Head coach Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Volunteers are coming off a bye week in Week 9 of the college football season, where they hoped to regroup following a disappointing 24-27 defeat at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks. The loss was the Volunteers' second of the season, giving them a 6-2 record overall and a 3-2 record in conference play. Following the bye week, the Vols rank 16th in the AP poll and are tied for 5th in the SEC with Texas, LSU, and Missouri.
The Tennessee Volunteers will have their hands full in Week 10, as they prepare to face the 8th-ranked team in the country and longtime rival, the Kentucky Wildcats. Amare Campbell spoke to Vols Media ahead of the SEC matchup against Kentucky . This is what he had to say.
Tennessee defensive lineman Mariyon Dye (9) and linebacker Amare Campbell (0) celebrate after making a defensive stop during a college football game against South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C., on Oct. 24, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
"Yeah, I feel like for me personally, that was my breakout game. A top-10 matchup, and just being able to know I could compete at that high level was definitely a confidence booster for me." Campbell said.
"I remember a lot of pre-snap shifts and motions, a lot of eye candy to kind of run simple plays in a sense and get people out of position." Campbell said.
"Yeah, some. They don't have the same personnel, so it's not all the same stuff, but there are some familiarities." Campbell said.
"Yeah, it definitely hinders us because we have to have a lot of communication depending on the call and our job. Not being able to hear each other or maybe not being able to hear the mic in my head can sometimes be hard because the fans are just so loud. But that's what comes with it." Campbell said.
"I mean, I try. I feel like that's more of a mental thing, but just trying to separate the helmet from my head so I can actually hear the mic clearly. So, yeah." Campbell said.
"Yeah, definitely. Definitely in those loud, big-time primetime games when it's loud. You definitely have to yell a lot." Campbell said.
"Just knowing what our job is regardless of what they line up in. Whatever look we get, knowing what we have to relate to or what we key in on in whatever look. It's just the repetition of it and not being caught off guard by a formation." Campbell said.
"Yeah, definitely. I'd say that. It definitely makes you know what your job is. Like I said, knowing what your job is regardless of the play, whatever funky formation, just knowing what you have to do specifically on that play. It'll bring you to everything you need to know." Campbell said.
"I would just say protecting the ball. He knows what I feel like the coach asks from him and wants from him within each play, and the biggest thing is not turning over the ball. I just feel like he trusts his coach well, and they work together." Campbell said.
"It's about the same as far as schematically what we want to do. But I feel like this year, the previous coordinators that have been here have run a lot of different types of split-safety stuff. So the familiarity of already knowing that here has helped us kind of boost, I feel like, being here at Tennessee versus at Penn State." Campbell said.
"It's great. Just being able to play next to a great player makes you rise on the field and off the field. The whole defense as a unit, as a group, I love those guys. We all feed off each other, so our success is pretty much us bonding together." Campbell said.
"It's definitely hard coming into a new school and being a new person. Having already established leaders here as well, great leaders like Telander and Arion, it can be hard to know when you want to kind of speak up and when you don't want to. But it's just the trust from your teammates and your coaches. It helps when your peers respect you a lot, and it helps with that." Campbell said.
"A conference game, big-time matchup, top-10 matchup, blackout - I'm excited. I know it's going to be crazy." Campbell said.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/tennessee as Everything Amare Campbell Said Ahead of Tennessee vs. Kentucky .
