Kentucky football: Five things to know about the Tennessee Volunteers

We’re a little late with this, but what the hey, here are five things to know about Kentucky football’s Saturday opponent, the not-so-neighborly Tennessee Volunteers:

1. Mark Stoops’ brother once fired Tennessee’s head coach

Josh Heupel was once Bob Stoops’ quarterback and later offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. Now Tennessee’s head coach, Heupel transferred from Weber State and Snow College to Oklahoma, where he was runner-up for the 2000 Heisman Trophy. He began his coaching career as a grad assistant at Oklahoma and then was tight ends coach for Mike Stoops at Arizona in 2005. Mike Stoops’ defensive coordinator was a fellow named Mark Stoops.

Heupel returned to Oklahoma as Bob Stoops’ quarterbacks coach in 2006. He was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2011. But after a 8-5 season in 2014, which concluded with a 40-6 loss to Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl, Bob Stoops let both Heupel and co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell go.

Heupel landed as offensive coordinator at Utah State and later Missouri before being named UCF head coach in 2018, replacing Scott Frost, who had moved on to Nebraska. Heupel was 28-8 in three seasons at UCF. When former UCF athletics director Danny White took over at Tennessee, he hired Heupel in 2021 to replace Jeremy Pruitt.

Under Heupel, the Vols are 23-10 overall and 12-8 in the SEC.

2. Quarterback Joe Milton has a power arm

You might have seen the YouTube video. There’s Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton throwing a football 80 yards at the Manning Passing Academy this summer.

The Michigan transfer is in his first season as UT’s starting quarterback. Milton was the Vols’ starting quarterback at the start of 2021 but lost the job to Hendon Hooker. When Hooker tore his ACL in last November, Milton engineered wins over Vanderbilt (56-0) and Clemson (31-14).

This season, the Florida native has completed 140 of his 223 passes (62.8%) for 1,535 yards and 12 touchdowns with four interceptions. He ranks 62nd nationally in pass efficiency with a rating of 134.77. UK’s Devin Leary ranks 75th with a 130.19 rating.

3. Tennessee’s best receiver is named Squirrel

Squirrel White leads Tennessee in receiving. You read that correctly. Marquarius Malik White, nicknamed “Squirrel,” leads the Vols with 39 catches for 416 yards and one touchdown.

White is coming off his best game of the season. He caught 10 balls for 111 yards and one score in UT’s 34-20 loss to Alabama in Tuscaloosa. That topped his excellent night against South Carolina in which White caught nine passes for 104 yards in the Vols’ 41-20 drubbing of the Gamecocks.

4. Don’t sleep on Tennessee’s run game

As Mark Stoops pointed out in his Monday press conference, the Vols are incredibly balanced offensively. Tennessee is averaging 217.3 yards rushing per game and 220.86 yards passing.

Running back Jaylen Wright ranks fourth in the SEC in rushing yardage at 539. He’s averaging 84.71 yards per game. Teammate Jabari Small is averaging 54.71 yards per game. Dylan Sampson is averaging 50.17 yards per game. Sampson has scored six touchdowns this season.

What makes Tennessee’s run game difficult to defend?

“What makes it so hard, No. 1, is that they get explosive runs because of the (wide splits by the wide receivers),” Stoops said Thursday. “The run support is almost removed. ... They do a nice job both with zone and with gap schemes to create some runs and getting there backs to the second level and third level. And they’re very talented backs.”

4. Watch out for James Pearce Jr.

Tennessee sophomore James Pearce Jr. is tied for second in the SEC with Alabama’s Dallas Turner in sacks with 7.0. They trail only Mississippi State’s Nathaniel Watson, who has 7 1/2. Pearce ranks eighth nationally in both total sacks and sacks-per-game at 1.0.

Pearce is a 6-foot-5, 242 pound sophomore from Charlotte, North Carolina. He has twice been SEC Defensive Linemen of the Week this season — after nine quarterback pressures in the win over South Carolina and after five quarterback pressures in the 20-13 victory over Texas A&M.

Pro Football Focus has Pearce with the best grade among SEC defensive ends at 91.2.

5. Even the worst Tennessee coaches have beaten UK

Longtime Knoxville News Sentinel columnist John Adams picks Tennessee to beat Kentucky 31-13 on Saturday night. His reasoning? Even the worst Vols head coaches eat Kentucky.

Examples: Pruitt beat UK his first two seasons before losing in his third. Interim coach Jim Chaney beat UK 37-17 in 2012. Butch Jones was 4-0 vs. Kentucky from 2013-16 before being fired after losing to UK in 2017.

Here’s one John left out: On Nov. 14, 1992, Johnny Majors announced he was resigning under pressure as Tennessee’s coach. A week later, the Vols beat Bill Curry and Kentucky 34-13.

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