DALLAS, TX (Dakota News Now) – In the ever-changeing SEC, Aberdeen’s Josh Heupel has some company this year.

He’s no longer the only head coach to hail from South Dakota with Milbank’s Kalen DeBoer taking over at Alabama, and his Tennessee Volunteers aren’t the only team in orange anymore with the University of Texas joining the fold.

Such is life in in College Football’s toughest conference for the Aberdeen Central alum who took his turn at SEC Media days this past week in Dallas.

His first three years on Rocky Top have been pretty good, 27-12 overall, an SEC coach of the year award in 2022, and the most success since the Philip Fulmer era.

They’ve been picked seventh overall in the SEC this year and, with plenty of talent returning, Heupel is confident they can do better and his players are confident in their fourth year head coach.

Of note for Josh on the Vols schedule their first conference game will be at another SEC newcomer, Oklahoma, on September 21st. This will mark his return to the school he quarterbacked to the National Championship in 2000.

About a month later, on October 19th, he’ll face fellow South Dakotan Kalen DeBoer and Alabama in KnoxvilleThe Southeastern Conference announced Friday that two Tennessee football standouts earned preseason first team All-SEC recognition from the media at the conclusion of 2024 SEC Media Days in Dallas.

Senior center Cooper Mays was tabbed to the league’s first team on offense, while junior edge rusher James Pearce Jr. was selected to the defensive first team. Both Vols were recently recognized as preseason First Team All-Americans by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.

Tennessee was one of five schools in the conference with a first-team selection on both offense and defense, joining Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss.

Mays enters his fifth year with the program and fourth as Tennessee’s starting center. The Kingston, Tennessee, native has paved the way for a record-setting offense, and he enters the campaign without allow