Quote from former Vols OC Alex Golesh helps confirms suspicion about why Josh Heupel is so secretive about his offense

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is notoriously tight lipped about....well, almost everything.

Heupel never likes to give too much away -- especially when it comes to injuries and how his unique up-tempo offense operates.

The roots of Heupel's offense are in the old Baylor veer-n-shoot offense that was prolific under Art Briles (there are also some air raid concepts from Heupel's time under Mike Leach/Bob Stoops at Oklahoma).

Wide splits along with a frenetic pace are the hallmarks of Heupel's offense, but there's much more to it than just those two elements.

Heupel, however, doesn't seem interested in giving away the secrets of his offense. And it seems that's very much by design.

Former Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh, who left Tennessee after the 2022 season to become the new head coach at USF, recently joined "Inside the Headset with the AFCA" and he pointed out that there's been an effort to "keep the circle small" when it comes to what's out there about the offense.

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"Going from UCF to going to Tennessee to coming here (USF), I think the one thing (about the offense) that hasn't changed is that the foundation has stayed the same," explained Golesh. "The tempo and using the entire width of the field. And the entire length of the field. What has changed is who the quarterback is, who the skill players are, what you're capable of doing with the O-line. And so being able to adjust, just like with any offense - how do you get your playmakers the ball in space. And we've just found a way to do it faster than everybody else.

"That part hasn't changed. What's changed is the players, and then what pictures you're getting defensively. So I think every year we've adjusted it to get the ball in our playmakers' hands. The challenge has been continue to grow in that regard while still being able to play really, really fast. And at the end of it, you kind of see guys who have gone their own separate ways. And we've all kind of grown in our own unique ways. But the foundation of it stays the same. To be honest with you, we watch each other's stuff -- I'm sure we do. But we've also kept the circle really, really tight for a reason, so that there's just not a whole lot out there ."

This is likely why Heupel prefers to promote from within for his offensive staff when he can. And it's also probably why he takes his time when he makes a hire from the outside. Heupel, and apparently everyone who runs this offense, doesn't want to put all of the secrets out there. Some things will inevitably make it out the door, but it's clear that as much as possible is being kept in house.

Related: Former Vols OC Alex Golesh gets candid about taking over a tough situation at Tennessee in 2021