Last week during Tennessee’s blowout loss to West Virginia, CBS analyst Gary Danielson gave the Vols a backhanded compliment while endorsing Jeremy Pruitt and the new staff in Knoxville.
“I’ve watched a lot of Tennessee practices the last couple of years … and (this team) may might not be the most talented team, but they know what they’re doing.”
They certainly did on Saturday.
Tennessee did what it was supposed to against an undermanned ETSU bunch, rebounding from a sluggish start to trounce the Bucs 59-3.
There were plenty of positive takeaways, but it's dangerous to make many sweeping conclusions from a team Tennessee's backups could've handled. Just ask Florida how much throttling a FCS team meant to them last night.
Marquez Callaway perfectly summed up Tennessee's showing yesterday, saying, "We went out there and executed. I think we had a decent game. I’m not gonna say it was a great game. I’m not gonna say it was a bad game."
The Vols will have one more tuneup before the Gators come to town. They're favored by four touchdowns over UTEP this Saturday, as the Miners have lost 14 straight and just got beat by 20 at the hands of a FCS team.
THE STARTING 11
Each week, I’ll rewatch the tape so you don’t have to. Here’s a skinny dozen of quick-hitters, analysis and final thoughts…
1. Rapid report card grades!
QB: A-
RB: B+
WR: B+
TE: B-
OL: C
DL: B
LB: B
DB: B+
ST: A-
2. It feels apropos to give kudos to Bryce Thompson at the jump. The freshman corner delivered the best performance Saturday of any Tennessee player, in my opinion. Thompson earned his first-career start due to an excellent week of practice (Pruitt's foundational plan taking shape), and the 6-foot, 180-pound South Carolina native took that work to gameday, finishing with a pick, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup. The freshman was targeted seven times Saturday, but he allowed just two receptions for six yards.
Thompson’s awareness and ball-skills on his interception were great, but I’m not even sure that was his best play of the game.
The freshman displayed great technique and physicality on his near-interception on a 3rd-and-4 PBU in the first quarter. While he just missed the pick, the Vols blocked a punt for a touchdown on the very next play (Marquill Osborne will never see an easier path to the punter).
3. Pruitt scoffed a bit when I asked him postgame about Emmitt Gooden’s performance, but the tape doesn’t lie. The junior college transfer is already Tennessee’s most disruptive lineman. He can hold up the point of attack and routinely makes plays when he gets penetration. The latter is something that Shy Tuttle has struggled with since coming back from his injury.
For Gooden, who led the team with eight tackles and also had three TFLs and a sack, it’s all about consistency. Pruitt and the staff want to see it every day at every practice.
“I think the guy’s got some ability,” Pruitt said.
“He’s still learning how to work. When he wants to, he can be a pretty good football player. But you got to do it all the time and that’s not just him.”
4. More observations upon rewatching Tennessee’s defense: The Vols were particularly salty on 3rd downs, holding ETSU to just 2-of-15 conversions, getting key contributions from Thompson, Gooden and others.
After struggling a bit with game-speed in Week 1, Darrin Kirkland Jr. looked much more comfortable and fluid Saturday. The pick-six was a great play, but the redshirt junior was also solid in run support. Saturday was also a nice bounce-back performance for the much-maligned Micah Abernathy, while Kyle Phillips had three batted balls and Shawn Shamburger (~30 snaps) was solid in his first real game action since last season.
Now, many of Tennessee’s backups (mainly second and third-teamers) had several busts late, including allowing a long run on ETSU’s lone scoring drive. Dillion Bates got eaten up at the point of attack and allowed the ball-carrier to easily get to the edge. As Pruitt said in his postgame show, “That’s just bad ball right there. Linebacker has to be able to make a play.”
5. The Vols didn’t blitz a ton Saturday, but they did put some different looks on film, especially in their dime packages. Checkout this formation.
Tennessee lines up with just two down lineman and a pair of BUCK rushers. Darrin Kirkland Jr. is the money linebacker and cornerback Baylen Buchanan, who bumps inside in dime, quickly becomes a secondary linebacker and shoots up the A-gap with Kirkland on the blitz. They didn’t get there but they did cause the ETSU quarterback to throw the ball into traffic.
In fact, Pruitt didn’t like how Nigel Warrior or Micah Abernathy approached this play, believing Tennessee’s safeties should’ve been playing the ball and possibly come up wth a turnover.
“We preach all the time, once you get past 15 yards you should look back for the ball,” Pruitt said. “Micah should’ve looked back for the ball right there. It hit him in the back of the head.”
6. Lastly, Tennessee’s pass rush is still M.I.A.
Coupled with the offensive line woes (more below), this remains the team's biggest concern heading into the teeth of its schedule soon.
The Vols finished with just four pressures (three hurries and a sack) against the Bucs. Mars Hill got to ETSU six times (3 sacks and 3 additional hurries) in Week 1.
“We still don’t get much pressure,” Pruitt said. “We’ve got a long ways to go in that regard. We’ve got to be able to generate some pass rush.”
Deandre Johnson had a hit and a hurry Saturday, but the sophomore continues to leave his feet too often, which is what is limiting his playing time right now.
7. Offensively, another member of the 2018 signing class displayed real promise Saturday. Jeremy Banks averaged just 4.8 yards against an FCS opponent, but the Memphis native scored two touchdowns after recording just two touches total in Week 1. Banks runs violent and has a knack for breaking tackles. According to PFF, he had 50 yards after contact Saturday. The freshman’s vision will improve with more touches, but he finishes runs like a bigger John Kelly.
“When the play’s over with, either he’s going to be sore or they’re going to be sore,” Pruitt said.
8. Tennessee’s blocking on the perimeter was much improved in Week 2. Josh Palmer, Tyler Byrd and Marquez Callaway all had great blocks out on the edge. The execution on Palmer’s end-around touchdown was perfect. “Pretty easy right there,” Pruitt said.
I thought Dominick Wood-Anderson looked much more physical this week, but the rest of Tennessee’s tight ends were up and down again. Austin Pope had a nice seal block on Jeremy Banks’ first run of the day, but he also had a false start and whiff down on the goal line.
9. Overall, Tennessee’s offensive line remains a mess. Run blocking was fairly middling Saturday, while the Vols had several breakdowns in pass protection.
The following stats do not inspire much confidence against future SEC foes:
*** A week after the Vols had 16 plays of zero or negative yards, they had 12 such snaps against an FCS front Saturday.
*** In terms of pass protection, Tennessee threw the ball only 16 times against ETSU but allowed eight total pressures, per PFF. The Bucs hit Jarrett Guarantano three times and Tennessee allowed a sack with max-protection.
*** The Vols averaged 4.3 yards per carry on 42 attempts. Take away London's 34-yard run and Palmer's 20-yard end-around and that average becomes just 3.2 per clip. Yikes.
I thought Trey Smith had a really poor first quarter, but as a unit, there’s just not a lot of physicality or continuity. These are two Grade-A examples of how not to to run block by an entire unit.
Right tackle remains a legit concern, as both Drew Richmond and Marcus Tatum struggled at times. Both allowed a hurry, with Richmond totally blowing an assignment and nearly giving up a sack deep in the red zone.
We’ll see what answers the Vols have here. Jerome Carvin could be an option, but the freshman is definitely still learning his way out there, too.
10. It was good to see Guarantano connect on a couple deep shots. He threw dimes to both Palmer and Callaway, and nearly connected on a third long ball, but Palmer, as Pruitt noted in his postgame show, didn’t do a good enough job shielding the defender and trying to high-point the ball. It’s evident that Callaway is his go-to target, but Palmer continues to assert himself as the No. 2 option. Jauan Jennings didn’t record his first reception — or target — until 14:34 in the fourth quarter in a 45-3 game. He was also still covering kicks late in the game. There’s a clear pecking order at wideout right now.
11. Some final odds and ends…
*** Tennessee played 10 different offensive lineman against ETSU. Chance Hall got a ton of snaps at right guard.
*** Freshman defensive lineman Kurott Garland, Kingston Harris and Greg Emerson all saw work on ETSU’s final drive of the game. John Mincey saw legit reserve snaps Saturday and was solid in run support.
*** Paxton Brooks had touchbacks on his first three kickoffs but finished with just five touchbacks on 10 attempts.