Tennessee football bounced back from its SEC opening loss against Florida by knocking off UTSA 45-14 Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium. The Vols move to 3-1 with the victory head of their SEC home opener against South Carolina.
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 16 plays — 25% of offensive plays)
WR Bru McCoy — 81.0 (16 plays)
RB Dylan Sampson — 80.4 (19 plays)
TE McCallan Castles — 78.6 (33 plays)
WR Squirrel White — 71.0 (27 plays)
LT John Campbell Jr. — 68.1 (37 plays)
OT Gerald Mincey — 67.9 (38 plays)
C Ollie Lane — 67.7 (53 plays)
RB Jabari Small — 64.4 (24 plays)
WR Ramel Keyton — 64.4 (41 plays)
RG Javontez Spraggins — 63.4 (60 plays)
WR Kaleb Webb — 62.7 (44 plays)
TE Jacob Warren — 60.6 (32 plays)
WR Dont’e Thornton — 60.5 (34 plays)
WR Chas Nimrod — 58.7 (31 plays)
RT Jeremiah Crawford — 58.2 (46 plays)
QB Joe Milton III — 57.0 (60 plays)
LG Andrej Karic — 53.7 (60 plays)
Something that stood out to me Saturday and has multiple times this season are how well Tennessee’s receivers run block. Here’s how they graded out as run blockers against UTSA: Bru McCoy (88.8), Ramel Keyton (85.2), Kaleb Webb (57.9), Dont’e Thornton (85.1) and Chas Nimrod (80.4).
That strong run blocking is a larger reason why Bru McCoy graded out as Tennessee’s top offensive player in a game he totaled just three catches for 30 yards. McCoy’s blocking sprung Joe Milton’s 81 yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. While McCoy might have been a surprise at the top, Dylan Sampson being the second highest graded offensive player is no surprise.
Tennessee offensive linemen Jeremiah Crawford and Andrej Karic graded out as two of the three worst offensive player. They’ve been near the bottom of the list every week.
Defensive Grades (minimum of 20 plays — 25% of defensive plays)
STAR Tamarion McDonald — 82.3 (54 plays)
DE Tyler Baron — 80.6 (37 plays)
LB Elijah Herring — 80.5 (53 plays)
DT Bryson Eason — 78.5 (29 plays)
S Andre Turrentine — 76.9 (31 plays)
DT Omari Thomas — 76.5 (29 plays)
CB Kamal Hadden — 72.7 (35 plays)
LEO Roman Harrison — 72.4 (30 plays)
S Wesley Walker — 71.3 (60 plays)
DE Tyre West — 70.9 (26 plays)
S Jaylen McCollough — 70.4 (57 plays)
LEO James Pearce Jr. — 68.7 (34 plays)
CB Brandon Turnage — 68.4 (27 plays)
CB Warren Burrell — 66.3 (23 plays)
DT Kurrott Garland — 64.7 (25 plays)
CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally — 64.0 (51 plays)
LB Aaron Beasley — 62.4 (40 plays)
LB Arion Carter — 58.8 (26 plays)
LB Kalib Perry — 58.7 (25 plays)
DT Daevin Hobbs — 57.8 (31 plays)
S Jourdan Thomas — 52.0 (28 plays)
Let’s start by looking at how a few players who didn’t play 20 snaps graded out. Caleb Herring earned a 75.2 grade in 10 snaps, Joshua Josephs earned a 70.7 grade in 13 plays, Omarr Norman-Lott earned a 65.0 grade in 17 plays and Rickey Gibson III earned a 54.2 grade in 19 plays.
The two guys that stood out to me watching live earned two of the three top grades on the Vols’ defense. Tyler Baron lived in the Roadrunners backfield and Elijah Herring was constantly around the ball in the win.
This was the first time all season that Tennessee got second team safeties a large number of snaps. Andre Turrentine graded out well while Jourdan Thomas graded out below average.
