Vols Fine Tune Offense with Nine Days Til Kickoff

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – As game week and kickoff to the 2024 season draws near, the Vols offense continues to work and fine-tune its attack.

On Thursday, offensive coordinator Joey Halzle alongside quarterback Nico Iamaleava and veteran wide receivers Bru McCoy and Dont’e Thornton Jr. met with local media members following practice to discuss the team’s preparation for the new campaign.

“I like where we’re at offensively,” Halzle said. “Just thinking about it coming off the field today. I feel like we’re in a good spot. Guys know their roles, they’re playing hard. We have a lot of depth out wide, a lot of depth in the backfield and a lot of positions.”

The depth at wide receiver has been boosted by the return of a healthy McCoy.

“I have definitely made myself proud going through this process and getting done what I was able to get done,” McCoy said. “Obviously, it all leads up to what’s going on in a week and a half. I just think about the opportunity to get back in Neyland, to get back in the environment. To do what I love, being able to play freely and not worry about being an injured guy anymore.”

McCoy’s influence has been felt throughout the locker room, including his impact on Iamaleava.

“He has brought me along a long way,” Iamaleava said. “Learning from Bru how to carry yourself on and off the field, I feel like I’ve learned a great amount. Bru and I have always had a tight relationship, so I can’t wait to go out there and play with him on the field.”

Full comments from Halzle and quotes from Iamaleava, McCoy and Thornton Jr. can be viewed below.

Tennessee Football Press Conference | Aug. 22, 2024

Offensive Coordinator Joey Halzle

On where the team is offensively heading into game week…
“I like where we’re at offensively, just thinking about it coming off the field today. I feel like we’re in a good spot. Guys know their roles, they’re playing hard. We have a lot of depth out wide, a lot of depth in the backfield and a lot of positions. Feel pretty good about us taking the field and what we can do. Just like always, you’re cleaning up. It’s still this group of guys, this group of 11 taking the field has never played a game together, hasn’t played that much football together still, at this point. It’s always pushing to get those fine details corrected, get everything dialed in so when we take the field next Saturday, we look the way we’re supposed to look.”

On what the chemistry is like between Bru McCoy and Nico Iamaleava…
“The chemistry between Bru and Nico is great. They live close to each other, they’re really close off the field. They’re really good friends. Bru has been a great leader and mentor for Nico coming through, who’s stepping into a leadership position. Bru has done a really good job of helping bringing him along in all of the off-field stuff. On field, it’s reps. It’s how many times can you throw the same routes together. For Bru, he still runs his stuff the same way. He still makes the same breaks. Switching from one quarterback to the next, you still have to kind of go do your thing, see what the defense gives you, how you’re going to react to it, and the quarterback feeling how he’s going to read the route and them getting on the same page. That’s nothing but rep after rep after rep on the field. I know the guys, they spend a lot of time watching tape together. They watch (and say) alright, ‘How do you see this? How do you see this?’ and they can get synched up, kind of taking place for as you said, not having live bullets together.”

On balancing getting the players the plays and giving them advice through in-helmet communication…
“I think the reminders is the biggest thing where you can talk. You can just tell your quarterback, ‘you’re in four-down territory right now. We’re thinking field goal here if we don’t get it on third down,’ or ‘you have two downs here. We’re going to go for it, we’re going to go for the touchdown here. Hey, I’m giving you a shot in the end zone, don’t take a sack.’ You get those little quick bullet-point reminders that I think are going to be really helpful that, usually – and you still will – on Friday you go through with your guys. You’re sitting there talking through it. Well now, he doesn’t have to commit that all to memory. He’s got it, he’s studied it, but he also gets to hear it right before he snaps the ball again. I think that’s the biggest benefit you’re going to get along with hearing the play call. You still see the signal, you do all that, but you can hear a play call now and you’re getting it from two different channels. I think it’s going to be nothing but beneficial, but I do think it’s the situational reminders that is the biggest benefit. We’ll see how it actually plays out on gameday.”

On how different this group looks from a depth standpoint and the biggest question mark for the offense…
“The biggest thing for us is the depth we had. We were riddled with injuries last year, and we were young to start. Now, we have a lot of guys back. We have a lot of guys that have played football. The young guys that came in who haven’t played yet are really good players, which has done nothing but boost the competition level in the rooms. We feel good that we can roll two-deep out there at a lot of positions and feel really good about who is on the field and not have to adjust the calls off of it. Honestly, it’s how is this group going to gel together? That’s what we have to keep pushing for. That’s what every rep in practice, when the ones up there and they’re rolling, it’s still the first time they have run these plays together. It’s still the first time they’ve gone through a scout week together, gone through an opponent breakdown together. Just gelling and putting all of that together and the guys understanding that this extra week we have is not a write off. It’s a push to get to where we need to get next week.”

On how Dont’e Thornton Jr. and Bru McCoy have leaned on each other to recover from their respective injuries…
“I think it’s the culture in the building. You’ve seen it with the running back room as well for Cam (Cameron Seldon), who was out for a while this offseason. The guys push each other. You get a date when you can be back, and everyone is pushing to beat it. It becomes a competition. That’s what we tell the guys. You can’t go compete on the field right now in spring ball, but you can go compete in the training room and in the weight room to get yourself back. There’s still that competitive nature that exists inside of this building, which I think why guys like Bru, guys like Dont’e, guys like Cam, they’re all beating their dates back and they look great when they take the field.”

On the process that goes into preparing a young quarterback…
“Yeah, I think it’s one of the harder things to prepare someone for because they hear it all the time, but I don’t think you really know what it’s like to be the quarterback at a place like this until you are the quarterback at a place like this where everybody cares about every little thing that you’re doing, on and off the field. It’s just reminding him that hey, ‘you’re in a fishbowl, but the opinions outside this building don’t affect you. You go, you show up to work every day the same exact way and you handle your business.’ Now, we’ll see if he will go do that after 102,000 people watch you every single weekend, it’s a different animal, but he is wired the right way. Nico (Nico Iamaleava) is an extremely even-keeled kid, just in general. He doesn’t ride high or low, he just kind of is, so his natural demeanor, I think will lead very well to him handling the pressures of this position.”

On how many guys he envisions in the running back rotation…
“We love to play three or four. Even last year with Jaylen Wright leading the conference in rushing, three guys played and they played a lot. Dylan (Dylan Sampson) obviously is our seasoned guy that has the most reps, and what he is as a weapon we’ve all seen. But, the guys back, Cam (Cameron Seldon), Peyton (Peyton Lewis), Khalifa (Khalifa Keith), DeSean (De’Sean Bishop), all those guys, they’ve looked really good in spring, they’ve looked really good in fall camp and they’ve earned their chance to go show what they can do on the field. We’ll rotate guys through and then, just like in any ballgame, if somebody gets hot, you have to ride the hot hand and let him go.”

On the depth at wide receiver…
“The first thing I’ll say is the new season, which you’re anticipating playing, is a completely different animal. You have to play more guys. You have to play guys to keep them healthy. Seventeen weeks is a lot of weeks to play football, so like I said from the beginning, our young guys are really good players. We feel great about them. Our guys that have been around the building, we’ve got a great unit, old and young that can all go sub in. We’ve got multiple guys that are playing inside, outside, left side, right side, so with that we have a lot of depth that we can move guys around and get the right bodies in the right position. One, for play specific stuff, but two for when the inevitable football happens and someone has to step up, we feel like we do have a good opportunity to maintain the level that we need to maintain.”

On the possibility of a rotation script at wide receiver…
“Hasn’t been a thing we’ve done in the past, doesn’t mean that we couldn’t. It’s mostly just being intentional about this series, this guy is going in, we’re getting that guy out. One, to get the guy in that deserves to be on the field because he’s earned it and he’s played well in the offseason, and two, for the guy that is in, he needs to not take 95 snaps. He needs to come off and save his body, as well. It’s the long game. It’s playing guys as much as you can so you can play them more. If you burn somebody out in eight weeks, man those last eight or nine weeks there’s still a lot of football left and it’s the time of year where you have to go try and win some hardware. It is the long game, you could script it, but it’s mostly just being intentional. This guy gets this many and then he’s out. This guy gets this many and he’s out and then the next one is in and you’re rotating them through like that.”

On Nico Iamaleava’s preparation to run the tempo that they want to run…
“The kid grasps football, is the best thing to say. I know that sounds like an obvious statement, but he understands what you’re trying to accomplish. He feels space, he feels timing, he understands what’s going on, just innately. The kid gets football and he studies really hard. His offseason preparation is really, really good. It’s older than he appears to be. Because of that, I feel like he’s grasped it well. He goes out there to take the field and you don’t feel like you have a freshman quarterback that’s never done it full-time before. You feel like you’re in there, you’re not pulling him back, you’re not holding back from anything, you’re just letting the kid go play. That’s when he’s at his best when you just cut that guy loose and kind of enjoy watching.”

On Halzle’s assessment of the offensive line and how much work the first five have gotten together…
“We have. I feel like the offensive line is in a great spot. A lot of veteran guys on that line, which is the one thing you want when you are starting a young quarterback. For as much as Nico – I do think is an elite player, which he is, he prepares well, he has that old soul, that even keel – you have five dudes that have played a lot of football in front of you, it’s a different animal. Coop (Cooper Mays) is going to get you in the right check. Your guys aren’t going to bust upfront and put you in bad positions. Having those guys upfront, gelling as a unit, with all the experience they have, it does nothing but help our guy back there.”

RS-Freshman QB Nico Iamaleava

On how Bru McCoy has helped mentor him…
“He has brought me along a long way. Learning from Bru how to carry yourself on and off the field, I feel like I’ve learned a great amount. Bru and I have always had a tight relationship, so I can’t wait to go out there and play with him on the field.”

On what he knew about Bru McCoy growing up in California… 
“When I was younger, I thought Bru was the greatest high school player of all time. First guy I’ve ever seen play receiver and D-end at the same time. Seeing him come off the edge and have five sacks and then go score three touchdowns right after was crazy for me to watch. Bru has always been a top player of mine.”

On how he feels about his receiver corps… 
“I’ve been able to get reps with our whole receiving room. I feel like that whole receiving room can go; we have a lot of pieces that gel well. We can’t wait to go out there in Week 1 and show you what we’ve been working on.”

On his chemistry with Cooper Mays and the offensive line…
“Me and Cooper (Mays), we talk every day. I’ve gotten into a lot of protection stuff, sliding protection where I want it slid, and if Cooper doesn’t like that certain slide, he will let me know why and we will watch the film together. I feel like Cooper and I have created a good relationship on that part. I’ve got a great relationship with the whole O-line. I think we have one of the top O-lines when we are healthy, and we are gelling well right now.”

On his NIL deal with Beats and giving back to his teammates…
“I go to work every day with these guys, and I felt like giving back and showing my appreciation to them. That is just one gift. We’re working towards something bigger. It felt good to give back.”

On how he prepares for the tempo his coaches expect…
“I feel like I’ve got a great grasp of it over the fall and spring. I think the tempo part, we use that as a weapon. Every day, we are working on pushing our tempo.”

On who he has talked to about playing quarterback at Tennessee…
“Really only Joe (Milton) and Hendon (Hooker), those are the two guys I’ve talked to. Going into college, I talked to Bryce (Young) and CJ (Stroud) about what it takes to play at this level. Joe and Hendon recently have been the guys who have mentored me.”

On the in-helmet communication…
“I think it’s great. We can make sure of my keys and the play calling. Adding the mic in the helmet is great for us.” 

On building a connection with Bru McCoy…
“It’s been great. Bru is one of the hardest workers I know. I see him every day go out there and work and put his head down. It makes me want to get out there and work even harder. It’s definitely exciting to see him get back into his own. I feel like that five (number) will bring him back to his high school days. Hopefully, we will get to show you our connection.”

On the veteran status of the offensive line…
“We have a lot of young guys in the O-line room mixed with veterans, and having those veterans in the room is going to not only help us now, but also in the future getting the younger guys up to speed with the offense. It’s been great.”

On Dont’e Thornton Jr.’s improvement over the offseason…
“He’s more confident in the offense, outside and inside. He is more comfortable being in the offense, getting that first year under his belt just like me. It takes some time to get this offense really down. I feel like Dont’e has looked great in the fall and the spring. He had a great fall camp, and I can’t wait to watch him go out there and work.”

On Jaxson Moi and representing the Polynesian culture at Tennessee…
“It feels great. Jaxson coming in with (Keenan Pili) and myself being the only Polynesians here, so adding another one. There are three of us now, so it feels great. Jaxson was a great piece to add for us. He gels well with everybody in the locker room. That’s definitely my guy.”

On the tight end room…
“We have a good tight end room. All three of them can go, so I’m excited. They are big bodies and big targets that I love throwing to. Especially down in the red zone, being able to use all three of them in packages if we have to. Them being on the field down in the red zone will be big for us.”

RS-Senior WR Bru McCoy

On being a mentor to Nico Iamaleava and what he has done to grow in the offense… 
“A lot of help trying to manage pressure that comes with a lot of expectations. Nico has done a great job with how he has carried himself. I tried to help show him an easier path to not make similar mistakes. To create good habits and set daily goals that have helped me, since I am an older guy. I am trying to get him to skip some steps and learn a lesson.”

On catching the first few passes from the quarterbacks and how their connection has grown…
“You start to build your confidence back. You start to build a connection with them. They start to understand how you run routes and how you come out of the top of a route. They understand the decision-making process, so those first few passes are the beginning of starting to build a foundation of confidence. You then have the entire camp to keep building on that, and now you have a mock game week and another week to keep building.”

On what he has learned about himself and how much he’s thought about playing again…
“I’ve learned I can do anything I put my mind to. I’m hard-headed and resilient. When I say I am going to do something, I am going to do it. I will find a way to trap it down and find a way to get it done. I have definitely made myself proud going through this process and getting done what I was able to get done. Obviously, it all leads up to what’s going on in a week and a half. I just think about the opportunity to get back in Neyland, to get back in the environment. To do what I love, being able to play freely and not worry about being an injured guy anymore.”

Senior WR Dont’e Thornton Jr.

On his comfort level playing receiver on the outside…
“I feel like being on the outside was starting to click for me a lot (last season) before the injury. I feel a lot more comfortable with it now since I’ve had a whole year in this offense. I also feel like I’ll be comfortable wherever the team needs to put me up, but I definitely feel comfortable outside.”

On the areas of his game that have improved since last season…
“The No. 1 area I have improved the most would be my mental game. Not letting the low plays or the lowlights in the game affect me as much. And then I would say my overall route running and intermediate route running, I feel like I’ve improved on that a whole lot this offseason.”

On the competition in the receiver room…
“In our receiver room, we have a great bond in there. Every weekend, we always get together, always talk and stuff like that. I feel like the fact that our room is so deep and we have so many good receivers in there, it makes the competition even better. If we got out to practice and (Chris Brazzell II) makes a play, you have (Bru McCoy) trying to make a play, then me, (Kaleb Webb), (Chas Nimrod) and (Squirrel). In a way, even though it’s so competitive because we have so many people in there, it’s making us better because we’re all trying to make more plays.”