Tennessee football opened up its 2024 season in commanding fashion, dominating Chattanooga 69-3 at Neyland Stadium.
The Vols hit the ground running and scored on their first seven possessions as starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava consistently made plays.
Here’s four quick takeaways from Tennessee’s season opening victory.
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Nico Iamaleava Starts Fast, Hardly Slows Down
With Tennessee football breaking in Nico Iamaleava in at quarterback, getting its talented young quarterback off to a strong start was a priority. It was something they were unable to do with Joe Milton in the opener against Virginia a season ago.
They had no such problem with Iamaleava who completed his first 10 passes while throwing more touchdowns (two) than incompletions (one) in the first quarter. He added 176 passing yards to go along with it.
Tennessee eased him in on the first drive, having him throw just three passes including one screen while Dylan Sampson carried the ball seven times.
But after the first drive, Tennessee started letting Iamaleava start pushing the ball down the field. On the Vols’ third drive he hit a 23-yard pass to Chris Brazzell and a 36-yard pass to Dont’e Thornton. By the end of the first quarter he completed a 59-yard pass to Thornton.
Iamaleava didn’t slow down much after the fast start, ending his day completing 22-of-28 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns. The redshirt freshman did all his damage in the first half and did not play in the second half.
Big Play Dont’e Thornton
Tennessee’s receiver depth and rotation was one of the big offseason talking points and Josh Heupel and his staff stayed true to their word and rotated often in the season opening blowout win. If the Vols continue to rotate, which players earn which roles will be interesting to follow.
Dont’e Thornton showed one potential role for himself as a big play receiver. The 6-foot-5 receiver has blazing speed and he showed it off. In the first half he caught three passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns including a 36 yard touchdown over the middle and a 59 yard catch down the sideline.
Thornton’s big play ability was what he was known for at Oregon and looks much more comfortable out wide this season after his failed experiment in the slot last year.
On a day where the Vols’ receivers had mostly balanced numbers, what Thornton did down the field stood out.
Notes On Defensive Rotations
Tennessee didn’t name a single defensive starter on its preseason depth chart which made it a real curiosity as to what the defensive rotations would look like. Here are some notes.
Cornerback Rickey Gibson didn’t play in the season opener while nursing a hamstring injury and veteran Temple transfer Jalen McMurray started in his place. Jordan Matthews frequently rotated in at corner while freshman Kaleb Beasley got a good bit of second half run.
Christian Harrison started at STAR but he and Boo Carter rotated every drive at that spot off-and-on. Carter had a couple nice plays and looked particularly good blitzing.
The veterans started on the defensive line as James Pearce, Omari Thomas, Bryson Eason and Dominic Bailey were the first four out there. But as expected, rotations were frequent. The next four defensive linemen were Tyre West, Omarr Norman-Lott, Elijah Simmons and Josh Josephs. But the Vols went three deep with Jayson Jenkins, Jaxson Moi, Daevin Hobbs and Caleb Herring.
Tyre West had the best day of anyone on the defensive line, forcing a fumble and recording a sack. As you would expect, Tennessee’s defensive line controlled the game. Freshman LEO Jordan Ross made a tackle for loss on a third down run and also blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown.
At linebacker, Arion Carter and Keenan Pili started and Kalib Perry and Jeremiah Telander got some run. The same was the case at safety where Will Brooks and Andre Turrentine started but Jakobe Thomas and Christian Charles played.
However, the rotation was less at safety than any other spot on the defense. At least in the first half. I’m skeptical that we see much rotation there.
Clarity On The Pecking Order At Running Back
Dylan Sampson is clearly Tennessee’s starting running back but what the rotation looks like behind . But there’s questions about what the Vols’ rotation looks like behind him was a question mark entering the season.
We got some clarity on that in the season opener. Cam Seldon was Tennessee’s second running back and did some good things, totaling 47 yards and seven carries. DeSean Bishop was also impressive as the third running back where he totaled 60 yards and a touchdown on just five carries.
Bishop showed a little more juice than I expected with a couple nice hop steps and broken tackles. Seldon and Bishop are clearly the next two options behind Sampson and I think both will play every game.
Freshman Peyton Lewis and sophomore Khalifa Keith both earned a bit of run in the second half but those two are on the outside looking in barring injury.
