Special Teams
Daniel: Mixed bag here. There were some really good plays such as a recovered fumble on punt coverage, a pair of field goals by a hobbled Aaron Medley and a kickoff through the end zone by George Bullock. But there were plenty of breakdowns too – enough to keep improving special teams on the top of Butch Jones’ to-do list this week. ASU converted a fake punt with ease, Medley missed another field goal and coverage was shaky at times. Not atrocious play, but probably not the “winning football” that Jones want to see from special teams overall. Grade: C
Houston: Yikes, not a very good week for this group. The Vols were inconsistent on both coverage units (although they did recover a muffed punt), nearly had several punts blocked and were fooled by a fake punt in the second quarter that would set up an Arkansas State touchdown later in the drive. Cam Sutton let a couple balls hit the ground on punt returns that he should have caught and Devrin Young brought at least one kickoff out of the end zone and failed to reach the twenty-yard line. Aaron Medley missed his second field goal attempt of the day but rebounded to hit a critical one late in the fourth quarter. Against a better team, today’s mistakes would have looked a lot worse. Grade: C- (Another unit that was dangerously close to earning a D)
Reed: If you’re looking for special teams pointers, don’t watch this game. Tennessee allowed a partially blocked punt, gave up a long kick return, struggled to field punts, allowed a fake punt which led to a TD and didn’t make enough plays in the return game. Darr had a decent day punting, Bullock managed two touchbacks on kickoffs and Medley was 2/3 on field goal attempts on an injured leg, but as a whole this unit was well below average. Grade: D
