Tennessee football turned the tide and knocked of arch rival Alabama 24-17 on Saturday evening in front of a sold out Neyland Stadium.
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 14 plays — 20% of offensive plays)
QB Nico Iamaleava — 75.8 (75 plays)
WR Dont’e Thornton — 73.8 (25 plays)
RB De’Sean Bishop — 72.1 (17 plays)
C Cooper Mays — 68.7 (76 plays)
RB Dylan Sampson — 67.5 (53 plays)
WR Bru McCoy — 61.7 (57 plays)
TE Ethan Davis — 60.7 (20 plays)
WR Chris Brazzell — 59.2 (55 plays)
RG Javontez Spraggins — 59.1 (76 plays)
LG Andrej Karic — 56.7 (76 plays)
WR Chas Nimrod — 54.6 (29 plays)
TE Holden Staes — 52.1 (30 plays)
RT Dayne Davis — 51.3 (30 plays)
RT John Campbell Jr — 49.7 (46 plays)
WR Squirrel White — 46.7 (27 plays)
LT Lance Heard — 45.9 (76 plays)
TE Miles Kitselman — 44.9 (53 plays)
A number of these offensive grades were a surprise to me. First is that Nico Iamaleava graded out as high as he did. He played great in the second half, which we wrote about last night, but I’m still surprised that that was enough to overcome the poor first half from a grade standpoint. I wonder if PFF thought some of the slightly off throws on incompletions were more on the receivers than Iamaleava.
I was also surprised by how low the offensive line grades were as a whole. Thought the Vols’ offensive line played well last night, especially in the second half. Great run blocking in the final 30 minutes and solid pass protection all night.
One thing that didn’t surprise me was the tight end grades. Ethan Davis did some good things in the pass game, Holden Staes had some great blocks on Tennessee’s first touchdown drive and Miles Kitselman struggled.
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Defensive Grades (minimum of 16 plays — 20% of defensive plays)
S Will Brooks — 84.1 (64 plays)
DE Dominic Bailey — 77.3 (42 plays)
LB Kalib Perry — 75.9 (26 plays)
DT Omarr Norman-Lott — 73.6 (16 plays)
LEO James Pearce Jr — 72.7 (49 plays)
DE Tyre West — 71.5 (28 plays)
DT Bryson Eason — 71.2 (39 plays)
DT Daevin Hobbs — 69.9 (22 plays)
CB Jermod McCoy — 69.7 (63 plays)
STAR Jalen McMurray — 68.9 (34 plays)
S Jakobe Thomas — 66.9 (22 plays)
LB Jalen Smith — 66.2 (21 plays)
DT Jaxson Moi — 64.9 (27 plays)
S Andre Turrentine — 64.6 (49 plays)
LEO Josh Josephs — 63.5 (40 plays)
S Christian Charles — 60.7 (29 plays)
DT Omari Thomas — 60.0 (30 plays)
STAR Boo Carter — 53.0 (45 plays)
CB Rickey Gibson III — 51.4 (69 plays)
LB Arion Carter — 51.1 (79 plays)
LB Jeremiah Telander — 50.5 (64 plays)
Here’s one of my beefs with PFF grades. Jermod McCoy was fantastic in this game. Had good coverage all night, made a game changing interception and earns a backup grade? That’s crazy. Battling one of the best receivers in the country for most the night, McCoy allowed five catches for 44 yards on 11 targets.
Sticking in the secondary, how about Will Brooks? Just an incredible story. He was great against his home state team as he has been all season.
Two grades that I can’t say I’m surprised by are Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander. Didn’t think either of the sophomore linebackers played well in this game. But Kalib Perry played the best game of his career and Jalen Smith played well with an extended workload too.
