Forgive Josh Heupel for being a bit sentimental, whether he displays it or not, as he takes Tennessee into Saturday's football game at Missouri.
Heupel would not be coaching the Volunteers had he not been successful during his two seasons as Tigers offensive coordinator in 2016-17. He received his first head-coaching opportunity at the University of Central Florida after the 2017 season and was hired at Tennessee this past January.
"The success that we had has played a huge part in taking over a program," Heupel said Wednesday. "There had been struggles in the previous year, and we had to build the culture really from the ground up. In our second year, we got hot at the end and started playing good football, and in particular on offense.
"It was an awesome two years for myself and my family."
Missouri's 2015 team under 15th-year coach Gary Pinkel got off to a 4-1 start but lost six of its final seven games to wind up 5-7 overall and 1-7 in Southeastern Conference play. The Tigers were anemic on offense that year, failing to tally 14 points seven times against league opposition and being held to a lone field goal on three occasions.
Heupel instantly upgraded things under first-year head coach Barry Odom in 2016, when the Tigers went from 124th nationally in total offense to 13th. Missouri went 4-8, though the Tigers did prevail twice in SEC competition, and the 2017 team won its final six regular-season games to reach the Texas Bowl.
Missouri quarterback Drew Lock set an SEC record with 44 touchdown passes in 2017, but Heupel said he never showed patience during his two seasons in Columbia, and he's not displaying it now.
"I don't want to be patient," Heupel said. "We want to be as good as we can as fast as we can. We did grow at every position, but as a coach, you don't want to be patient. You're pushing for it every single day, even though there is a growth process."
AP photo by L.G. Patterson / Josh Heupel, Missouri's offensive coordinator at the time, watches the Tigers' spring game on April 16, 2016, in Columbia. Heupel held the same role for the Tigers in 2017 before becoming a head coach for the first time at the University of Central Florida, where he worked for three seasons before taking over at Tennessee in January.Where is Beckwith?
Five Tennessee running backs have received carries this season, with Tiyon Evans and Jabari Small the top tandem and Jaylen Wright, Marcus Pierce and Len'Neth Whitehead also getting rushes.
The next carry for Dee Beckwith this year will be his first. The 6-foot-5, 227-pound redshirt freshman from Florence, Alabama, played in the final three games last season and had two rushes for 24 yards in the 42-17 win at Vanderbilt.
"He's continuing to develop," Vols running backs coach Jerry Mack said. "We're continuing to bring him along, and he's continuing to grow. Some guys take a little bit longer to grow and develop in the system. We've got two guys right now playing at a really high level, but he's still with us and he's still in the rotation at practice at times.
"He's really just fighting and working his way up the depth chart to continue to make sure he's the best version of himself."
All-around threat
Tennessee can expect Missouri senior running back Tyler Badie to get the ball early and often this weekend.
The 5-8, 194-pounder from New Orleans leads the Tigers with 104.3 rushing yards per game and 6.3 yards per carry, and his 20 receptions also top the team. Badie has averaged 8.8 yards per catch and has five touchdowns rushing and three via receptions.
"I think he's got versatility in what schemes he can run, whether it be our inside zone or outside zone or our gap schemes," Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "He's got versatility in the pass game. He does a really good job of picking up pressures and then getting out and running routes and being a matchup problem for a linebacker.
"If he runs a route, you've got to play man-to-man on him, and if you're in zone, he can get out and is able to sit in the holes."
Addressing flags
In their two games against Power Five opponents, which resulted in losses to Pittsburgh, 41-34, and Florida, 38-14, the Vols have committed 23 combined penalties for 219 yards.
"Some of it has been personnel, and some of it has been playing smarter," Heupel said. "Some of it has been handling crowd noise. Some of the issues against Pitt were different from some of the issues in the last game, but at the end of the day, we've got to play disciplined football.
"I think it's important that the things that you do off the field ultimately end up being a part of what you do on the field."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.