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The Volquest Awards

On this Christmas Day, we hope everyone is enjoying a great day with family and friends and we wish many blessings in 2020. The 2019 season was interesting one to say the least.

After starting 1-4, a 1-6 start looked very realistic for Jeremy Pruitt in his second season. But a team meeting, and development turned a horrific start into a fantastic finish as the Vols won their last five to finish 7-5 and earn a spot in the Gator Bowl on January 2.

In the spirit of giving, Volquest presents the 2019 awards.

OFFENSIVE MVP:

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BRENT: This one is easy. Wide receiver Jauan Jennings was not only the most productive player for the Vol offense, he’s also the most influential player on the team as well. Jennings was the go to guy for Jim Chaney’s offense. When the Vols had to have a play it was Jennings who made it running over defenders. High pointing the ball or tip-toeing the sidelines. He was the guy defensive coordinators had to scheme for this fall and he was the guy that Chaney built his passing game around this season.

On the Vols five game winning streak to close out the season, Jennings had 464 yards and 3 touchdowns. On the year, Jennings has been targeted 86 times and he has caught 57 of them. Jennings has more catches than Marquez Callaway has had balls thrown his way.

JESSE: This one is a layup. There’s no other choice here other than Jauan Jennings.

‘Juice Man’ was the heartbeat of Tennessee’s entire team in 2020, but especially for an offense that sputtered at times and finished the regular season ranked 12th in the SEC.

Finally healthy, Jennings was phenomenal as a senior, finishing with a team-high 57 catches for 942 yards and eight touchdowns. He added a rushing touchdown from the Wild Vol, too. Jennings graded out as the No. 2 overall wideout in the SEC according to Pro Football Focus — in a conference that includes a cadre of future first round picks at the position.

Jennings was a highlight reel after the catch all season, giving South Carolina, Missouri and other fits. He finished the year with 29 avoided tackles, per PFF — nine more than any other wideout in the SEC.

Jennings will forever be remembered as an all-timer at Tennessee — both for his plays in 2016 against Florida and Georgia and what he did as a senior in 2019.


DEFENSIVE MVP:

BRENT: The defensive selection for MVP is not easy. Nigel Warrior after the first couple of games played at an All-SEC level. Daniel Bituli was a key catalyst for this season. It was obvious this defense was much more fundamentally sound when he was on the field after returning from the knee procedure he had in August.

But for me the MVP of this defense is the defensive line. There’s not a superstar in that group, but that group is the key to this defense.

In Tennessee’s seven wins, they gave up 132 yards on the ground and that included 302 to Kentucky. In the victories, Jeremy Pruitt’s defense held their opponent under 100 yards 3 times and it would have been 5 times if not for fourth quarter final mop up duty drives.

JESSE: The defensive line is a great choice, especially with a no-name unit’s improvement stopping the run (3.79 yards per carry allowed in 2019 vs. 4.2 in 2018).

But Daniel Bituli will be sorely missed on Rocky Top. The Nashville native led Tennessee in tackles for the third straight season — despite missing the first two games of the year.

In a LOST alternate timeline, it’s fair to wonder if Tennessee probably beats Georgia State and BYU to start the season with Bituli on the field.

He wasn’t just an effective tackler. He was Jeremy Pruitt’s trusted voice on the field. Bituli made the calls. He got freshmen Henry To’oto’o and Quavaris Crouch lined up. And when the Vols needed him the most, Bituli delivered knockout blows against South Carolina, Mizzou and Kentucky. Bituli’s game against USC will go down as one of the best individual performances by a Tennessee linebacker (15 tackles, 2 TFLs, one PBU and a blocked punt for a scoop-and-score touchdown) — and that’s saying something.

TOP NEWCOMER:

BRENT: What Wanya Morris did as a freshman at the offensive tackle position is impressive. But the most impressive newcomer on this team is an obvious choice to me. Henry To’oTo’o had an unbelievable freshman campaign. To arrive in June and to be coming off injuries in the spring what To’o’To’o did in his first year was really impressive.

To’oTo’o finished the year with 64 tackles including 5 tackles for loss and a half sack.

JESSE: Where would Tennessee have been without the play of freshman linebacker Henry To’oto’o?


After beating out Alabama and Washington for the blue-chip linebacker from California, Pruitt told folks all offseason he thought To’oto’o was a plug-and-play freshman — good enough to even start for the Tide.


He was right.


To’oto’o was the Robin to Bituli’s Batman in the middle of Tennessee’s defense. He made some typical freshman mistakes, but he flew to the football, displaying natural instincts and playmaking ability.


His stop on 3rd-and-goal against Kentucky was one of the top plays of the season for the Vols.


To’oto’o finished the year with 64 tackles, 5.0 TFLs, a sack and three quarterback hurries.


Considering the lack of depth at inside linebacker + the midseason departures of Will Ignont, Shanon Reid and Jeremy Banks, Tennessee had to get significant contributions from To’oto’o and the freshman delivered.





COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR: 

BRENT: How does it not go to Jarrett Guarantano right? He’s certainly deserving of it. But what about Trey Smith? What about Warrior? This one is no easy choice.

I’m going with Trey Smith because frankly not many kids would go through all he has gone through and continued to do all he could to play. Smith’s talent has always been off the charts. But no one would have been mad at Smith if he shut it down. Smith wanted no part of that as he traveled around the country visiting with multiple specialists to develop a plan to be able to play. Smith was diligent in that plan and executed it.

No surprise that Smith was the Vols best offensive lineman this fall.

JESSE: In any other season, Nigel Warrior wins this award easily. Instead, the senior safety is left empty handed with the John Travolta look in Pulp Fiction.


This comes down to Trey Smith — a guy literally risking his life to play football — vs. Jarrett Guarantano — a guy whose football career looked dead and buried following his boneheaded blunder at Alabama.


Since Hubbs (probably correctly picked Smith), I’ll give Guarantano his due here.


No one saw Guarantano’s resurgence coming. Not before the fumble at Alabama, and certainly not after it.


I won’t got in detail rehashing the early part of Guarantano’s early season struggles, but he was benched for a reason. He wasn’t seeing the field. He looked confused, lost and frustrated. A year after being risk-averse with the football, Guarantano was throwing into triple coverage routinely. I’m not sure we’ll ever really know why Guarantano’s season flew off the rails so quickly.


But as circumstances had it, Guarantano was given a second (and later third) life — and he made it count.


First as the sixth-man savior and then a starter, the redshirt junior led the Vols to five straight wins and a bowl game to end the season. He sealed the win over Mississippi State, tossed three touchdowns against South Carolina, ignited a dormant offense at UK, had 415 passing yards against Missouri and made a bunch of smart audibles that led to huge runs (namely Eric Gray’s 94 yard touchdown) to beat Vandy.


Guarantano’s season was unpredictable — both his start and finish — but he deserves credit for never folding. His perseverance was special and deserves acknowledgement.


TURNING POINT OF THE SEASON:

BRENT: Staring the possibility of 1-6 in the face and with the ball sitting at the nine yard line, Tennessee needed a drive to beat Mississippi State and to turn the season around. And the Vol offense under the direction of Jarrett Guarantano got it done. Tennessee went 91 yards on 9 plays taking 5:44 off the clock giving the Vols a 10 point lead and ending it. The drive started with some old school work on the ground.

Behind the left side of the line, Tennessee went 44 yards on six straight runs, moving the ball from the 9 to the State 47 yard line in what was the turning point of the season.

JESSE: There’s plenty of plenty of possibilities here, but if we take the team the’s words for it (both from the head coach and the players), then the season swung after perhaps Tennessee’s worst performance of the year.

Following a shellacking in Gainesville, Pruitt read his team the riot act in the locker room. But upon reflection on the plane ride home, Pruitt changed his tune once they landed in Knoxville.

He called another team meeting — something that never happens postgame. He spoke. So did some veterans. They agreed they needed each other — and most importantly — believed in each other. They made making a bowl game, despite a 1-3 start, the goal. The vets who bought in did, and those who didn’t left.

Yes, Tennessee went on to lose two of its next three games, but it showed fight against Georgia, and then gave then-No. 1 Alabama a real scare for three quarters.

The Mississippi State win was the catalyst for the team’s October-November finish, but that spark was ignited in a late night locker room powwow weeks earlier.

PLAY OF THE YEAR:

BRENT: Fourth and goal at the 2 at Kentucky and Jaquan Blackley wins the game for Tennessee. It was a huge play. In my opinion, the third and goal play where Henry To’oTo’o tackled Chris Rodriguez for a one yard loss was a better play. The freshman was patience and red the play perfectly stoning Rodriguez short of the goal line. Two weeks later at Missouri he had another huge tackle for loss.

If you are a glass half empty guy, Guarantano’s failed quarterback sneak at Alabama is the play of the year that no one will forget.

JESSE: To’oto’o’s stop on 3rd down was tremendous, but the 4th-and-goal stop to win the game was emblematic of the growth of Tennessee’s entire defense at that point of the season. Guys did their job. They trusted one another.

Ja’Quain Blakely knifed through the line. Cornerbacks Alontae Taylor and Kenneth George blanketed their receivers. Nigel Warrior played the pitch perfectly, and Bituli made the clean up tackle. That’s how it was designed and it was executed to a T. Ballgame.

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