Tennessee football went 8-4 (4-4 SEC) in the regular season earning victories over South Carolina and Texas A&M while falling to rivals Florida, Alabama and Georgia in addition to Missouri.
Each week, we’ve posted Tennessee player’s individual grades in the weekly performance. Now with the regular season over, we take a look at Tennessee player’s full season 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 >
Team Grades
Overall: 85.3
Offense: 74.7
Pass: 73.0
Pass blocking: 66.8
Receiving: 70.3
Run: 90.2
Run blocking: 55.2
Defense: 87.3
Run defense: 76.9
Tackling: 75.8
Pass rush: 87.2
Coverage: 88.3
Special teams: 84.4
Offensive Grades (minimum 150 plays)
RB Jaylen Wright — 90.5 (325 plays)
RB Dylan Sampson — 80.7 (247 plays)
QB Joe Milton III — 77.8 (772 plays)
WR Bru McCoy — 69.8 (231 plays)
WR Squirrel White — 69.0 (630 plays)
OG Javontez Spraggins — 67.9 (699 plays)
RB Jabari Small — 66.7 (227 plays)
WR Dont’e Thornton — 66.5 (214 plays)
TE McCallan Castles — 65.0 (405 plays)
C Cooper Mays — 62.9 (463 plays)
OT Gerald Mincey — 61.1 (510 plays)
TE Jacob Warren — 60.7 (406 plays)
WR Chas Nimrod — 60.3 (322 plays)
OT John Campbell Jr. — 59.5 (538 plays)
OG Andrej Karic — 59.0 (247 plays)
WR Ramel Keyton — 58.9 (755 plays)
OG Jackson Lampley — 58.4 (153 plays)
OT Dayne Davis — 53.8 (256 plays)
OT Jeremiah Crawford — 49.5 (388 plays)
PFF isn’t the gospel by any means but they are any interesting perspective. Which is exactly what ranking Milton as Tennessee’s third best offensive player is. I have noted over the years that quarterbacks are seemingly graded easier than offensive linemen. But still, quite interesting that all of Tennessee’s receivers graded out lower than Milton.
It is, however, no surprise that Wright is the highest rated offensive Vols and that Dylan Sampson wasn’t too far behind him.
And since I’m sure most will want to know, Nico Iamaleava earned a 72.0 grade in 52 plays.
Defensive Grades (minimum 150 plays)
LEO James Pearce Jr. — 86.7 (425 plays)
CB Kamal Hadden — 85.8 (311 plays)
S Jaylen McCollough — 83.0 (762 plays)
LEO Joshua Josephs — 80.6 (183 plays)
DE Tyler Baron — 79.2 (444 plays)
DT Elijah Simmons — 77.0 (174 plays)
STAR Tamarion McDonald — 76.3 (486 plays)
LB Kalib Perry — 75.3 (178 plays)
CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally — 73.5 (609 plays)
LB Jeremiah Telander — 71.9 (165 plays)
LB Aaron Beasley — 71.8 (652 plays)
S Wesley Walker — 70.6 (636 plays)
DT Omarr Norman-Lott — 70.4 (235 plays)
STAR/S Jourdan Thomas — 66.8 (173 plays)
DT Omari Thomas — 64.9 (329 plays)
LEO Roman Harrison — 61.1 (301 plays)
DE Tyre West — 60.0 (174 plays)
CB Doneiko Slaughter — 59.1 (387 plays)
DT Daevin Hobbs — 58.0 (151 plays)
DE Dominic Bailey — 56.3 (256 plays)
DT Kurott Garland — 56.3 (298 plays)
S Andre Turrentine — 54.2 (250 plays)
DT Bryson Eason — 52.4 (280 plays)
LB Elijah Herring — 50.2 (543 plays)
I’ll start with the grades for a few players who didn’t quite total 150 snaps. Brandon Turnage earned a 60.7 grade (149 plays), Rickey Gibson III earned a 68.2 grade (136 plays) and Arion Carter earned a 44.4 grade in (126 plays).
There’s no surprise that James Pearce Jr and Tyler Baron graded out as two of Tennessee’s best defenders. They bolstered the Vols’ pass rush this season.
Lastly, Jaylen McCollough deserves tons of credit. I thought him returning was a bad thing for Tennessee and he turned in a really good season. He jumped from a 69.5 to 83.0 grade from his senior to super senior season.
