Tennessee football reached bowl eligibility Saturday night, dominating South Alabama 60-14.
The Vols scored touchdowns on eight of their first nine drives and UT’s defense was stout on third downs.
If you need a reminder on how Pro Football Focus works, read the opening of the Bowling Green grades.
Let’s see how the Vols graded out.
Elite grade = 90-100, All-Conference = 85-89, Starter = 70-84, Backup = 60-69, Replaceable = 60 >
Offensive Grades (minimum 21 plays — 30% of offensive snaps)
QB Hendon Hooker — 91.5 (50 plays)
WR Velus Jones Jr. — 76.8 (42 plays)
RB Jabari Small — 76.6 (29 plays)
TE Princeton Fant — 75.8 (32 plays)
WR Cedric Tillman — 74.4 (52 plays)
RB Jaylen Wright — 73.5 (28 plays)
TE Jacob Warren — 69.9 (27 plays)
OG Javontez Spraggins — 68.1 (50 plays)
OG Ollie Lane — 68.0 (31 plays)
OT Darnell Wright — 62.8 (50 plays)
C Cooper Mays —59.8 (38 plays)
OT Dayne Davis — 58.4 (52 plays)
WR Ramel Keyton — 58.0 (47 plays)
C Parker Ball — 57.3 (25 plays)
WR Jalin Hyatt — 53.4 (24 plays)
OG Jerome Carvin — 53.1 (50 plays)
It was a great night for Tennessee’s offense. The Vols had six players grade out as starters or better, one of their best marks of the season.
Hendon Hooker bounced back from his worst performance of the season according to PFF with one of his best, earning an elite grade while tallying as many touchdowns as incompletions.
Princeton Fant has struggled this season and often found himself at the bottom of this list. So credit to the senior for having a big game and scoring his second Tennessee touchdown.
K’Rojhn Calbert made his season debut Saturday after having bicep surgery during fall camp. Calbert earned a 51.3 grade in 13 plays.
Defensive Grades (minimum of 21 plays — 30% of defensive snaps)
DE Roman Harrison — 89.7 (24 plays)
DT Matthew Butler — 82.9 (43 plays)
LB Aaron Beasley — 77.1 (38 plays)
STAR Theo Jackson — 77.0 (56 plays)
LB Solon Page III — 73.6 (35 plays)
LB Jeremy Banks — 71.4 (39 plays)
S Jaylen McCollough — 70.6 (56 plays)
DT Omari Thomas — 65.9 (37 plays)
CB Alontae Taylor — 65.4 (55 plays)
DE Caleb Tremblay — 63.7 (45 plays)
DE Byron Young — 60.8 (25 plays)
S Trevon Flowers — 60.8 (56 plays)
CB Warren Burrell — 50.7 (56 plays)
There were a handful of Vol defenders that played really well but didn’t earn enough snaps to make the list. Tyler Baron earned a 78.0 grade in 19 plays, Da’Jon Terry earned a 77.1 grade in 19 plays, Kurott Garland earned a 76.9 grade in 20 plays and Ja’Quain Blakely earned a 70.4 grade in 17 plays.
Roman Harrison turned in his best game of the season recording six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries.
It was a tough night for Warren Burrell. The junior got beat for long receptions three times by South Alabama’s Jalen Tolbert.
