If you study his history, there’s no debating Josh Heupel can coach up quarterbacks and the offensive side of the ball.

The big questions regarding the fate of Heupel’s success or failure at Tennessee come with the other side of the ball and recruiting.

Now that we know who Heupel has hired to coach up that side of the ball, the first-year Tennessee coach shared his thoughts on why the transition this offseason should be smoother than some expect and why recruiting should be a strength of this staff.

What is Tennessee getting in defensive coordinator Tim Banks, defensive line coach Rodney Garner, outside linebackers/special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler, linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary and secondary coach Willie Martinez?

A mixture of familiarity (Banks played for Martinez at Central Michigan) and SEC experience (Garner, Ekeler and Martinez have each worked at several SEC schools) that should help the Vols on the defensive side of the ball.

“For us as a staff, and as you assemble your 10 assistants, and just collectively, the balance that you want to have,” Heupel said on Monday. “Having some ties inside of this conference, knowing how it operates, knowing the landscape of it was important for me… When you’re bringing together a group of guys, some familiarity with who they are individually and some connections there, make the transition into that meeting room, the trust factor, is really important and I think we accomplished that as well.

“I think our players see how in sync those guys are and just how they operate and communicate and as they put in their scheme as well. So you put all those factors together I think that’s a big part of it, and then you know their SEC experience is important too. Just in that they have some ties in the recruiting world here to our footprint as well.”

If Heupel is correct, the side of the ball some fans were worried about when he was hired may turn out to be a strength instead of a weakness during the coach’s tenure.