Jacob Warren explains why culture is more than just a buzzword

Jacob Warren described it as a buzzword. The one reason that Josh Heupel was able to step into a mess with the Tennessee football program two years ago and quickly, and against all odds, turn the Vols around.

“I think it’s the culture,” Warren said last week at SEC Media Days in Nashville. “That’s kind of a buzzword. 

That’s when Warren caught himself.

“I don’t like using that word,” he said.

But Tennessee’s redshirt senior tight end went down the list explaining why culture is the word and the reason the Vols have been able to do what they have done.

“My friendships on the team, right?” Warren said. “How close we are with each other. Just the fact that, man, we love competing with each other. I think when you love that guy next to you, you love the people that are leading you, we love Coach Heup, all of our position coordinators, you’ll go the extra mile to make sure you’ll go out and execute your assignment, right?”

Josh Heupel ‘made it known we are loved, expected, valued’

Tennessee has covered a lot of miles since Heupel arrived in January 2021. The Vols won seven games and went to the Music City Bowl, despite a roster that had a scholarship count in the 60s after it was depleted by the NCAA Transfer Portal during the coaching transition.

Last year, it was wins over Alabama, LSU and Florida, an 8-0 start, a No. 1 ranking in the College Football Playoff Top 25 in November and a win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl in November.

Tennessee won 11 games for the first time since 2001. The Vols won a New Years Six Bowl Game for the first time in the CFP era. 

It all started with the buzzword.

“I think it kind of starts with that,” Warren said of Tennessee’s culture. “That’s how we’ve had so much success. (Heupel) came in, changed the culture. He made it known that we are loved, expected, valued, and we are really good football players at the same time.

“You add all those things, and you have a lot of success.”

Jacob Warren: 37 receptions, 416 yards, 4 TDs in 26 games at Tennessee

Warren signed with Tennessee in the 2018 as the hometown kid out of Knoxville’s Farragut High School. He’s caught 37 passes for 416 yards and four touchdowns in 26 games with the Vols. 

The reason he’s back for a fifth year? The culture. 

“My decision to stay, my decision to be here, is the same answer,” Warren said. “I truly enjoy being around all my friends, all my teammates. This university has given me a lot. I have two degrees from the university now. Just that alone, having education, being able to set myself up for my future, is super big.

“It’s also allowed me to make connections, build up my self-confidence. I talked about earlier, the leader and man I’ve become has definitely been maybe not just because, but this coaching staff and Coach Heup has had a lot to do with that.”