KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee football officially reports for the start of preseason camp on Sunday, as head coach Josh Heupel will kick off his second season with the Volunteers’ media day at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Heupel will be followed at media day by defensive coordinator Tim Banks and offensive coordinator Alex Golesh. All three press conferences can be watched live on @Vol_Football Twitter and Facebook and Tennessee Athletics’ official YouTube page at YouTube.com/TennesseeAthletics.
Tennessee will hold its first practice of preseason camp on Monday morning— the first of four straight days of workouts. The Vols concluded their offseason program last week and will participate in their first team meeting of camp on Sunday evening.
Tennessee is one of the first teams in the nation to start camp since it opens the season on Sept. 1 in a special Thursday primetime game against Ball State in Neyland Stadium.
It’s been a positive offseason for the Vols, who retained nine of their 10 on-field assistant coaches from a season ago along with 62 letterwinners and 15 starters— eight on offense and seven on defense. In addition, 12 scholarship players have joined the roster since the conclusion of spring practice, including three transfers from Power Five programs. The list includes defensive backs Wesley Walker (Georgia Tech) and Andre Turrentine (Ohio State) and wide receiver Bru McCoy (Southern Cal).
This serves as Heupel’s fifth preseason camp as a head coach. All four previous seasons saw his offenses finish in the top 10 nationally in both scoring and total offense. Golesh enters his third straight season working alongside Heupel, while Banks is in his 16th season as a defensive coordinator.
Sixth-year senior quarterback Hendon Hooker serves as the leader of the squad. Hooker broke school records for completion percentage (68.0) and passing efficiency (181.4). He fired 31 touchdowns to just three interceptions and completed 206-of-303 passes for 2,945 yards.