Everything Josh Heupel said after Tennessee’s 45-26 win over Syracuse to open season

What Tennessee Football coach Josh Heupel said after the Vols opened the 2025 season with a 45-26 win over Syracuse Saturday afternoon in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta:

Opening Statement 

“First of all, I just want to thank everybody here at Aflac. Tremendous opportunity for us to come down here and play. Everybody associated with the peach bowl, Gary Stokan and his entire staff, do a great job all year long too. Appreciate everybody, great venue, appreciate our fans coming out the way that they did. And at the end of the day it was great to get a win today. Good start. A lot of positives, a lot of things that we’re going to have to clean up as well. But proud of the way that our guys came out and competed for the most part. Some of the Game 1 issues, how they can show up, just substitutions, those types of things, I thought in all three phases handled that pretty well. 

Seeing Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar in a game setting, his composure, taking hits and staying in the game

“He is who he was on the practice field. Just very even keel and composed. 

And I thought he handled the operation extremely well in the football game. And just very steady. And that’s a testament to who he is, who he is as a person and he certainly handled that way today too. So it’s a really good start for him. You look at him, a guy that has come in in three and a half months, whatever it might be, and to be able to learn, grasp and play the way he did today, it’s a testament to his work.”

Joey Aguilar converting on third-and-10 on Tennessee’s first two possessions

“I thought the third-down conversions early in the football game were a big part of how the game was played out in the second half. And from him being decisive, decision making and accurate with the throw, our guy is executing up front and on the perimeter. First ball game, that was a real positive early in the football game.”

Tennessee having to rely on freshmen like Ty Redmond and Jaedon Harmon after suffering injuries on defense 

“Yeah, young guys that didn’t have time to be young. Certainly in this one, you’re playing a really good opponent. I thought the biggest testament to them is nobody had any hesitation of playing those guys. You look at guys on special teams, offense, defense, that got their first action. Maybe it’s a true freshman or first time starting. I thought they handled themselves extremely well throughout the course of the football game and made adjustments throughout it as well.”

Joey Aguilar’s 73-yard touchdown pass to Braylon Staley

“Protection was good on that one. Braylon did a great job getting on top of the defense. Joey threw the deep ball well today. There’s some things that we can be better at, him and our skill and some things on the protection piece too on a couple of them. But it was good to see us hit some down-the-field shots today. And it’s got to be a part of who we are as we move forward. But Braylon played well. I thought all the wide outs handled themselves extremely well today.” 

Colton Hood’s first game at Tennessee, balancing Hood, Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson III at corner later in the season

“Yeah, the strength in one position group can never be one guy. Colton has come in, he’s handled himself with great maturity, blended into the fabric of the culture of our football team extremely quickly. He’s smart, he’s competitive, cares about the people around him, great teammate. It was great to see him go out there and, obviously make a huge play in the football game, but play well throughout the course of it.”

What he saw from Tennessee’s offensive line

“Yeah, heading into game one, some different things that they had shown defensively throughout the course of last year, anticipating with what the personnel, being new, what could it be? Those guys had a lot on their plate in preparation for this game. Left to right, I thought they played really well. There’s some things fundamentally that, at times, we’ll clean up to be a little bit more effective on some of our combinations. But all in all is a really good day from those guys. And that’s in the run game but also in the protection world.”

What trait from this Tennessee team characterized this win

“All we’re trying to do is be the best football team on the field every Saturday. Good teams continue to get better. This is the beginning of our journey. We’ve got a long ways to go. Don’t ever take them for granted. Celebrate it. Enjoy it in the locker room tonight. And we get back on Monday. It’ll be time to get better. 

“And I think we got really strong leadership. We really do. It’s a locker room full of great, I’m going to call them kids, they’re not kids, but great guys. And it’s fun being around them. And there’s a maturity to them as well. I was talking to a couple of guys when we were walking the band afterwards, and they were excited about the win. It’s important to enjoy them. It’s something I didn’t do, probably young in my career enough. Never take them for granted. But at the same time, it’s a group that recognizes, man, we’ve got to continue to get better. So they continue to have that trait and come into the building with the mindset that they’ve had since we started, this team’s got a chance to continue to get better.”

How impressed he’s been with his team’s leadership from the end of spring to now

“Adversity can divide you or it can ultimately bring you closer together too. This is a close group. It doesn’t matter in a position room, a unit room, or the other side of the football. They care about each other and they also expect and demand the right things from each other as well. If you want to have a special team, your locker rooms got to be wired that way. Can’t just be coach driven. We spent a lot of time in our off-season trying to develop that. And these guys have taken great ownership of our football team.”

Tennessee RB transfer Star Thomas strong performance

“Yeah, we got great trust in really all of our backs that are in that room. There’s six guys in that room that are wired the right way and believe in them on special teams, but on the offensive side of the ball, the ability to play with the ball in their hands, play out in space, but also in protection too. Star had a great night, obviously, touchdown reception on scramble drill. Did a great job with some of the subtle details that go into playing the game at a really high level. And I thought he did a really good job in the run game, pressing and making cuts. DeSean played well. Peyton did too. I really like that group. They come to work every day and I’m excited about them.”

Tennessee freshman right tackle David Sanders missing the game, timetable on his return

“Just late in practice on Wednesday kind of got nicked up. Anticipated him being able to play. This morning, our medical staff just felt like it probably wasn’t the right thing to do. We are always going to be mindful of our guys and their health. If they get cleared they’re ready to roll and we’ll go play with them. It was hard for David when he got that news. He anticipated being ready to play. There’s a lot of work he’s put into it. I thought he handled it extremely well. Great teammate today and I anticipate him being back as we get going next week.”

Colton Hood’s fumble return for a touchdown to put Tennessee up 17-0

“Yeah, momentum play. We talked about third downs, conversions offensively early, defensively, Nate Robinson applying pressure and Colton scooping-and-scoring. It just changed the way the game was played early in the football game and started off the second half with a big turnover, too. Telander, great pick. I think J-Mac (Jalen McMurray) got a tip on the ball. So there was a lot of great things that showed itself defensively. There’s some things that we gave up too. Some things that in our zone principles we can match out better. Third and fourth down conversions and I think it’s a football team, one of the things that we need to get better at is just playing for 60 minutes. I felt like we just dipped a little bit in the second half, and there’s a fine line in this game. You got to be on the right side of it, that competitive edge, and you gotta be able to sustain it for 60 minutes.”

The contingent of Tennessee fans in Atlanta

“We got the greatest fan base in college sports. I was looking out my hotel room last night. Bunch of orange walking around, you saw it this morning. Could feel it when we walked into the hotel yesterday. Our fans show up, they travel, they’re passionate, they care. 365 days out of the year. And that’s what makes us such a special place. The fan base is as good as it gets. And it’s always been a dream of mine to be a part of something that people care about, and they certainly do in a big way here.”

Arion Carter’s performance

“AC, infectious leader. You look at him primarily as a running back in high school. His continued growth and development with Coach Inge and our staff. Those backers are the first guys in the building. And it pains me to say that, being a quarterback coach because it’s always been the quarterbacks, but they’re there early. And then they found a way to bring that entire group with them. It’s awesome to see the investment, the leadership that they have. It’s a special group and AC is certainly a leader of that group and expect him to play with his hair on fire every Saturday. It’s what he does every day on the practice field. He’s a pro in the way that he approaches.”