Last year, Tennessee won 11 games for the first time since 2001, including a historic home win against Alabama. With that win, expectations are high at Tennessee for coach Josh Heupel.

However, the Volunteers have many new players filling in for key players from last season, and execution on the offensive side of the ball is extremely important.

“On the offensive side of the football, at the end of the day, execution is paramount,” Heupel said. “It doesn’t matter how fast you play if you aren’t executing. I think in openers, all 3 phases of the game, you have a game plan. Everybody has had like 7 months of an opportunity to subtly change who they are. Personnel is going to be different. You have to do a really good job of adjusting and our staff and players have to do a good job adjusting.”

One of the players returning for Tennessee is offensive lineman Cooper Mays, who has started 19 consecutive games for the Volunteers. He has been out the past couple of weeks with an injury, and his status, according to Heupel, is still in the air.

“We will find out here as the week goes on his availability in this one,” Heupel said. “We have had 2 and a half, 3 weeks of different guys having the opportunity to play on the interior if he can’t go, and we feel really confident in those guys.”

The game Saturday marks the first game for Virginia since the terrible tragedy that saw 3 players lose their life last November.

Heupel and his team will honor those players before and during the game.

“It was a horrific tragedy that took place on their campus,” Heupel said. “They’ve had a long time to try and grow through that, and you recognize what happened. There will be a moment of silence before the game and we will wear a decal of the three individuals who lost their lives on the back of the helmet.”