Tennessee football: Five takeaways from Vols at 2022 SEC Media Days

1. Josh Heupel willing to discuss rules changes beyond NIL

While he backed off of NIL discussions, Josh Heupel was not beyond proposing rules changes, and many were specific. This mostly came after his media session on the podium, but he was specifically discussing the recruiting calendar and players faking injuries, the latter of which is personal to Tennessee football fans.

Sticking with those injuries, this came in Heupel’s outside media session that we already mentioned. He was asked about the SEC’s proposed rules change to start the clock at the ready for play signal after incomplete passes, and that’s when he brought it to injuries. Here’s what he said when making that transition.

"“They’re trying to make it more consistent for TV time. I get it. But why don’t we start with fake cramps?”"

Part of that was clearly a dig in jest at Lane Kiffin an the Ole Miss Rebels, who beat the Vols last year and got accused of faking injuries. That was the infamous fans throwing debris game, and Kiffin trolled UT earlier in the week about that by saying he’s signed mustard bottles and golf balls. Heupel had his own comments on that while on the podium and defended the fans.

"“Maybe wish I had had a golf ball that night, you know what I mean? I’m only kidding. It was a great, competitive atmosphere, man. That’s college sports as good as it gets. Just the energy and electricity inside of that stadium for 59 minutes, man, it was special.”"

Anyway, beyond the jokes that alluded to rules changes, Heupel was also serious about a recruiting calendar. This isn’t a bad idea, as it would not cause coaches to lose an advantage when choosing to focus on their own players while recruiting others. Here’s what he said on that.

"“We need a [recruiting calendar] that makes sense for the space in which we’re operating. The NFL doesn’t draft and do free agency and the season at the same time. Recruiting is only half of the deal. We need to actually be with our current players, too.”"

Taking all this into account, Heupel is clearly more confident and willing to address things that need to be done with the sport, and he’s right on both fronts, even if one of them was in more of a joking way. It’s something that seriously needs to be addressed going forward.

Perhaps these things will be brought up more if Heupel builds more cache by winning at a high level with Tennessee football, and he certainly seems on track to start doing that soon. What’s clear, though, is that the Vols are in a good position with him, and this year’s SEC Media Days proved that more than ever.