The 3 big questions that Tennessee Vols HC Josh Heupel avoided at SEC Media Days

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel spent most of Tuesday speaking with reporters and various media members at SEC Media Days.

Heupel, along with Tennessee's three player representatives -- Cooper Mays, Omari Thomas, and Keenan Pili -- field a litany of questions about multiple topics. Questions about Heupel's return to Oklahoma, along with questions about Vols redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava taking over as the starter this fall, were popular with the media on Tuesday.

Despite meeting with a wide variety of media members, Heupel managed to avoid three big questions that I thought he'd be asked at some point during SEC Media Days.

1. Josh Heupel wasn't specifically asked about Bob Stoops

Heupel fielded plenty of questions about his return to Oklahoma this fall (the Vols travel to Norman to take on the Sooners on September 21). But no one -- at least during any of the main media sessions --asked specifically about Heupel's relationship with former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops. Heupel, in case you don't remember, was let go by Stoops as Oklahoma's offensive coordinator after the 2014 season (despite the Sooners averaging 36.4 points per game). Stoops said in his book that letting Heupel go was one his worst days as a head coach. Heupel was Stoops' quarterback in 2000 when Oklahoma won the national championship. The relationship between Heupel and Stoops is believed to be "icy" to this day.

2. No one asked about the NCAA inquiry from earlier this year.

In late January, the NCAA's inquiry into Tennessee's NIL dealings was the biggest story in college football. And several members of the national media made the inquiry out to be a huge deal that was going to sink Tennessee.

A judge ruled against the NCAA a few weeks later and granted an injunction that prevents the NCAA from enforcing its NIL rules. A few months ago, I thought for sure that Heupel would be asked about this situation at SEC Media Days. But thanks to quick action from the state of Tennessee and a strong response from the leaders at UT, this story quickly faded into the background.

3. There were no questions about Nico Iamaleava's NIL deal

This one kind of goes along with the NCAA inquiry question. I figured Heupel would get at least one question about Nico's NIL deal, which was at the center of the NCAA inquiry. The NCAA tried to frame Nico's deal as a pay-for-play deal, even though the contract wasn't written as a "pay-for-play" NIL deal. Heupel likely would've given a non-answer to a question about Nico's NIL deal, but it's still a surprise that a reporter didn't try to get an on-the-record comment about it.

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