Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel Talks Importance Of Red Zone Offense

Tennessee's head coach, Josh Heupel, talked about red zone offense and how to be more efficient inside of the red zone. A season ago, Tennessee ranked as the No. 80 red zone offense in college football with an 82.5% rate. Of their 63 redzone trips, Tennessee finished with 25 rushing touchdowns, 14 passing touchdowns, and 13 red zone field goals for a total of 52 scoring drives in the red zone.

Coach Heupel talks about the key to being a good redzone offense and how the Volunteers can improve.

“Some of last year was penalties where you get behind the sticks. You have to play smart football down there. The efficiency of the run game is a big part of that as well. If you are throwing the football, you have to be efficient with it as well,” said Heupel. “A lot of what takes place in the middle of the field is important in the red zone. It’s hypercritical in the red zone because space is condensed, and you have to be really efficient whether you are running the football or throwing it.”

A key position to redzone efficiency that can go a long way for the Volunteers is the tight ends and how they are utilised in the redzone. The best teams in college football use their tight ends as weapons in the red area wheteher it is blocking to open up running lanes or catching the ball and getting a mismatch against a linebacker. Coach Huepel talked about utilizing his tight ends and how they can help the offense

“Yeah, important for them to be in sync in the pass game. But as a tight end, you've got multiple things that you've got to do. They got to be elite at what we’re asking them to do in the run game, in the core, and then obviously in protection at times, as well,” said Heupel.

Will the Vols be more efficient in the red zone in 2025 with the veterans, youth, and talent they have at their disposal at tight end?