Heupel's Unconventional Way of Building Tennessee Is Drawing Praise

Josh Heupel has never built his Tennessee teams the standard way, and according to one observer quoted in a recent piece, that is precisely the point. Heupel is described as having done something genuinely unique in Knoxville — finding an overlooked way to construct a winning football team.

The praise centers on the idea that Tennessee's program has been assembled in a fashion the rest of the sport largely ignored, and that the approach is paying off where it counts. However the roster came together, the piece's conclusion is simple: it is working, and Tennessee is winning because of it.

In an era when most programs chase the same formulas, Tennessee's rise under Heupel suggests there is more than one blueprint for success. The Vols were built a different way, and the results on the field are making the rest of the sport take notice.