One of the biggest reasons that the Tennessee Vols didn't have as much offensive success in 2023 as they did in 2022 was due to a lack of explosive plays in the passing game.
In 2022, the Vols were No. 7 in the nation in yards per completion. In 2023, Tennessee was No. 58 in the nation in yards per completion.
Quite a drop off.
Vols offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle met with reporters on Tuesday, ahead of the start of fall camp, and he acknowledged that Tennessee was missing the "big play" last season because the offense was a "step off".
"Our message to the guys has been, because there's competition at every position right now, is we want to see everyone come out there and just cut it loose," said Halzle. "You have to cut it loose. That's where the big plays come from. That's what we lacked last year was the big play. And that's going to be a part of what we do again this year. And it's not for lack of taking the shots, but we just were a step off for whatever reason. That has been our entire thing. If you go out there, cut it loose. Whatever your job is on that particular play, let it rip at 100 miles an hour and positive things are going to happen. And that is our message to our entire team."
One reason why fans should be confident that the big plays from the offense will return in 2024?
Because the Vols have a new starting quarterback in Nico Iamaleava. And his skillset is different than Joe Milton's, which is something else that Halzle acknowledged on Tuesday.
"Joe had his own skill set and we catered to that," explained Halzle. "Nico has his own, you're going to cater to that. So whatever that ends up looking like as we get rolling, it's going to be fun to watch."
Halzle nor Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel will ever say it (and they shouldn't), but the biggest reason that UT's offense was a step off last season was because the program didn't receive elite quarterback play. It wasn't that Milton was bad -- leading a team to an eight win regular season in the SEC is something that not many UT quarterbacks have done over the last 15 years -- he just wasn't good enough to repeat the success that we saw from Tennessee's offense in 2022.
Fortunately for the Vols, it sounds like Halzle and Heupel are extremely confident in Iamaleava's abilities to take Tennessee's offense to where it was in 2022 (and possibly beyond that).
"He’s been very urgent, worked hard, understanding what we’re doing offensively, defensive schemes, the ability to control everything from the run game to protections to checks that we have inside of our offense," said Heupel on Tuesday when asked about Iamaleava.
It's shaping up to be another fun season for Tennessee football, though it seems that's starting to become the norm under Heupel.
Related: Josh Heupel offers positive update on one of the Tennessee Vols' biggest concerns ahead of the 2024 season
Local Tennessee State
Most Popular
Comments / 0