Tennessee first-year football coach Josh Heupel is excited on multiple fronts about the trip at the end of the month to the Music City Bowl.
Just don’t expect a breakdown any time soon on the opposing Purdue Boilermakers.
“To be honest, I haven’t started down that track too far,” Heupel said Saturday during his first news conference since the 45-21 win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 27 concluded a 7-5 regular season for his Volunteers. “There have been enough other things going on.”
At the forefront of Heupel’s agenda is the early signing period that starts Wednesday. The Vols have 19 public commitments, having collected their 19th nonbinding pledge Friday afternoon from four-star receiver Kaleb Webb out of McEachern High School in the Atlanta suburb of Powder Springs.
When Heupel became Tennessee’s coach in late January after the termination of Jeremy Pruitt, he was still four months away from the NCAA lifting the lengthiest dead period in history due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Now it’s a different world, as prospects have attended Saturday games and are also allowed to visit bowl practices.