Offensive Line
Nathanael: D
One of Tennessee’s three units that struggled the most on Saturday was the offensive line. They did okay in run blocking, especially after the first quarter. But they consistently got beat in pass blocking situations, and the interior of the line especially struggled throughout the game. West Virginia managed only one sack because Guarantano was releasing the ball quickly on most passes, but they tallied 12 tackles for loss. That’s far too many TFLs to give up for a team that wants to focus on running the ball more this year.
Ben: D
The offensive line failed on Saturday, but there were some positive moments despite mostly negative ones. Trey Smith and Drew Richmond had solid outings at tackle, but the interior of the line had a miserable day. The Mountaineers had 12 tackles for a loss and a large part of them came after blowing up the interior of the line. Brandon Kennedy, Ryan Johnson, Chance Hall and Jahmir Johnson all had a terrible opening quarter, but they bounced back to finish the game. It wasn’t enough though, as Guarantano rarely had time to throw and took several big hits. In the run game, the running backs were blown up in the backfield several times because of the lack of push up front.
