Tennessee capped off its 2023 season with a 35-0 blowout victory over No. 17 Iowa in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Monday. With the win, the Vols ended the season 9-4 (4-4 SEC).
Every week this season, we’ve shared 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 18 plays — 25% of offensive plays)
RG Jackson Lampley — 69.6 (68 plays)
RB Dylan Sampson — 68.7 (49 plays)
TE McCallan Castles — 67.6 (37 plays)
WR Kaleb Webb — 67.5 (25 plays)
LT Gerald Mincey — 64.1 (68 plays)
LG Ollie Lane — 63.8 (68 plays)
RB Cameron Seldon — 63.2 (19 plays)
C Cooper Mays — 62.6 (68 plays)
WR Squirrel White — 62.2 (64 plays)
WR Ramel Keyton — 61.3 (64 plays)
RT Dayne Davis — 61.3 (63 plays)
WR Chas Nimrod — 55.3 (39 plays)
TE Jacob Warren — 52.6 (35 plays)
It was of little surprise that Nico Iamaleava graded out as Tennessee’s best offensive player. He was better than his modest stat line. The Vols’ offense ran into a number of the same problems they had with Joe Milton III— that pass protection and struggled and Tennessee’s receivers were far from special. As we look ahead to the offseason, Tennessee must improve in those two areas.
One of the big stories of the game was how Tennessee ran the ball with its top two rushers opting out. Dylan Sampson and Cameron Seldon were both very solid while stepping into bigger roles. Sampson was bad in pass protection and in the receiving game but was fantastic on the ground. Seldon showed how effective he can be as a short yardage back too.
Credit to Jackson Lampley. He’s started very little in his college career and he turned in a strong performance filling in for the injured Javontez Spraggins at right guard.
More From RTI: James Pearce Dominates In Citrus Bowl
Defensive Grades (minimum of 15 plays — 25% of defensive plays)
LEO James Pearce Jr. — 95.4 (37 plays)
S Andre Turrentine — 88.0 (57 plays)
S Jaylen McCollough — 79.0 (57 plays)
DT Omari Thomas — 77.0 (29 plays)
LB Aaron Beasley — 75.5 (41 plays)
DT Elijah Simmons — 75.3 (17 plays)
DE Tyre West — 73.7 (22 plays)
CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally — 72.8 (52 plays)
DE Dominic Bailey — 72.1 (30 plays)
DT Bryson Eason — 72.0 (23 plays)
LB Elijah Herring — 71.9 (37 plays)
CB Christian Harrison — 67.8 (15 plays)
CB Rickey Gibson III — 64.5 (51 plays)
DE Josh Josephs — 62.2 (14 plays)
STAR Jourdan Thomas — 61.7 (45 plays)
LB Jeremiah Telander — 60.8 (25 plays)
DT Kurott Garland — 60.7 (19 plays)
LEO Roman Harrison — 58.6 (14 plays)
LB Kalib Perry — 57.9 (24 plays)
DT Daevin Hobbs — 44.9 (18 plays)
James Pearce Jr. was absolutely brilliant. The Citrus Bowl capped off my third season doing PFF grades after every game. I believe Pearce’s grade is the best I’ve seen in that time frame.
Tennessee’s safeties have been much maligned this season but Turrentine and McCollough both earned strong grades in the season finale. It wasn’t a shock for McCollough who had a really strong season but was a surprise from Turrentine who graded out very poorly in the two games he played major snaps before this one.
We pondered about the secondary rotation before the game and there really wasn’t much of one after the starters that we predicted. Sophomore Christian Harrison was the third corner over freshmen Jordan Matthews and Cristian Conyer. But it was almost exclusively Jourdan Thomas at STAR and McCollough and Turrentine at safety.
