Upon the re-watch of Tennessee’s first win in two months as the Vols beat Vanderbilt 42-17 here 10 things I think I know.
2. Bryce Thompson is better inside than at corner — That might sound like a hot take because Thompson has been a good corner in his college career. Thompson however doesn’t have great speed which is an issue for him against elite receivers. What he does have however is great ball skills and vision. Thompson sees the field really well and has been really solid in coverage inside when Tennessee goes into their dime package.
Saturday against Vanderbilt, Thompson only played in the dime package as he was limited due to the hamstring injury. But he made the games biggest play with his one handed interception.
Because of his ability to read a quarterback and his ball skills, I just wonder if he’s not better suited as a safety or even the star position. He seems more natural in the open field than out on an island. Remember he wasn’t a corner in high school.
He’s certainly Tennessee’s most productive defensive back. In his career, Thompson now has 8 interceptions. He’s had two in the last three games.
3. Keeping it in perspective —I don’t have to tell anyone this because no one is clamoring that all is right in Vol land following their win. The fact is Vanderbilt’s roster is depleted and they aren’t very good. That doesn’t mean there weren’t some bright spots by some individuals, but man the Commodores are bad particularly in the line of scrimmage. One of the wort SEC teams I have seen.
4. Shrout’s one play maddening to everyone — JT Shrout was dealing pretty good in the second quarter. He threw a great ball to Velus Jones on the first half TD. He threw a rope to Jalin Hyatt on the crossing pattern touchdown. With his arm strength Shrout could raise up and throw the quick out for 7-8 yards on the short side of the field any time he wanted. As steady as Bailey was and he was sharp to start the game, Shrout’s ability to get the ball down the field had you thinking at the half the maybe Shrout was going to separate himself in the competition. Then IT happened.
Forced out of the pocket, Shrout moving left threw off his back foot into double coverage for an interception. It’s the uh-oh play that has always plagued him. Shrout threw a crazy number of interceptions in high school. He has had those “what the heck was that moments” on the practice field and in scrimmages since he’s been at Tennessee. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have gotten more chances earlier in the year because he should have, but it’s those kinds of plays that have prevented him from doing so.
For fans it was a “we’ve seen this the last four years at the quarterback position” moment.
5. Steady Eddie Harrison Bailey will start Saturday and he should — I think Austin said it best on the post game podcast in describing Bailey. Right now, he’s somewhere between A.J. Suggs and Casey Clausen. Bailey doesn’t have an elite arm at this point. Neither of those two did. Bailey seems to have more command than Suggs did, but I don’t know that he has the competitive nature or moxie of Clausen. Clausen was one of the best competitors to ever wear the power T.
Bailey will get better. I don’t know if he will ever be elite, but I believe he is a winner who has a really good mentality that you can work with. Bailey doesn’t seem to panic. He seems to have things under control. I like his awareness and vision.
He has some limitations with the deep ball at this point although if he’s throwing to Hyatt or Jones instead of Cedric Tillman it’s not an overthrow, it’s six points. I don’t understand why Tillman gets so many reps, but he does.
Back to Bailey, I like how he has played especially the last three games. He will start on Saturday against Texas A&M and I’m not sure the plan will be to play JT Shrout in the first half regardless of how the game is going like it was against Vanderbilt.
6. Ole Matthew Butler just plugs along —If you aren’t flashy then you don’t get noticed, but the old veteran Butler is playing really well. Saturday he had 7 tackles, a sack, a qb hurry and a forced fumble. Butler is fourth on the team in tackles with 39. He has 27 tackles the last five games. In 13 games last year Butler had 45 tackles.
He plays really hard and really pursues the football. He will get a chance to play at the next level.
7. Some freshman got my attention — No one should be anointing anyone the next great anything based on that game, but some young players are definitely intriguing and make you want see more of them. Dee Beckwith’s height works against him as a running back, but how did you not like his athletic ability and the speed he showed. Now as someone pointed out to me earlier today be careful in getting caught up in someone’s speed. Vanderbilt is slow. Jaylen McCullough who doesn’t have great speed looked fast in Nashville. Nevertheless, I’m intrigued by Beckwith as a tailback. I think Jabari Small should be in the rotation at tailback. If you aren’t going to play Eric Gray until he taps out for fatigue then get Small in the rotation. Small finishes runs falling forward and hits the hole hard.
On tape, Cooper Mays was more comfortable this week. He had a full command it appears of setting the front. His snaps were good and physically he did well against a struggling defensive front. Much tougher challenge this week, but he clearly made strides from last week to this week. Also, it’s a shame Jerome Carvin had the turf toe this season and missed so much time. I think the best combination in the interior for this OL is Trey Smith at left guard, Carvin at center, and Mays at right guard. That would definitely be their most physical line up.
Back to the newcomers, Key Lawrence made a good play on the PBU. He and Tamarion McDonald are good talents who must get more consistent. McDonald got the start, but it was clear he had a busted coverage giving up an explosive play and that sent him to the bench to think about things.
It was good for those guys to get some snaps to help their confidence and to settle them down. Some have clearly been frustrated over lack of playing time. We will see who gets to play this week against the Aggies.
8. Don’t do dumb stuff — Tennessee got two personal foul penalties that simply were not needed. The DeAndre Johnson hit on the quarterback was just boneheaded much like the targeting call he had at Georgia. Gotta be smarter. Darnell Wright’s penalty was much the same.
Tennessee has had four penalties the last two games in the return game. They had two on punt returns that were fair catches by Eric Gray. Just not smart.
And finally on this point, I will go back on my soap box to stop rotating so many defensive linemen against hurry up offenses. Tennessee got caught twice with 12 men on the field because they tried to sub when Vanderbilt didn’t. They have had issues with it all year long. It’s why they have called more defensive time outs than offensive time outs.
Sometimes you just can’t substitute. Deal with it and play with who’s on the field.
9. Vols must stay aggressive — It’s easy to be aggressive when you are playing a team you are better than. It’s easy to take shots in the passing game and to blitz. Tennessee’s timing on the blitzes this week was much better than a week ago when you rewatched the game. Against Florida, Tennessee was late. Against Vanderbilt they were much better and it showed both in stopping the run and the pass. Pruitt and Derrick Ansley were aggressive and played moving forward. Their defense played faster as a result. They still gave up too many slants and middle field throws but they got freshman quarterback Ken Seals on the move and got him out of rhythm.
Then offensively, Tennessee attacked. No better example of that than the end of the first half and the last touchdown of the night. After forcing a punt with 1:47 to go in the half. Tennessee went to work to score. They didn’t run a draw hoping to make a first down and maybe then get going. From their 34 on first down, Chaney dialed up a 20 yard completion to Josh Palmer and 5 plays later it was the touchdown to Jalin Hyatt. Tennessee was aggressive.
Then with 7:20 to play after Vanderbilt closed it to 35-17, Chaney again went to work to answer. There was no running out the clock. It was go score. Again, easy to do against a team you are clearly much better than, but give them credit for their aggressiveness. The question is will they play that way this week as underdogs against Texas A&M.
10. Kudos to Toby Wilson —Wilson will garner little praise for going 6 for 6 on his extra points, but the walk on took care of business on Saturday after learning this week he would have the opportunity to kick. It had to have been thrill for the Nashville native. He will get the opportunity to finish out the season as the Vols placekicker as he kicked with confidence on Saturday.
- I still simply don’t understand — Velus Jones is a good player. No one is going to be able to explain to me why he wasn’t a bigger factor earlier in the year. Maybe he didn’t know the offense well enough, but he has caught the back shoulder ball every opportunity he’s been given to make that play. I just don’t understand how he can only get 12 targets in the first 7 games and gets 16 the last two. He could have and should have helped this struggling offense more this season.
2. Bryce Thompson is better inside than at corner — That might sound like a hot take because Thompson has been a good corner in his college career. Thompson however doesn’t have great speed which is an issue for him against elite receivers. What he does have however is great ball skills and vision. Thompson sees the field really well and has been really solid in coverage inside when Tennessee goes into their dime package.
Saturday against Vanderbilt, Thompson only played in the dime package as he was limited due to the hamstring injury. But he made the games biggest play with his one handed interception.
Because of his ability to read a quarterback and his ball skills, I just wonder if he’s not better suited as a safety or even the star position. He seems more natural in the open field than out on an island. Remember he wasn’t a corner in high school.
He’s certainly Tennessee’s most productive defensive back. In his career, Thompson now has 8 interceptions. He’s had two in the last three games.
3. Keeping it in perspective —I don’t have to tell anyone this because no one is clamoring that all is right in Vol land following their win. The fact is Vanderbilt’s roster is depleted and they aren’t very good. That doesn’t mean there weren’t some bright spots by some individuals, but man the Commodores are bad particularly in the line of scrimmage. One of the wort SEC teams I have seen.
4. Shrout’s one play maddening to everyone — JT Shrout was dealing pretty good in the second quarter. He threw a great ball to Velus Jones on the first half TD. He threw a rope to Jalin Hyatt on the crossing pattern touchdown. With his arm strength Shrout could raise up and throw the quick out for 7-8 yards on the short side of the field any time he wanted. As steady as Bailey was and he was sharp to start the game, Shrout’s ability to get the ball down the field had you thinking at the half the maybe Shrout was going to separate himself in the competition. Then IT happened.
Forced out of the pocket, Shrout moving left threw off his back foot into double coverage for an interception. It’s the uh-oh play that has always plagued him. Shrout threw a crazy number of interceptions in high school. He has had those “what the heck was that moments” on the practice field and in scrimmages since he’s been at Tennessee. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have gotten more chances earlier in the year because he should have, but it’s those kinds of plays that have prevented him from doing so.
For fans it was a “we’ve seen this the last four years at the quarterback position” moment.
5. Steady Eddie Harrison Bailey will start Saturday and he should — I think Austin said it best on the post game podcast in describing Bailey. Right now, he’s somewhere between A.J. Suggs and Casey Clausen. Bailey doesn’t have an elite arm at this point. Neither of those two did. Bailey seems to have more command than Suggs did, but I don’t know that he has the competitive nature or moxie of Clausen. Clausen was one of the best competitors to ever wear the power T.
Bailey will get better. I don’t know if he will ever be elite, but I believe he is a winner who has a really good mentality that you can work with. Bailey doesn’t seem to panic. He seems to have things under control. I like his awareness and vision.
He has some limitations with the deep ball at this point although if he’s throwing to Hyatt or Jones instead of Cedric Tillman it’s not an overthrow, it’s six points. I don’t understand why Tillman gets so many reps, but he does.
Back to Bailey, I like how he has played especially the last three games. He will start on Saturday against Texas A&M and I’m not sure the plan will be to play JT Shrout in the first half regardless of how the game is going like it was against Vanderbilt.
6. Ole Matthew Butler just plugs along —If you aren’t flashy then you don’t get noticed, but the old veteran Butler is playing really well. Saturday he had 7 tackles, a sack, a qb hurry and a forced fumble. Butler is fourth on the team in tackles with 39. He has 27 tackles the last five games. In 13 games last year Butler had 45 tackles.
He plays really hard and really pursues the football. He will get a chance to play at the next level.
7. Some freshman got my attention — No one should be anointing anyone the next great anything based on that game, but some young players are definitely intriguing and make you want see more of them. Dee Beckwith’s height works against him as a running back, but how did you not like his athletic ability and the speed he showed. Now as someone pointed out to me earlier today be careful in getting caught up in someone’s speed. Vanderbilt is slow. Jaylen McCullough who doesn’t have great speed looked fast in Nashville. Nevertheless, I’m intrigued by Beckwith as a tailback. I think Jabari Small should be in the rotation at tailback. If you aren’t going to play Eric Gray until he taps out for fatigue then get Small in the rotation. Small finishes runs falling forward and hits the hole hard.
On tape, Cooper Mays was more comfortable this week. He had a full command it appears of setting the front. His snaps were good and physically he did well against a struggling defensive front. Much tougher challenge this week, but he clearly made strides from last week to this week. Also, it’s a shame Jerome Carvin had the turf toe this season and missed so much time. I think the best combination in the interior for this OL is Trey Smith at left guard, Carvin at center, and Mays at right guard. That would definitely be their most physical line up.
Back to the newcomers, Key Lawrence made a good play on the PBU. He and Tamarion McDonald are good talents who must get more consistent. McDonald got the start, but it was clear he had a busted coverage giving up an explosive play and that sent him to the bench to think about things.
It was good for those guys to get some snaps to help their confidence and to settle them down. Some have clearly been frustrated over lack of playing time. We will see who gets to play this week against the Aggies.
8. Don’t do dumb stuff — Tennessee got two personal foul penalties that simply were not needed. The DeAndre Johnson hit on the quarterback was just boneheaded much like the targeting call he had at Georgia. Gotta be smarter. Darnell Wright’s penalty was much the same.
Tennessee has had four penalties the last two games in the return game. They had two on punt returns that were fair catches by Eric Gray. Just not smart.
And finally on this point, I will go back on my soap box to stop rotating so many defensive linemen against hurry up offenses. Tennessee got caught twice with 12 men on the field because they tried to sub when Vanderbilt didn’t. They have had issues with it all year long. It’s why they have called more defensive time outs than offensive time outs.
Sometimes you just can’t substitute. Deal with it and play with who’s on the field.
9. Vols must stay aggressive — It’s easy to be aggressive when you are playing a team you are better than. It’s easy to take shots in the passing game and to blitz. Tennessee’s timing on the blitzes this week was much better than a week ago when you rewatched the game. Against Florida, Tennessee was late. Against Vanderbilt they were much better and it showed both in stopping the run and the pass. Pruitt and Derrick Ansley were aggressive and played moving forward. Their defense played faster as a result. They still gave up too many slants and middle field throws but they got freshman quarterback Ken Seals on the move and got him out of rhythm.
Then offensively, Tennessee attacked. No better example of that than the end of the first half and the last touchdown of the night. After forcing a punt with 1:47 to go in the half. Tennessee went to work to score. They didn’t run a draw hoping to make a first down and maybe then get going. From their 34 on first down, Chaney dialed up a 20 yard completion to Josh Palmer and 5 plays later it was the touchdown to Jalin Hyatt. Tennessee was aggressive.
Then with 7:20 to play after Vanderbilt closed it to 35-17, Chaney again went to work to answer. There was no running out the clock. It was go score. Again, easy to do against a team you are clearly much better than, but give them credit for their aggressiveness. The question is will they play that way this week as underdogs against Texas A&M.
10. Kudos to Toby Wilson —Wilson will garner little praise for going 6 for 6 on his extra points, but the walk on took care of business on Saturday after learning this week he would have the opportunity to kick. It had to have been thrill for the Nashville native. He will get the opportunity to finish out the season as the Vols placekicker as he kicked with confidence on Saturday.
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