Tennessee football stayed unbeaten on the young season Saturday, annihilating No. 24 NC State 51-10 in the Duke’s Mayo Classic. Will Brooks second quarter interception jumpstarted the Vols as they went on a 30-0 scoring run in the middle of the game.
If you need a reminder on how Pro Football Focus works, read the opening of the Chattanooga 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 16 plays — 25% of offensive plays)
TE Miles Kitselman — 94.0 (39 plays)
RB Dylan Sampson — 73.2 (45 plays)
RB DeSeasn Bishop — 72.8 (18 plays)
TE Ethan Davis — 70.7 (23 plays)
LT Lance Heard — 69.1 (63 plays)
LG Andrej Karic — 68.8 (63 plays)
WR Squirrel White — 65.9 (35 plays)
C Cooper Mays — 64.9 (63 plays)
WR Bru McCoy — 60.8 (43 plays)
QB Nico Iamaleava — 60.4 (63 plays)
WR Chris Brazzell — 60.2 (38 plays)
RG Javontez Spraggins — 59.7 (58 plays)
WR Dont’e Thornton — 55.4 (20 plays)
RT Dayne Davis — 54.1 (33 plays)
TE Holden Staes — 51.0 (36 plays)
RT John Campbell Jr — 47.0 (36 plays)
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Defensive Grades (minimum of 12 plays — 25% of defensive plays)
DE Tyre West — 84.7 (12 plays)
DT Omarr Norman-Lott — 80.2 (14 plays)
CB Jermod McCoy — 76.7 (42 plays)
LB Jeremiah Telander — 75.1 (25 plays)
DE Dominic Bailey — 73.9 (29 plays)
DT Jaxson Moi — 70.7 (14 plays)
S Will Brooks — 70.1 (40 plays)
LEO Josh Josephs — 69.2 (18 plays)
DT Daevin Hobbs — 66.5 (13 plays)
CB Jalen McMurray — 66.2 (18 plays)
CB Rickey Gibson — 64.9 (39 plays)
LB Jalen Smith — 63.8 (17 plays)
LEO James Pearce Jr — 63.8 (29 plays)
S Andre Turrentine — 63.1 (41 plays)
S Jakobe Thomas — 62.2 (15 plays)
LB Keenan Pili — 60.5 (31 plays)
LB Arion Carter — 59.8 (33 plays)
STAR Christian Harrison — 56.9 (23 plays)
STAR Boo Carter — 54.4 (23 plays)
DT Bryson Eason — 53.4 (23 plays)
DT Elijah Simmons — 52.1 (11 plays)
There was no surprise to see the Tennessee defensive players that topped the defensive grades. The Vols three top defensive graded players and five of their top seven defensive graded players were defensive linemen led by Omari Thomas, Tyre West and Omarr Norman-Lott who lived in the NC State backfield.
With how well Tennessee’s secondary played, I was very curious to see what the grades would be, particularly in the defensive backfield. Jermod McCoy earned a really good grade while Gibson earned a solid grade, though not as strong as I expected.
