Upon Further Review: How the Butch Jones orphans saved Tennessee's season

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The postgame images — from Jarrett Guarantano pointing to his dad in the stands to Daniel Bituli and Nigel Warrior jumping for joy after a goal line stop — will be remembered for a while, especially by those living it.

Tennessee, battered, bruised and full of self-inflicted wounds, somehow found a way to make one more play than Kentucky on Saturday night, escaping the Commonwealth with a 17-13 win.

After getting gouged on the ground by wideout-turned-Wildcat-runner Lynn Bowden, Bituli and the Vols’ defense held the line to keep UK out of the end zone in the final minute of the game.

Then Guarantano, only inserted at halftime and still playing with one hand, delivered the knockout blow with a bootleg run on third down.

Afterward, Jeremy Pruitt walked into his postgame press conference and immediately uuttered one of the favorite words of He Who Shall Not Be Named.

“I can’t say enough about how proud I am of the resiliency,” Pruitt said.”

“Our kids didn’t quit, but man, we made it hard on ourselves.”

Yup.

For the first time since 2016, Tennessee has won three straight games. The Vols are now 5-5, third in the SEC East and looking at the real possibility of going 7-5 and spending New Years in Florida.

Who’da thunk it after an 0-2 start?

“This team has been through a lot, and just with all the outside noise that has happened at the start of the season, to get the things that we’re getting right now, it really means a lot,” said Bituli, resisting the urge of his eyes watering.

“I’m just really proud of my team. I’m just really proud, like I get emotional just talking about it.”

There’s plenty of reasons as to why Tennessee has rebounded from a disastrous start, but as the leaves start falling en masse around Knoxville, it’s become obvious that almost every answer involves a group of castigated players most believed couldn’t get it done.

The Butch Jones Orphans are finally making Tennessee the home they always wanted.

Bituli. Guarantano. Jauan Jennings. Darrell Taylor. Marquez Callaway. Nigel Warrior. Trey Smith.

How about Latrell Bumphus, Matthew Butler, Austin Pope, Josh Palmer, Shawn Shamburger, Kivon Bennett and Brent Cimaglia?

Apologies to those not listed. Suddenly, so many of Tennessee’s former cast-offs have developed into a lengthy roll call of contributors.

No, they’re not a perfect group. Sure, they still make too many mistakes. But they’re no longer allergic to winning, either.

Pruitt loves to talk about the youth on his team, and the Vols are certainly getting plenty of contributions from underclassmen like Wanya Morris, Henry To’oto’o and others, but the bricks leftover by Jones have truly become the mortar for the 2019 Vols.

They’ve bound the past with the present.

Pruitt and his staff deserve credit for developing a group largely of misfits, but the players should be beaming with pride the way they’ve bought in, persevered and become the backbone of this turnaround.

Tennessee does not beat Mississippi State, South Carolina or Kentucky without star plays from Guarantano, Taylor, Bituli, Warrior and the rest. Each week, some one new steps up (see: Ja’Quain Blakely) to write their redemption story.

“We want to leave this place better than when we got here,” Taylor said.

They’re well on their way.

Each week, I’ll rewatch the tape so you don’t have to. Here’s a skinny dozen of notes, analysis and final thoughts…

1. Rapid report card grades!

QB: B-

RB: D

WR: A

TE: B+

OL: B+

DL: B

LB: A-

DB: A

ST: C

2. Five guys who I thought played well

Many qualify here, so I cheated a little.

A. Seniors Daniel Bituli and Nigel Warrior

B. WRs Marquez Callaway + Josh Palmer

C. QB Jarrett Guarantano

D. Freshmen LBs Henry To’oto’o and Quavaris Crouch

E. Tennessee’s OL in pass protection

Bituli had 19 tackles, Warrior was fantastic in the second half, and both were clutch on the final defensive stand.

To'oto'o, who gutted out a knee injury, and Crouch were also great in the red zone and had huge hits near the goal line.

Meanwhile, with pristine pass protection in the third quarter, Jarrett Guarantano started the second half playing "500" with his two big outside receivers.

Callaway and Palmer just toyed with UK corners Jamari Brown and Brandin Echols. On 14 drop-backs, Guarantano was pressured just three times, and he completed both attempts.

With the offense struggling, once again Pruitt turned to Guarantano and Tennessee’s new super-sub-savior was 5 of 6 on throws over 10 yards for 93 yards and two touchdowns. Kudos to K’Rojhn Calbert, who stepped up at right tackle, while Trey Smith, Brandon Kennedy and Wanya Morris were solid keeping the pocket clean, too.

3. Five guys who’d like Saturday back

A. OLB Deandre Johnson

B. FS Jaylen McCollough

C. RB Ty Chandler

D. QB Brian Maurer

E. P Paxton Brooks

All five guys made critical mistakes Saturday night. Johnson jumped offsides on Kentucky’s first 3rd down of the night … and only played one more snap the rest of the game. McCollough, the freshman safety, started in place of Theo Jackson but was pulled due to misassignments and poor angles in the run game.

Chandler had a fumble, a penalty and was mostly a non-factor on the ground, while Brooks just dropped a punt which led to seven points.

Other than Crouch, Tennessee's outside linebackers could've qualified here, too, but after "the worst first half we've ever played," according to Darrell Taylor, the unit was much better holding the edge and reading their keys in the second half.

As for Maurer…

4. The freshman looked rusty.

He short-hopped some balls early, but his accuracy wasn’t his biggest problem Saturday night.

He had no feel for the game. Twice, Maurer worked the wrong side of the field.

This ball is supposed to go to Chandler, and instead, he throws it into traffic to the right side instead.

Maurer also got pass-happy on some RPOs, throwing a slant on first down to Tyler Byrd when a handoff was the right play and then doing the same thing again on 2nd-and-short eventhough Kentucky was squatting on the pass.

The Vols have a hat-on-hat here with their playmaker against a linebacker in the hole. This was a lost play.

Pruitt was very harsh in his assessment of Maurer at halftime, and it will be interesting to see how the Vols approach the position the final two weeks of the season.

Maurer clearly has some talent, but he comes with limitations and a lower floor than Guarantano. He finished with twice as many attempts (16 to eight) — despite being a part of three drives that went 3-and-out.

So the decision for Pruitt is do you keep starting the freshman, take the lumps with the upside, and continue to use Guarantano as the Sixth Man Savior? Or will Pruitt just hand the reins back over to No. 2 full-time?

5. New category alert!

The five best plays from Saturday night…

A. The Bituli-Blakely sandwich tackle to win the game was excellent, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better stop than Henry To’oto’o’s tackle in the hole on 3rd-and-goal. The freshman went 1-on-1 against Kentucky’s biggest tailback and stoned a 224-pound man backwards. That’s a man play.

B. Darel Middelton’s extra point block.

Most fans in blue shrugged when Tennessee’s 6-7 lineman blocked the extra point following Kentucky’s second touchdown. Three hours later, that one point loomed large as the ‘Cats couldn’t tie the game with a field goal.

C. Goodness, Marquez Callaway

D. Anything you can do, I can do better, says Josh Palmer.

E. Split-zone, perfectly executed ... when it wasn't the speed or triple option, Tennessee had trouble in the first half just defending basic run principles.

6. How about five important plays you might’ve missed on Saturday night? In no particular order…

A. Lynn Bowden playing Madden in real life

B. On Tennessee’s first touchdown drive, Guarantano converted a 3rd-and-10 with his legs, quickly realizing that UK was in a quarters-bail scheme. He escaped the pocket and picked up a great block by Tim Jordan to gain 12 yards to extend the drive.

C. Kentucky had two very strange fourth down decisions Saturday … one in each half. Near the end of the first half, the ‘Cats opted not to go for it on 4th-and-1 from inside UT’s 40 yard line. They punted for a net of 20 yards. Then in the second half, Eddie Gran dialed up a shot play on 4th-and-3 right after Bowden had run for 12 yards on third and long. Both decisions allowed Tennessee’s defense, reeling at the time, to get off the field.

D. Guarantano converted another important 3rd down on Tennessee’s second touchdown drive, as protection actually broke down on the right side but the backup quarterback climbed the pocket and delivered a strike to Palmer for a first down. Palmer raced into the end zone on the play but officials ruled his knee was down on the catch. He scored anyways two plays later.

E. After Matthew Butler’s dumb personal foul in the fourth quarter, Kentucky was inside Tennessee’s 45-yard line down 17-13. The ‘Cats called back-to-back trick plays but the Vols were ready for both of them. Warrior blew up a reverse and then Darrell Taylor and Latrell Bumphus destroy an attempted halfback pass.

7. I’d be remiss not to point out all the mistakes Tennessee also made Saturday night. Some errors have been noted already, but there was all sorts of foot-shooting by the Vols yesterday, which is why Pruitt spent much of his opening statement lamenting how his team flirted with disaster all night.

To whit:

Dropping the ball Part I: Paxton Brooks

Dropping the ball Part II: Ty Chandler

Four fumbles (losing just one)

Trey Smith’s late-hit penalty

Matthew Butler’s late-hit penalty

Jumping offsides … twice on the game’s opening drive

The defense’s complete confusion with the speed option

Chandler lining up incorrectly, wiping off a touchdown

Multiple missed tackles or poor fundamentals on third down, including one that exasperated Pruitt: A 3rd-and-10 in the second half when Kentucky checked to a speed option, and the Vols couldn’t get off blocks and the ‘Cats gained 12 yards.

8. Some stray thoughts and observations …

*** Tennessee was very fortunate on Nigel Warrior’s interception. Gran dialed up a great play, and Bowden had his tight end open behind the defense, but instead of leading his man with a deep shot, the wideout just lollypopped the ball, allowing Warrior to recover.

*** Kentucky played a keep-away masterpiece in the first half, as the Vols had just five possessions, three of which went 3-and-out. I was baffled by Pruitt’s decision not to use his timeouts late in the first half, though, especially when it seemed like a game where every possession mattered. Tennessee’s head coach let the clock run all the way down after stopping UK on 3rd-and-short. Those 30 seconds ultimately loomed large when Callaway caught a 34-yard pass on first down to get the ball near midfield. But with less than 10 seconds remaining, Tennessee didn’t have enough time to get Brent Cimaglia in field goal range. It was a missed opportunity.

*** Brent Hubbs mentioned it in the postgame podcast but how many folks would’ve picked Tennessee to win if you told them the Vols’ leading rusher was Guarantano? Tennessee had just three runs over 10 yards on Saturday — all three by its quarterbacks on scrambles.

*** Pruitt was frustrated with his team’s tackling postgame, but upon rewatch, it wasn’t that bad overall. The Vols’ issues mostly came from poor run fits and linemen not reading their keys. By my count, the only player who missed more than one tackle was Alontae Taylor.

9. The continued circus that is SEC officiating.

Their job is hard. That’s a given, but man, these officials continue to make too many mistakes without any accountability — for all teams.

Having to review Josh Palmer’s touchdown catch wasn’t great, but that’s why we have replay. But blowing a whistle dead right as a fumble occurred? Miscalling another targeting penalty? Not throwing a flag when a helmet gets ripped off on a tackle? Come on. Be better.

10. Much of the offseason strength and conditioning happy talk is just that … talk. Every program in the country returns to the field in August touting how they’re bigger, stronger and faster. All the summer praise for Craig Fitzgerald and his staff looked silly following opening-season losses to Georgia State and BYU, but few are laughing now.

In coordination with Jeremy Pruitt learning some hard lessons from Year 1 and altering his team’s practice schedule this fall, Tennessee’s S&C staff deserves a shoutout for managing a shorthanded roster through a brutal six-game stretch.

A year after routinely getting boat-raced after halftime, the Vols are dominating second halves — and you don’t do that without being a well-conditioned football team.

Since the loss to Georgia, Tennessee’s first-team defense has allowed two touchdowns — repeat, TWO — touchdowns after halftime. The Vols pitched second-half shutouts against South Carolina and Kentucky and only allowed a garbage-time score to UAB.

Certainly, second half adjustments are a factor, but so to is the fact Bituli and Warrior can play 72 snaps but still have their legs to get a stop to win the game.

We said it at the time two years ago, but after Pruitt, the most important hire for Tennessee was who could transform an S&C program that had become a graveyard of ex-coaches — with a memorial bathroom to boot! With a plan, some continuity, and clear development, the Vols look like they’ve found their guy.

11. The last word: The power of belief