Vols take goal at Georgia: Expect to win SEC East

• Chris Low, ESPN Senior WriterJul 20, 2023

  , 07:55 PM ET Close College football reporter

• Signed up with ESPN.com in 2007
• Graduate of the University of Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn.– The Tennessee players at SEC media days on Thursday weren’t shy about voicing their objective for the 2023 season, a year eliminated from the Vols winning 11 games for the first time in more than two decades.That goal: Win

the SEC’s Eastern Department, which would indicate unseating two-time protecting nationwide champ Georgia.

“That first year, we hoped to win. Now, we anticipate to win … every game,” senior protective deal with Omari Thomas said. “There’s a distinction.

“Everybody on this team will inform you that we anticipate to win the East.”

That requires going through the Dawgs, who check out Knoxville on Nov. 18, the next-to-last week of the regular season.Editor’s Picks

2 Associated Last season

, Tennessee lost to Georgia, 27-13, in Athens. It was a raucous environment, and as rain started to fall in the 2nd half, the Vols wilted in the middle of the weather condition and the sound. They didn’t have an answer for a Georgia team that was more physical and prepared for the huge stage.Tennessee coach Josh Heupel stated his group found out a hard lesson from that game.” In some cases you’re not all set for that moment,”Heupel said.

“You believe you are, however you’re not. It’s not the huge things, however the little things and how to manage your emotions, all those things. You have actually got to gain from it and be better for it.”The momentum in and around Tennessee’s program– and expectations, too– haven’t spiraled to this level in more than twenty years, about the same time Heupel was playing quarterback at Oklahoma.A major part of those expectations surrounds rocket-armed quarterback Joe Milton III, who changes Hendon Hooker and has actually seen his stock soar this offseason with his performance at the Manning Passing Academy and NFL scouts suggesting he might be an early NFL first-round pick.Milton, entering his fifth season of college football after starting his career at Michigan, isn’t backing down from any of it– be it unseating Georgia or taking down Alabama and Florida for a 2nd straight season.And while Milton understands the Vols aren’t going to slip up on anyone this season and will undoubtedly be circled around on more than a few teams’ calendars, he has an all set answer.

“That’s what we signed up for, “he stated.”That’s what we have actually developed our group to be, and we’re going out there to make it occur.”Tennessee snapped a 15-game losing streak versus Alabama last season and beat Florida for only the second time in the previous 18 seasons. The Vols have to take a trip to both Tuscaloosa and Gainesville this season, meaning the schedule could be more menacing than a year ago.” We’re just playing a game that we enjoy and doing the important things we want to do, which’s winning the East,”Milton stated.” That’s something we’ve set our minds to which’s something we want to get done no matter what it takes.

“What Heupel has been most delighted with is that he hasn’t seen any complacency since the end of the Vols’advancement season.”There were terrific moments from in 2015, big wins, terrific triumph scenes, the Orange Bowl win. Definitely,” Heupel said.”However when we got back in January, no one was living in that. There was an increased sense of urgency, active competitiveness, more responsibility. “Now, you don’t understand at this time of year how that parlays itself on Saturdays in the fall, but it provides you an opportunity.”Senior tight end Jacob Warren matured in Knoxville, and his daddy, James, bet Tennessee in the early 1990s. He gets the passion of the Big Orange Nation and has seen it spill overboard at times, particularly with the Vols suffering through eight losing seasons in the previous 13 years before Heupel showed up. “Nobody has greater expectations than we do, and I understand individuals and all the fans believe they do. However nobody desires it more than we do, “Warren said.” And no one expects that we’re going to win more games than we do. We clearly appreciate the assistance, but nobody has greater expectations than we do, which’s the method it need to

be. “Heupel said just,”Our fan base is as enthusiastic as any, and you want to get on the right side of that enthusiasm. “It’s a fan base that can’t wait to see what Tennessee has for a repetition in Year No. 3 under Heupel, who tossed a little shade Texas’method with the Longhorns set to sign up with the SEC in 2024.”There’s just one UT, one right shade of orange, “Heupel said.If Tennessee’s players have their method, it’s a shade of orange that will be spread out throughout Mercedes-Benz Arena this Dec. 2 in the SEC national championship.