Linebackers
Nathanael: B
Jonathan Kongbo’s career is now over at Tennessee, but he went out with one of his better games as a Vol. He positioned himself perfect to pick off an errant Jarrett Stidham throw, and he made a couple nice tackles too. Darrell Taylor and Quart’e Sapp each had five tackles, and Daniel Bituli added five tackles as well and a half a tackle for loss before he was ejected for a targeting penalty in the fourth quarter. Deandre Johnson stepped up big time in Kongbo’s absence, and he had one of Tennessee’s two sacks on the afternoon and played with some great intensity. Darrin Kirkland Jr. and Will Ignont also played a lot and made some good tackles, and UT’s linebackers were another big reason why Auburn’s run game was slowed down significantly in the second half.
Ben: B
It’s really unfortunate to see Jonathan Kongbo’s career come to an end due to a torn ACL following a game where he really started to show progress. Kongbo’s career didn’t pan out the way anybody wanted it to, but he had his best performance against Auburn picking off a pass and stopping a couple of runs. Darrell Taylor and Deandre Johnson did a solid job of setting the edge, while Johnson recorded a sack in a big situation. The inside linebackers performed well against the Tigers’ running game, holding them to 126 yards on 34 carries.
