warren). Feel awesome with those two guys. I feel like they’ve both taken really big steps. I feel like we’re as healthy and as multiple with both of those guys as we’ve ever been in this scheme. That next spot going in, we’ve challenged Miles (Campbell) in a lot of ways, and in a lot of ways he’s grown up. In a lot of ways, he’s still got a really long way to go. We’ve challenged Charlie Browder. He has gotten better every single day. I think he can help us, I think Miles can help us. How fast they adjust to what gameday is. I said it a year ago about Miles. Miles was physically as ready as a freshman as I’ve ever had the pleasure to coach. He’s had to continue to grow up and figure out what it is to play hard every snap, what it is to prepare for a game week. That’s the challenge to him. When he’s ready to do so, he’ll have a chance to be a really, really good player in this offense, because he can do every single part of what we want. I do think between Charlie and Miles, we’ll have a three and a four, with Hunter Salmon in there helping in some ways. Do we have five ready to play in the SEC? Probably not right now. I’m hoping by the time we get to Florida, we do.”
On wide-receivers making decisions with option routes…
“I feel like that’s a big part of what we do offensively. We work that a ton. There’s been so much time on task over the last two years on that. Feel like they’re as good as they’ve been in two years. Obviously as you bring in new guys, those guys have to get used to it and grow and get on the same page with the quarterbacks. That’s probably the biggest part of what we do in that realm in our vertical passing game, but I also think it’s just a part of what we do.
“We spend a lot of time on that. We spend a lot of time on everything else we do in our vertical passing game, our play-action pass game. But those guys getting on the same page, all the routes-on-air through the spring, all the routes-on-air in the summer, we try to put a huge emphasis on that, for those guys to see it the same and be on the same page timing-wise.”
On his observations of Ball State defensively…
“Ball State defensively, lost a ton. It’s a little bit more difficult to watch than you want to because you’re watching scheme, and a majority of those guys are gone, whether they were seniors, transfers, whatever the case may be. You’ve got film, personnel film on guys from all over the place in terms of where they came from, so you could see what guys’ body types are and what they are. Schematically you’re watching the film, but again, constantly talking through it with the guys that, ‘Hey, that body that you see is not actually the body.’
“They bring a defensive lineman (Tavion Woodard) back that’s a good player. I think the heart of their defense is their Mike linebacker (Clayton Coll). He is back, led the team in tackles a year ago. I think he had 107 tackles. He’s all over the place, doesn’t ever come off the field. They’ve got a corner (Ameche Uzodinma II) that played a ton two years ago, didn’t play as much last year, I think is a good player.
“Just about everybody else is not on that film a year ago, so just like my last two years in this offense, you’re preparing for the unknown in a lot of ways, which is a little bit nerve-wracking and also kind of fun, because you really have no idea what you’re going to get. You’re preparing in a lot of ways to keep it relatively simple, have answers to what they do, then after the first drive, be able to adjust and see what they bring.
“But, hard-playing bunch. They won their conference two years ago, the Covid year. I’ve known Coach (Mike) Neu for a long time. They’re going to play really, really hard. They have the ability to score a lot of points. They play really aggressive on defense, so we’re going to have to go play.”
On the approach to Bru McCoy’s preparations for the season…
“We’re approaching it like we’re going to have him. We’ve approached it that way since he got here. Then we’ll adjust as we need to, if we don’t. Really good football player. Has fit right in to our culture. Has added to our culture. Hard-working, tough, smart, really dynamic. To be honest with you, in a lot of ways, super, super grateful to be here and have another chance to do this and having a blast with it. We’re approaching it like we’re going to have him, and then we’ll adjust if worst-case scenario happens.”
On opponents having seen the offense last year and what will change in his second year…
“Changes a lot for you. You have to have answers. You have to anticipate answers to people’s answers. I think a lot of times, the first time you play a team, if you’re referring to specifically the tempo, just like you saw a year ago—teams settle in, players settle in. I think it’s really hard to replicate in practice, so people tend to settle in, you get to the second and third quarter, people are used to it. Play-callers on the other side of the ball figure out what they can and can’t get in at the tempo, so you have to have answers.
“For us, that’s a multitude of different things. I don’t necessarily want to share it, but we have answers to replicate tempo, answers to how they answer it. In a lot of ways, that’s what I spent all spring doing is, ‘Man, we hurt them here. They’re going to take that away. What’s the next counter punch to that?’ But there was no secret coming in a year ago. We came from a place with a system, from a tempo standpoint, from a spacing standpoint, similar. We’ve grown and evolved in a lot of ways.
“You saw us a year ago, as the year went, we’ve grown and evolved in terms of how we get the ball out. Formationally, we’ve expanded. We’ve got to continue to expand formationally, whether it’s motions or disguising pictures offensively. We’ve continued to grow. We’re drastically different today than we were two years ago leaving the previous place. We’re drastically different today than we were leaving the bowl game in Nashville in terms of what we are, what we have. Personnel-wise, we’re different.
“We’ve had to grow and evolve, too, and like I said, you spend a lot of the offseason looking for answers—where we got hurt, and where we hurt people—knowing that there’s going to be answers to that. I think you’ve got to continue to evolve offensively. I don’t know that we’re going to line up in the Pro-I play one—that was a joke—but we certainly have to continue to evolve and look different.”
On Jaylen Wright’s health…
“Jaylen Wright just went through practice with us. He looks like he’s got fresh legs, fresher than almost everybody else. He’s been so eager to go. We’ve been really, really smart with him, knowing the beating that a back in this conference is going to take, but he was full-go today. Looked good, like a cool energy about him. He doesn’t like sitting out, so he’s ready to go. We’ll see rotationally how it ends up being.
“We’re going to play, hopefully, four of those guys. Knock on wood, everybody stays healthy, we’ll play a bunch of those guys, but he’s looked, again, today was the first day where he’s been with us full-go going through it. So, he was eager and excited.”
On the progression of the younger running backs…
“Dylan (Sampson), man, like a unique clone of Jabari (Small) in terms of being able to get the ball out in space, really, really good hands, elite vision for a young guy. Like, different than what I thought off of high school film. I liked the high school film – you just didn’t know he was going to have vision like he has. He’s a natural running back. He’s not big, but he’s as fast as any back in this league is going to be, so our job with him is going to be to get him in space and let him go hit home runs at whatever point that allows us to happen.
“Justin (Williams-Thomas), different back. Justin has had to evolve and grow into that role. He’s bigger. He has learned how to play more physical. He’s still learning how to play like a true big back, and his growth has been a little bit slower than Dylan, but he’s shown monumental growth as well.
“I still think, again, with any freshman, until they get in there under the lights and see what it actually is with no coaches on the field, it’s really hard to guess what they’re going to be, but he’s shown really, really good steps to growing. I’m happy with where both of those guys are. I think they can both help us in different ways.
“Again, with a back like Dylan and Justin both being young guys, my main concern is always the protection part of it. There’s no redos in protection on protecting the quarterback, so that’s the biggest focal point for those guys is making sure they’re good on the tempo which we play, picking up quarterback pressures and being able to protect the quarterback. If that part is good, those guys will both be able to help us a ton this year.”
On his comfort level with Jeremiah Crawford and Gerald Mincey at left tackle…
“I think the best thing for both of those guys is that there was real competition in there, and they both knew they couldn’t have a bad day. Inherently, Coach (Glen) Elarbee has rotated both of them. They’ve both gotten to play next to Jerome. I feel good with both those guys. They’re different players. They’re both inexperienced, but they’re different, so they both have weaknesses, they both have strengths.
“I don’t know that you call the game any different with either one in there by any means, but I think, again, similar to the freshmen, J.J.’s played some and Gerald’s played some. Just not a ton, and not a ton of meaningful reps, so you go in, you kind of let it sort out as they go. They’ll both play, and we’ll see who it is that we have more sync with. If it’s both of them, awesome. We’ll be deeper there than we felt like we were a year ago.”
-UT Athletics
