Transcript of Josh Heupel at SEC Media days. It's too long (>20k characters) so I've broken it up between his opening remarks and the Q&A portion.
JOSH HEUPEL: I'd like to welcome to you Mid-State and the City of Nashville. Hope you guys have had a great week here, enjoying some music, enjoying Broadway and having some fun. This city and this area of the state, Mid-State, is extremely important to the success of Tennessee. It's a big part of our past success, as well, and a lot of great Vol fans and former players that call this place home, and so excited to see them. It's fitting that we are here today for SEC Media Day, because in 44 days we get an opportunity to kick off against Virginia right here in Nissan stadium. Looking forward to seeing everybody in Vol Nation show up in droves for that ballgame.
As I was getting ready for today, you know, just started writing down some notes last night and really started to reflect just on the past two years and what has transpired inside of our program at our university. And where we're come in such a short amount of time. When I took over two years ago, there was so much uncertainty that surrounded our program in late January, and because of the connection and accountability and the love and trust we've built inside of the building with our players and staff, we've been able to climb relatively quickly.
But to go back to that time, you know, we were a program that entered that fall with only 65 scholarships, the uncertainty of an investigation that was taking place on our campus. I said in a room just like this two years ago that it would be a speed bump for the program, our football program. And a few days ago, we found out that that certainly was the case.
We have navigated it in such a positive way because of the leadership that we have. Phenomenal leadership on our campus from President Boyd to Chancellor Plowman to our athletic director. We have been transparent and real and been able to close that narrative on our program and move forward.
I'm not sure that there's a better time to be a Vol. You look at the trajectory of our football program, what's happened over the last two years and where we are going, and the energy and excitement that surrounds our building every day, our fan base, Vol Nation across the country, but the success happening in each and every sport that resides inside of our athletic department. Phenomenal leadership with coaches and great student athletes that do things the right way. Our program has been player-driven from the very beginning. You guys have heard me say that before. It always will be. I think great seasons, championship seasons, happen because of the leadership and the accountability and connection that happens inside of the locker room. As I look back on our past success, that doesn't happen -- I talked about the 35 guys that left our program through the transfer portal right after I took over, we had a lot of guys that stayed, that first year, 65 scholarship guys. Those guys that chose to stay that were connected and cared about the Power T, that '21 and '22 class are going to be revered and remembered in an unbelievably unique way because they rebuilt the cornerstones of Tennessee football for the future. And that ends with an Orange Bowl win last year that we are certainly excited about. Parlayed itself into the success that we've had in the NFL Draft over the last two years. Ten draft picks over the last two years, one of the highest in the country; last year, five guys drafted in the top three rounds which is second in the country.
A lot of really unique things that are happening with their future inside of the game, but also what they are doing outside, the impact that they have had inside of our community. We have reset a team record every semester that I have been there. Last semester, we finished with 3.71 team GPA. Our kids are doing it right and having a lot of fun competing together on a daily basis.
Fortunate to bring three tremendous ambassadors for Tennessee football here today. Joe Milton, Omari Thomas and Jacob Warren. Omari and Jacob are residents of this state. They have grown up with the Power T being a symbol inside of this border. Joe obviously is a great leader and ambassador for our program. The tough thing about choosing three guys, you only get to choose three. We have a lot of great guys that are leaders inside of our program that are part of our leadership council that were not fortunate to be here. And couldn't bring them with us but they are also great representatives of our program.
Really a lot of special moments from a year ago. As we look back on the '22 season, a lot of special moments and things that our fan base will remember forever and players inside of our locker room will remember forever. At the same time, fell short of a lot of goals we set for our program. And I'm proud and excited for what our players have done since they have gotten back on campus in late January, their ability to reset and refocus and be ready to go accomplish a mission together. Individually grow but collectively get ready to go accomplish a mission. It's a group that's extremely hungry, they want more, expect more and we are certainly excited about embarking upon this '23 season.
Accountability and consistency has been one of the main things that we have focused on this year. In this conference you don't get any re-dos. You better show up every single Saturday or evening. You're going to play with great players, great coaches, and you have to be ready for those moments at home or on the road, and through that we have tried to increase our leadership and ownership from within our program. I talked about how important that is to me. I think that's where championship seasons lie.
The second thing is we have tried to become more physical. And when I say that, everybody thinks about the line of scrimmage, but it's really at every position and every person inside of our program continuing to grow in that way so we have the opportunity to be the most physical football team on the field every Saturday.
A ton of excitement surrounds our program. 71,000 season tickets sold. The energy is real inside and outside of our program. But as I said at the end of the Bowl game, the best is yet to come for Tennessee football. Excited about the journey for this group of guys in this '23 season and don't know that there's ever been a better time to be a Vol.
So with that I'll open it up for questions.
