Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel made a decision this offseason -- actually a series of decisions -- that could lead to a championship for UT football.
Heupel, who is entering his fourth season as the Vols' head coach, was aggressive in his transfer portal approach this offseason. That doesn't mean the Vols went wild and tried to add just anyone to the roster -- culture fit is still of critical importance to Heupel and his staff -- but Tennessee added some elite talent to the roster at several key positions. And it's already paying off in one big way.
Competition.
Tennessee could've ignored the transfer portal and still had a deep wide receiver room -- especially with true freshmen Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley arriving this offseason. But the Vols chose to also add Tulane wide receiver Chris Brazzell to the roster despite already having a good amount of talent at the position.
Brazzell is a gamer who cares mostly about winning games. His addition, along with the additions of Matthews and Staley, has created a deep wide receiver room that's full of guys competing with each other for playing time.
"The competition has been really good," said junior wide receiver Squirrel White this week. "The defense, they are flying around making plays. We are getting each other better each and every day. Coming out there with a mindset of having fun out there, just playing from snap to whistle."
"Having Chris (Brazzell) come in and two freshmen (Matthews and Staley), the competition has been great," added White. "We have a pretty deep room. We are all battling for a spot, so we come in ready to work."
Tennessee wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope acknowledged this week that having Brazzell on the roster has led to other wide receivers stepping up their game this spring.
"We're fortunate to have him," said Pope when asked about Brazzell. "His presence here has been seen. And it's also forced some other guys -- they're stepping their game up because they see that there's real competition in that room."
It's not just the wide receiver group that's ripe with competition.
The Vols also added several defensive backs from the portal in an effort to gain length and athleticism, something Heupel knew the secondary needed.
"We knew that we had to continue to add athleticism length, playmaking ability in the secondary," said Heupel on Thursday night. "The guys that have come in here, that’s high school guys and transfer portal guys, you can see that as soon as you walk on the practice field with those guys. A lot of growth left for them within our scheme. Little details, nuances of the communication, but really like where that group’s heading. They’ve made plays and continue to compete at a really high level."
One consistent characteristic of championship teams is that they feature a healthy amount of intense competition at various positions. Heupel and his staff have worked hard to bring that level of internal competition to Tennessee. And based on what we're hearing this spring, it sounds like this could be the most competitive spring that Tennessee's had since Heupel's arrival.
And that's only going to lead to good things for the Vols this fall.
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