Tennessee HC Josh Heupel receives the ultimate compliment from rival SEC head coach

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel received a huge compliment from a rival SEC head coach on Tuesday at SEC Media Days in Dallas.

Heupel, who spoke earlier on Tuesday at SEC Media Days, was praised by Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables for being a "winner".

"He's always been a winner," said Venables when asked about Heupel.

Venables was the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma from 1999 to 2011. He was on the coaching staff when Heupel led the Sooners to a national championship as a quarterback during the 2000 season. Heupel and Venables were on the coaching staff together under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma from 2006 to 2011. Suffice it to say, they know each other well.

"I've always looked back and said, 'Man, we couldn't have done it without Heup,'" added Venables. "His leadership, what he was able to do from a transformation standpoint to our locker room, the guts and the toughness that he played through that 2000 season. I've always held him up here on this pedestal when it comes to a player standpoint."

Venables, who will go head to head with Heupel on September 21 when Tennessee visits Norman, added that he's stayed in touch with Heupel and his family over the years.

"We've stayed in touch through those moments of success and some of the moments and the challenges that a football season will bring you," said Venables. "Great friend. He and his wife Dawn and their children, really great friends of ours. Just really happy for him and the success that he's had."

It's not a surprise to hear Venables point out Heupel's toughness. That's something that many of Heupel's former teammates have pointed out at various times in the past.

Former Oklahoma tight end shares story about Josh Heupel's competiveness and toughness

"Just as as a team leader, he was a guy you could just count on him," said former Oklahoma tight end Josh Norman last year . "Because you saw what he went [through]. When I tell you that run to the national championship, those last three or four games, honestly, it was hard for him to throw the ball from me to that trash can. If you go watch the games, he always wore long sleeves. And it was because literally from his wrist all the way up to his armpit -- black and blue. He was jacked up."

"If you go back and watch the first game against Kansas State, shoot both games against Kansas State that year, they ran that 4-6 defense," added Norman. "They were bringing cover zero like 80 percent of the time. And the air raid ain't known for seven/eight man protections. You got five or six at the most. They were coming after him. And they were getting to him. He was getting the ball out, but they were lighting his tail up. And you see that -- literally like peeling him off the ground. And he'd just get up and you could just see the hurt and the pain in his face. But he'd look to the sideline, get the play, walk in the huddle, he'd call it, he'd make the play. He'd deliver every time. And just hearing that, it does something to you. So he was a great leader, man. We have so much respect for that dude. And that's the reason all of the guys that played with him just love seeing what he's doing even to this day."

Stories like that are why no one should be shocked that Heupel has turned Tennessee's football program around so quickly.

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