The 2024 Kentucky football season is right around the corner. You’ve kept close tabs on what’s happened around Mark Stoops’ program. Now KSR is speaking with folks who closely cover the opponents Kentucky will face this fall.
We’re beginning this summer series by speaking with Austin Price, a veteran insider for On3’s Volquest. Yes, Tennessee football is the worst, but Price is a fine fellow who’s covered the Vols for years and was kind enough to share his insight on this year’s team and what that fanbase thinks of its rival to the north.
For Tennessee to get where it wants to go, what has to happen this year?
Price: They’ve got to have a couple of guys stay healthy. I think OL Cooper Mays, it’s paramount that he stays healthy. He missed the first part of last year. They were totally different as an offense when he wasn’t in there, that first month of the year.
Then I think LB Keenan Pili unlocks a ton on defense. They lost him in the Virginia game last year at the start of the season. I mean, he’s 26, 27 years old. He’s old, right? If you’re old enough to rent a car… that’s always my joke. He brings such an athletic component to the linebacker spot and experience to the linebacker spot. If he can stay healthy and if Cooper can stay healthy, I think both sides of the ball have a chance to really flourish this fall.
Tennessee comes in kind of — almost boring. Like, no one’s talking about them and I think that’s probably a good thing for Josh Huepel. They’re just kind of like, everybody expects them to be good, but no one’s talking about them for the playoff and stuff like that. I think, for them, that’s a good thing. They kind of fly under the radar a little bit, minus the Nico (Iamaleava) effect.
Is this the most preseason hype for a QB since Peyton Manning?
Price: Yeah, I would say so. There was a little bit of hype for Hendon (Hooker) two years ago, just coming off how he closed 2021, but nothing like this. No one saw 10-2, I mean, they hadn’t won more than eight games in a regular season since 2007 when they went to the SEC Championship Game, the last time they went to the SEC Championship Game.
But yeah, it’s the most (hype) since Peyton. I mean, maybe you could go back to the Casey Clausen teams in 2001, 2002, 2003, but there wasn’t hype about Casey. It was about everybody around him.
Nico, he carries such an aura about him, right? And it’s the pajamas when he was playing 7-on-7. It’s just everything. Tennessee fans are all in on him and rightfully so. To me, he’s the great litmus test NIL-wise. If he performs like everybody expects him to, then everybody’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, here, take my money. Give me another one.’
He showed enough flash in that bowl game and I think he can only go up from there. I think he processes things much like Henden did which was really, really fast. That gives them a chance this fall.
What’s the secret sauce to Heupel’s offense and is there a worry that others might figure it out eventually? It feels like there are no answers for it.
Price: The only team that really kind of solved it is Georgia and Georgia has got 40 defenders that can start for anybody. I think a lot of it is that and some of it’s coaching, absolutely. Because Kirby’s a great football coach and they’ve done a really good job on the defensive side of the ball. But some of it’s just athleticism and talent.
But you’re right. I don’t know if there is a secret. A lot of it’s spacing, it’s timing. It doesn’t matter who the running back is. They seem to always pop big runs. I mean, you look at the Kentucky game last year and that was Tennessee’s third-string tailback that kind of just took over the game there in the second half, Dylan Sampson, he’ll be Tennessee’s starter this year. What (Heupel) did with Jabari Small was really impressive. Obviously, Jaylen Wright had a phenomenal year last year.
I think that’s the one position on this team that’s kind of like, you go into the season where they’re just not real deep there and they’re sure not experienced. You got Dylan Sampson, who’s a sprained ankle away from it being (down) to a true freshman early on in the year, or a former walk-on in Desean Bishop, and that could get you in a pickle. But at the same time, the quicker that Cam Seldon heals, let’s see what Peyton Lewis has where he had to miss spring. It could be a deeper position than you think, but right now it certainly feels like you gotta wrap Dylan Sampson in bubble wrap.
What’s the game Tennessee fans have circled on the schedule?
Price: Alabama. I think Tennessee fans see blood in the water in Tuscaloosa. I caution that. Alabama is still gonna be Alabama. Now, are they gonna only lose one conference game every three or four years? Probably not. That’s not realistic, but I think they’re still gonna be really good. I think it’s that game because it’s at home.
As far as early in the year, I would say Oklahoma. I think that’s a big one. It’s a big one for Heupel, going back to his alma mater and first conference game, first conference game for Oklahoma. It’s on the road. The schedule is weird that first month and a half because Tennessee doesn’t have a real meaningful home game until October 12 against Florida. And before that, it’s a neutral site game and two road games against NC State, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. If they can learn to win away from Neyland in meaningful games early in the year, the rest of the league should probably watch out later in the year.
Kentucky fans clearly hate Tennessee. Is that feeling mutual?
Price: They feel like they own Kentucky, much like Florida feels like they own Tennessee. They’ve had their number. Even years when Tennessee was down and Kentucky seemed to be up, Tennessee found ways to win that game. Kentucky’s won that game, what, three times in the last 12 years or so? Going back to the receiver playing quarterback and beating the Vols. It’s been more frequent compared to the previous 30 years, but there’s been a few times where Kentucky came in as the team that you thought this was going to be their year to beat Tennessee and they just couldn’t.
So for fans, I think it’s one of those things where they’ve had so much success that when you have your meltdown after the game, they love it. ‘This is great!’ They love to watch that stuff. Much like Kentucky basketball has always been better than Tennessee basketball, but when Tennessee can beat Kentucky — and they did that several times in recent years with Barnes versus Calipari — it’s given Tennessee almost like the annoying little brother in the basketball side of things, the chance to be the fly in the ointment or be the guy that pokes the bear a little bit.
I think it’s a fun rivalry, I really do. Whenever they go to a nine-game conference schedule, I’m hoping Tennessee and Kentucky remain a frequent competitor of each other and football. We’re always going to have it in basketball and baseball, but in football, I just want the Beer Barrel to return.
I wish both administrations — I would place probably the blame on Mitch (Barnhart) for this because he’s been around longer, Danny (White) doesn’t know what the Beer Barrel is — but Tennessee’s selling beer in the stadium and so is Kentucky now. Kentucky’s got bourbon (sponsored) sections. I mean, come on. We get it. A guy passed away 30 years ago and we sure still pray for him and his family, but at the same time, I don’t think it hurts (to bring the Beer Barrell back). It’s not like you’re not selling beer at the stadium. Give them something to play for him. And I just think it’s fun. Heck, Kentucky’s won it more in the last decade than they had the previous 30 years. It’s something they could have been touting around when they win it. Tennessee could tout it around.
I think it’s fun. You look at all these other schools that play for something and I just wish they bring something like that back. I think that’s what makes college football and college sports fun, when you have rivalries. I hate the way that the PAC 12 dissolved and now they’re all coming into the Big 10. Does anybody care about Rutgers-UCLA? I think Tennessee-Kentucky is fantastic, I think that the rivalry is fantastic, and I think it only enhances the SEC when you can have games like that.
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