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Tennessee Volunteers

Josh Heupel shares why he’s not surprised the running game is so dominant

Andrew Peters

By Andrew Peters

Published:

Tennessee’s running back group has found its rhythm halfway through the season.

They helped Tennessee get to a big win over Texas A&M on Saturday when the pass game wasn’t doing much. They recorded 232 yards on the ground with Jaylen Wright leading the way with 136 yards.

For Josh Heupel, seeing the run game emerge this season wasn’t a surprise.

“In this game, it changes from year to year, and sometimes from week to week too and I did think that we had the chance to be a mature, physical football team up front,” Heupel said in his press conference Monday. “The 3 running backs that you alluded to all were playing their best football. They have the best understanding of what schemes were, fundamentally they were at their best, I thought they had a chance to be a group that can do a really good job in the run game and at the line of scrimmage.”

Tennessee fans are used to seeing big, explosive plays in the air from the Vols, but Heupel knows that their offense has always started on the ground.

“People have gotten caught up in the pass game numbers at times with us. Some of the explosive plays. But the bread and butter of what we do, it all starts with the run game.”

The Vols are hoping for another big game from their running backs on Saturday as Tennessee takes on Alabama.

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