Is Tennessee football headed back to the top? Josh Heupel thinks so.

Once again, Tennessee believes it’s Tennessee again.

The old Tennessee. The really good Tennessee. The Tennessee of the Power T. Peyton Manning. Phil Fulmer. Tee Martin. The rivalry with Steve Spurrier and Florida. The Volunteers won a national championship in 1998, then slipped into the college football darkness, unable to find their way out, much less a way back to the top of Rocky Top.

History: Fulmer’s last season as Tennessee coach was 2008. The Vols went 5-7. Successor Lane Kiffin bolted Knoxville after a year for USC. Derek Dooley lasted three seasons. Coaching Tennessee’s first loss to Kentucky in over a quarter century helped seal Dooley’s fate. After squandering early momentum, Butch Jones was sent packing after five seasons. Jeremy Pruitt plunged the Vols into NCAA trouble after three seasons. Rinse and repeat.

Then Tennessee made two smart moves. It hired Central Florida’s Danny White as its athletic director. In turn, White hired UCF’s Josh Heupel as his head football coach.

A year later, Big Orange Country couldn’t be higher on Heupel, the 44-year-old South Dakota native who was a Heisman Trophy runner-up as quarterback for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma before going 12-1, 10-3 and 6-4 in his three seasons as the head coach in Orlando.

“A year ago, we were in a race to be as good as we could as fast as we could,” Heupel said Thursday at SEC Football Media Days. “I think we took great strides in year one.”

Despite starting the year with just 69 scholarship players, Tennessee finished 7-6 in 2021. More important was the way it finished 7-6. It won three of its final five games, starting with a 45-42 victory over Kentucky at Kroger Field.

First play that night, quarterback Hendon Hooker threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to JaVonta Payton. By game’s end, Tennessee had averaged 9.81 yards per play, the highest average against a Kentucky defense since the 2016 Vols averaged 10.15 yards in a 49-36 victory over the Cats in Knoxville.

Hooker was 15-of-20 for 316 yards and four touchdowns against the Cats on Nov. 6. The Virginia Tech transfer completed the campaign with 31 touchdowns compared to just three picks. He’s back in Knoxville for his senior season.

“Hendon is a pure winner,” Heupel said. “From year one to year two, he’s really grabbed hold of that leadership component.”

Utilizing Heupel’s high-tempo attack, the Vols finished ninth nationally in total offense. They went from 108th in national scoring offense to seventh. Defense was UT’s downfall. The Vols ranked 99th nationally in total defense. Problems on that side of the football accounted for the Vols’ 48-45 loss to Jeff Brohm and Purdue in an exciting Music City Bowl.

“From game 1 to game 2 and year 1 to year 2 can be the greatest growth in our program,” Heupel said. “For us defensively there is a lot of things we did well, getting people into third-and-long situations. But we have to get better in third-and-long. And we have to do better in the red zone.”

UT’s postseason story has been its recruiting. Capitalizing on its NIL collective, the Spyre Sports Group, the Vols are currently ranked seventh nationally for the class of 2023, according to the 247Sports composite. This month, Heupel coaxed a commitment out of South Warren defensive back Cristian Conyer, considered by some to be Kentucky’s top prospect.

“For us, there’s great opportunity in it,” Heupel said Thursday. “Look at what Hendon has been able to do. It’s an opportunity to educate and empower our student-athlete, which is what college football is all about.”

Are the Vols back? Or is this another Big Orange false start? Kentucky visits Knoxville on Oct. 29. That matchup could go a long way in determining who will challenge Georgia in the SEC East. The Vols travel to Athens the next Saturday, Nov. 5. Kentucky plays host to the Bulldogs on Nov. 19.

Said Heupel, “Right now, it’s a great time to be a Volunteer.”

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