One Takeaway for Each SEC East Team After 2023 SEC Media Days

Tennessee – Impact of new pace of play rules

It’s no secret that Tennessee has one of the best offenses in the country. The Vols run an exciting system and put up a lot of points and yards behind offensive guru head coach Josh Heupel. There were some new rules voted on this offseason however which could limit the number of plays run in a game, and will generally speed up the game with less clock stoppages. Arguably the biggest change is that the clock will no longer stop following first downs, except in the final two minutes of either half when the old rule will kick in stopping the clock on first downs.

There have also been discussions on moving the hashmarks closer together, which could affect the way offenses lineup and the way plays are ran. There has been some discussions that these changes could impact the way some high-octane and high-speed offenses operate. Heupel seemed to dispel some of those fears.

When asked about the changes, Heupel said “The clock rule at the end of the first half, I think everybody is going to be playing in the same way. I don’t think it’s going to have a dramatic, different effect on us versus another offense. How you manage your time-outs might be a little different at the end of regulation or the end of the half. All in all, we’ll see what the numbers play out to be. But there’s a series of the game that’s probably taken away in general for every team because of some of the clock rules. But we’ll see how that plays out during the course of the year.”

Vanderbilt – Vandy United updates

While Clark Lea did not have any quotes as eye-catching as his one last year about Vanderbilt becoming the best program in the country, he did give an update on Vanderbilt’s large stadium and facility’s upgrades. Vanderbilt’s athletic department at-large is in the middle of a series of renovations titled “Vandy United“, which will improve facilities across their department. The football program is no different with FirstBank Stadium currently under construction. Plans for the renovated stadium include stadium improvements, a football facility expansion, and a renovated indoor practice facility.

While there will be some short-term consequences (the stadium renovations will not be completed by the beginning of this season, thus the stadium capacity will be trimmed down some), the belief is that it will help the Dores in the long run.

When asked about the ongoing renovations, Lea said “there’s going to be some hurdles there. I think I’ve asked them to clear the path to the press elevator, though, and I think we’ve done some other things up there. We’ll make sure it’s as comfortable as possible for everyone, honestly. It’s the pains of progress, and what we can’t do is say, hey, it’s been 30 years.”

“Like we can’t look at it and say, this is unfortunate. This is a celebration. If we have to walk a little further to get in, if the team has to take a little different path — we don’t have a tunnel right now. We’ll figure out a different way to take the field. All that stuff to me is a celebration. To me, too, as a fan, this is a great moment. There will never be another year for Vanderbilt where we’ll have this level of construction going on on our football stadium. Let’s embrace it for what it is, and it’s a launching point for us into our future, and let’s have fun with it. A year from now, two years from now, we’ll have a really tough place to come and play for an opponent.”

“This year will present some different challenges for different reasons, but listen, when the jackhammer was going on outside my office it wasn’t always convenient, but by God it was progress, so we’re going to celebrate that.”

However, Lea also added that the athletics department-wide renovations show the school’s commitment to athletics, that the planned renovations were something that helped draw him to Vanderbilt, and that he believes the renovations are helping and will continue help his program in recruiting.