What Josh Heupel said about Tennessee vs. Kennesaw State on The Mike Keith Show

What Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel said during his Thursday appearance on The Mike Keith Show, previewing Saturday night’s game against Kennesaw State (7:45 Eastern Time, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium: The play of Tennessee’s offensive line at Georgia Tech “In general, pleased with a majority of what we’ve done. You rush for 300 yards, you don’t take that for granted. And that’s not just the offensive line. Tight ends are a huge part of that success, too, and obviously the running backs are doing a great job with the ball in their hands. There’s some things that we can still be better at — a couple communication things, some of our double teams, combinations working together. But all in all, feel good about what we’ve done. But want to see a lot of growth here early in the year. We should take another big step this Saturday.” How Tennessee sophomore David Sanders has performed at left tackle, after playing right tackle last season “Yeah, really natural. And a majority of his career he’s played at left, dating back to high school. Obviously last year was at right. But extremely comfortable and has done a really good job.” How much more confidence he has in Tennessee sophomore running back Daune Morris right now “A lot, but it starts with who he is. Just his mental approach every single day, the consistency that he’s had walking into the building. Really proud of the growth of the person. That parlays itself into growth of the football player. A much deeper understanding of our run schemes, of pass protections, assignment sound. On Wednesday he’s coaching up guys on the offensive field. You can hear his voice in the background when he’s not getting a rep. He’s just way more attentive and understanding of the details.” What he has seen from Tennessee sophomore receiver Radarious Jackson so far “Continuing to gain confidence in him, although we had great trust and confidence in him to begin with. He’s getting better as a young football player every snap that he gets out there. He’s done a great job here early part of the season. A young guy last year that was really coming on, gets hurt in the Georgia game, misses five, six weeks, has continued to grow from that point. And somebody that we got a lot of trust in.” Tennessee’s defensive line play through two games “I think early on they’ve played to the level that we expected from them. They’re playing violent and they’re playing disruptive. Some of our young guys, Mariyon Dye as an example, has continued to take really good steps here the early part of the season. Going to need the depth there as we go through the year. We want to see our young guys take another big step here this week.” How much time it takes for teams to find themselves in the transfer portal era, like Kennesaw State last season “Yeah, you’re starting over every January, truly. And good teams continue to get better throughout the course of the year. That’s the challenge for us, controlling the controllables. And I want to see us take a step. They’re a team and a program that’s won, I think, 12 out of their last 14 games. It’s a good football team. We need to show up with the competitive spirit that you need to have to go win on a Saturday. We need to play smart football here this Saturday night.” Kennesaw State coach Jerry Mack prioritizing speed while building his roster “Yeah, their wide receivers are electric. They can push the ball vertically down the field. Their quarterback (Rickie Collins) is truly a dual threat. He’s growing in the understanding of their pass game here the first couple of weeks. But when he tucks the football on design quarterback runs or scrambles, he’s dangerous out on the perimeter.” Where Tennessee can improve in Week 3 against Kennesaw State “First thing is not hurting ourselves (with) foolish penalties. I want to see us play clean, play smart. And then assignment and communication. Defensively, we have to be able to handle their tempo, get aligned, get our cleats in the ground. Offensively, recognize structures and play all eleven together.” It being a challenge to play defense at home at time because of the amount of noise made at Neyland Stadium “Well, we got a great home schedule. And I know our fans are gonna show up in a great way. Uh, we want them to be loud Saturday night here and be a part of this football game for sure.”