Tennessee football suffered its first loss of the 2024 season on Saturday night, falling at Arkansas 19-14.
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 13 plays — 20% of offensive plays)
LG Andrej Karic — 73.8 (60 plays)
RB Dylan Sampson — 72.3 (60 plays)
WR Dont’e Thornton — 67.7 (37 plays)
RG Javontez Spraggins — 64.5 (68 plays)
WR Squirrel White — 64.1 (51 plays)
C Cooper Mays — 63.6 (68 plays)
WR Chas Nimrod — 63.3 (14 plays)
RT Dayne Davis — 62.5 (13 plays)
WR Chris Brazzell — 57.3 (43 plays)
WR Mike Matthews — 55.1 (14 plays)
WR Bru McCoy — 54.9 (39 plays)
QB Nico Iamaleava — 53.6 (68 plays)
TE Holden Staes — 51.8 (14 plays)
RT John Campbell — 47.4 (55 plays)
LT Lance Heard — 42.2 (68 plays)
We talked all week about Tennessee getting John Campbell and Lance Heard back but it proved to be relatively meaningless. The duo was terrible at Arkansas, particularly in pass protection where they earned a 48 and 41.8 grade respectively. As bad as Tennessee’s tackles were, the interior of the offensive line turned in alright performances.
Credit to Dylan Sampson. That’s the least rotation I can ever remember Tennessee having at running back in a game under Heupel. He also turned in a strong 76.9 pass blocking grade, something that has not been his strength.
But as a whole, a lot of pitiful grades for what was a pitiful offensive performance. Nico Iamaleava and the receiver core turned in particularly poor grades which is unsurprising.
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Defense (minimum 15 plays — 20% of defensive snaps)
LB Jeremiah Telander — 87.6 (22 plays)
LEO James Pearce Jr — 76.6 (56 plays)
DT Omari Thomas — 73.0 (28 plays)
LB Keenan Pili — 72.8 (62 plays)
S Jakobe Thomas — 72.7 (18 plays)
DE Tyre West — 70.3 (15 plays)
STAR Christian Harrison — 70.0 (30 plays)
LB Arion Carter — 69.6 (47 plays)
STAR Josh Josephs — 68.8 (38 plays)
DT Bryson Eason — 65.7 (23 plays)
DT Omarr Norman-Lott — 63.9 (30 plays)
S Andre Turrentine — 63.1 (52 plays)
STAR Boo Carter — 61.8 (39 plays)
S Will Brooks — 61.6 (58 plays)
CB Rickey Gibson — 60.6 (62 plays)
DE Dominic Bailey — 60.6 (49 plays)
DT Elijah Simmons — 58.8 (26 plays)
CB Jermod McCoy — 58.1 (76 plays)
S Christian Charles — 53.1 (24 plays)
DT Jaxson Moi — 52.3 (25 plays)
CB Jalen McMurray — 49.9 (18 plays)
Last night was the first time that an opponent has tested Tennessee’s passing defense and we saw some of the holes in the secondary that we expected to see before the season. Seven of Tennessee’s 10 lowest graded defenders were defensive backs.
I will say, I thought Jermod McCoy was better than his final grade looks. He got beat on a pair of deep balls but the coverage was solid each time. Just a better throw and catch.
That was James Pearce Jr’s best game of the season. He was around the football a town, recording five quarterback hurries to go along with his five tackles and one sack.
