Preparations for Citrus Bowl underway for Tennessee football

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Tennessee football has begun preparing for the Citrus Bowl. The team will complete several practices this week before the break for Christmas, and then pick up where they left off in Orlando, FL on Dec. 27.

As the team prepares for its third straight bowl appearance, they’ll do with a little bit of a new look to the group with a few players gone in the transfer portal.

NCAA Transfer Portal moves haven’t caused any animosity within the program, partially thanks to Coach Josh Heupel for establishing such a strong culture within the team.

“Wherever they go, we’re going to support them. We’re going try to help them with anything that they need. You get excited as a teammate to not only compete, but be able to learn from new players and be able to kind of gather their experiences because some of those transfer guys have played a lot of football. So I think it’s exciting one way and another part, you know, accepting those guys into the brotherhood is a big piece because they gotta get used to this culture pretty quickly,” said linebacker Kennan Pili.

Pili won’t play in the bowl game due to rehabbing an injury he suffered at the start of the year against Virginia; however, the NCAA has allowed Pili to return next year to be a member of the Vol defense in 2024.

Tennessee continued to build momentum from its season-ending win over Vanderbilt. The game against the Iowa Hawkeyes can also give the team a big boost heading into next season.

Playing in the game also gives the returning players some valuable extra practice time, especially the younger guys looking to take that next step.

Senior McCallan Castles said it’s fun seeing their enthusiasm.

”Yeah, I think it’s a little bit more exciting. It’s kind of nice because you kind of get the opportunity to get the young guys more involved and develop them a little bit so they get a lot more reps. So they’re definitely more excited because they’re not playing scout team and actually repping our offensive defense. The energy gets a little bit up there and you get some good stuff out there,” said Castles.

The Vols will work out this week on Rocky Top before breaking for a couple of days for Christmas.

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