Tennessee football earned its first road win of the season on Saturday night as they Vols knocked off Kentucky 33-27 in a thriller at Kroger Field in Lexington.
Each week, we’ll share how the Vols graded out according to Pro Football Focus grades.
If you need a reminder on how Pro Football Focus works, read the opening of the Virginia 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 17 plays — 25% of offensive plays)
RB Jaylen Wright — 80.7 (20 plays)
QB Joe Milton III — 76.3 (69 plays)
WR Chas Nimrod — 73.8 (17 plays)
WR Dont’e Thornton — 71.4 (43 plays)
RB Dylan Sampson — 68.6 (32 plays)
RT Gerald Mincey — 64.8 (69 plays)
RB Jabari Small — 64.7 (17 plays)
LT John Campbell Jr. — 60.9 (55 plays)
WR Ramel Keyton — 59.1 (69 plays)
WR Squirrel White — 58.8 (66 plays)
RG Javontez Spraggins — 57.2 (69 plays)
TE Jacob Warren — 56.5 (44 plays)
C Cooper Mays — 54.5 (69 plays)
TE McCallan Castles — 52.1 (25 plays)
LG Ollie Lane — 48.3 (64 plays)
Let’s start at the top where Jaylen Wright and Joe Milton III led Tennessee’s offense with the highest grades. I know Dylan Sampson was cooking and that Josh Heupel said Wright was banged up in the second half, but I still can’t believe Wright played just 20 snaps and had just 11 carries. He was so good in the first half against Kentucky. Milton built off one of his best games of the season with another strong one. The super senior wasn’t spectacular but he played winning football.
We saw a change in the receiver rotation for the first time post Bru McCoy’s injury. Dont’e Thornton started out wide and earned the most snaps (43) of any replacement receiver. Chas Nimrod played 17 plays, including a few in the slot, and Kaleb Webb played nine snaps (58.1 grade).
Finally, I was surprised by the offensive grades being as low as they were but particularly on the offensive line. As a team, Tennessee earned a 52.7 pass block grade and 52.5 run blocking grade. Clearly, PFF puts Tennessee’s rushing success on the running back’s shoulder. That unit was great but the grades feel a bit unfair to the offensive line.
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Defensive Grades (minimum of 16 plays — 25% of defensive plays)
DT Omari Thomas — 72.2 (31 plays)
CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally — 69.1 (56 plays)
DT Omarr Norman-Lott — 68.7 (33 plays)
S Jaylen McCollough — 68.4 (66 plays)
DT Bryson Eason — 65.8 (27 plays)
CB Warren Burrell — 64.1 (19 plays)
LB Aaron Beasley — 62.3 (57 plays)
S Wesley Walker — 60.9 (65 plays)
DE Tyler Baron — 60.8 (39 plays)
STAR Tamarion McDonald — 58.1 (66 plays)
DE Dominic Bailey — 56.5 (26 plays)
LEO James Pearce Jr. — 56.1 (43 plays)
CB Doneiko Slaughter — 53.9 (45 plays)
LB Elijah Herring — 51.7 (57 plays)
LEO Roman Harrison — 41.7 (22 plays)
Despite a tough night for Tennessee’s secondary, corner Gabe Jeudy-Lally and safety Jaylen McCollough graded out well. Jeudy-Lally allowed just two catches for 27 yards on four targets. Credit to McCollough, I was critical of him entering the season but he’s put together a really nice super senior season.
I said earlier this week that this was a game where Tennessee would likely play freshman linebackers Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander a lot. That wasn’t the case. Though it did turn out to be a much more pass happy Kentucky offense than expected.
Speaking of those two, here are the snap counts for defensive players who didn’t make the 16 play cutoff: Tyre West (4), Kalib Perry (9), Rickey Gibson (2), Telander (2), Andre Turrentine (1), Daevin Hobbs (1), Elijah Simmons (12), Josh Josephs (12), Brandon Turnage (10) and Carter (7).
