Defensive Line
Darrell Taylor turned in a solid game once again, but there weren’t a ton of positives from the starting unit other than him. Kahlil McKenzie didn’t have a bad game, but Jonathan Kongbo was relatively non-existent against an out-matched offensive line. Deandre Johnson came away with his first career sack late in the game, and Kendal Vickers added a tackle for loss as well. Kyle Phillips batted a ball at the line of scrimmage but otherwise made little impact. Shy Tuttle made his debut for the season as well. All in all it wasn’t a terrible performance by this unit, but it could’ve been better. The Vols will need better defensive line play once SEC season starts.
Nathanael: C+
Will: C
One Response
It looked like a B performance all around, it seemed you WR/TE and D-line grades were a little low. Fewer drop (maybe 2) and none by the TE’s. WR bailed out average throws by the QB’s (Palmer’s catch on RPO, that should have been a TD catch and both of Johnson and Calloway TD catches) Even George’s drop on GITMO’s second quarter deep attempt was an underthrown ball to a WR who was behind the defender.
The D-line didn’t rack up many stats but three come to mind, they gave up one TD drive of 44 yards, gave up a long run of 13 yards, and 10 of ISU 13 possessions were 4 plays or less. It doesn’t matter how you are playing a team can create stats like that with average D-line play. I didn’t even mention 3rd down conversions.
Go big Orange and keep up the good work