As a reminder, this is the PFF grading scale.
< 50 = Backup
50-59 = Below average starter
60-69 = Average starter
70-79 = Above average starter
80-89 = Very good
90-99 = Elite
1 — Princeton Fant (9 snaps) 88.5
2 — Jacob Warren — (50) 77.5
3 — Chris Akporoghene — (6) 75.3
4 — Brian Maurer — (7) 73.5
5 — Jarrett Guarantano (60) 73.4
6 — Jalin Hyatt — (29) 72.2
7 — Josh Palmer — (50) 70.3
8 — Jahmir Johnson — (64) 66.4
9 — Trey Smith — (58) 64.5
10 — Cooper Mays — (8) 62.3
11 — Brandon Kennedy — (60) 61.7
12 — Jabari Small — (7) 61.1
13 — Dee Beckwith — (1) 60.0
14 — Jordan Allen — (2) 59.9
15 — Eric Gray — (39) 58.2
16 — Malachi Wideman — (7) 57.8
17 — Cade Mays — (60) 57.3
18 — Jimmy Holiday — (6) 55.6
19 — Ty Chandler — (21) 55.3
20 — Cedric Tillman — (12) 54.7
21 — Ramel Keyton — (25) 53.9
22 — Velus Jones Jr. — (33) 51.0
23 — Brandon Johnson — (36) 50.0
24 — Kingston Harris — (2) 49.6
25 — Jimmy Calloway — (7) 45.9
26 — Darnell Wright — (67) 41.8
27 — Javontez Spraggins — (12) 37.1
I obviously, as many of you do, don’t see the same things that the PFF guys do and this week is no exception. I think this stuff is neat to look at and sometimes useful in processing what we saw from the game but in now way can I look at the Alabama game and think that Darnell Wright and Javontez Spraggins were the worst performers on offense, but maybe that’s just me.
Spraggins played 12 snaps and got a 0.0 in pass protection on four drop backs. I don’t get that. I do recall Wright whiffing one time in pass protection but I think he was better than the 41.8 pass pro grade PFF slapped on him.
According to their grades Cade Mays was the best OL in pass protection at 80.8 followed by Trey Smith (79.3) and Brandon Kennedy (78.0).
The tailbacks have been obviously atrocious in pass protection at times this fall and that’s been reflected accurately (I think) in their PFF grades. This week they were better and that showed up in their grades. Ty Chandler came in at 78.4, Eric Gray at 75.0.
I thought that Tennessee was pretty decent on the ground against Alabama. Not great by any means at all but they had an acceptable day on the ground. I certainly thought they were better than the PFF grades reflect, no offensive lineman graded out at 70+ with Jahmir Johnson leading the way at 63.5 and Kennedy the only other guy over 60 at 60.5.
I also think that Guarantano’s grade is too high if we’re to assume that 70+ is the grade for an above average starter. He made three really nice throws, two to Hyatt and one to Palmer, and give him credit for playing a turnover free game after what we’ve seen in the last two weeks, other than that he directed the offense to 17 points against what has been a pretty vanilla defense in 2020.
Jim Chaney continues to be reluctant to work the middle of the field. Of Guarantano’s 23 pass attempts only six of them past the line of scrimmage were between the hashmarks. As noted above, Guarantano had three really nice throws on the day, those were the Vols only completions past 20 yards down the field though JG was a respectable 3-for-7 on throws past 20 yards.
The biggest disappointment in the passing game was a paltry 1-for-3 effort on throws in between 10-20 yards. That’s just bad football right there.
Again, give Guarantano credit for not turning the ball over after some tremendous struggles in that department recently, but he was ‘checkdown Charlie’ most of the day against Alabama with 12 of his 23 attempts under 10 yards.
Tennessee had some obvious tendencies in the run game. More than a third of their called runs (13 of 35) either went between right guard and center or directly over right guard. That was moderately productive, producing 46 yards on those 13 carries.
Running right behind Trey Smith at left guard produced 4.5 yards per carry on four attempts. It was a small sample size (3 rushes) but right tackle was the most productive spot, producing 5.3 ypc.
Tennessee did pop off four runs of more than 10 yards though that’s a little deceiving as two of those were quarterback scrambles.
DEFENSE
1 — Trevon Flowers — (75 snaps) 81.7
2 — LaTrell Bumphus — (38) 76.6
3 — Solon Page — (2) 75.3
4 — Bryce Thompson — (42) 74.4
5 — Aaron Beasley — (14) 73.6
6 — Kivon Bennett — (18) 70.6
7 — Doneiko Slaughter — (19) 70.0
8 — Jaylen McCollough — (63) 67.9
9 — Key Lawrence — (17) 67.4
10 — Morven Joseph (7) 61.6
11 — Alontae Taylor (44) 61.3
12 — Matthew Butler (46) 60.8
13 — Tamarion McDonald (10) 60.1
14 — Bryson Eason — (2) 60.0
14 — Warren Burrell (2) 60.0
14 — Cheyenne Labruzza (2) 60.0
17 — John Mincey (13) 59.4
18 — Aubrey Solomon — (23) 58.9
19 — Ja’Quain Blakely (11) 57.2
20 — Roman Harrison — (19) 57.2
21 — Kenneth George Jr. — (56) 55.0
22 — Shawn Shamburger — (32) 54.6
23 — Quavaris Crouch — (55) 53.5
24 — Theo Jackson — (12) 52.9
25 — Elijah Simmons — (19) 51.2
26 — Omari Thomas — (20) 49.6
27 — Tyler Baron — (31) 49.0
28 — Kurott Garland — (28) 48.6
29 — Deandre Johnson — (30) 45.4
30 — Savion Williams — (9) 36.2
31 — Greg Emerson — (9) 34.1
32 — Henry To’o To’o — (77) 33.5
33 — Darel Middleton — (24) 28.6
This is a hodge podge to me. I agree with a lot of these grades. I don’t know that To’o To’o deserves a 33.5 but he clearly struggled at times and had two very obvious whiffs on tackles right in front of him, including one on Mac Jones who isn’t exactly Lamar Jackson.
On a day when Alabama just absolutely eviscerated you through the air I don’t see how two starters in the secondary grade out as two of your best players on the day, especially when both dropped clear interceptions. I get that that’s just one play, but it leaves an impression.
Flowers actually received a pass coverage grade of 89.6 which is borderline elite, and if you think Tennessee got elite pass coverage from the safety spot on Saturday you were watching a different game than I was. Similarly Thompson (72.6) and Theo Jackson (70.5) received high marks in pass coverage. Don’t get it.
Roman Harrison (72.8) is the only member of the front seven who received an ‘above average starter’ rating as a pass rushing grade, which I can totally get no board with.
LaTrell Bumphus (83.6) graded out by far the highest of the defensive lineman in run defense no other member of the front seven was 70+.
To’o To’o’s failing grade was all due to pass coverage and missed tackles. He received a 37.3 in tackling and a 27.9 in pass coverage. I would call both of those fair. Not his best day.
Butler (77.2), Bumphus (76.6) and Garland (73.8) got the highest grades as tacklers in the front seven.
It was like a broken record as far as pass coverage goes. Everyone has roasted Tennessee’s pass defense in the middle of the field so it’s no surprise that the most explosive passing attack in the SEC picked at that scab, even without the services of it’s most explosive playmaker in Jaylen Waddle.
Alabama just gashed Tennessee between the hashes completing 10-of-12 passes for 245 yards. I mean, that would be a good performance in your routes on air portion of practice. The Vols have just been awful from the opening game in this department and Saturday’s outing makes a pretty loud statement about the fact that they aren’t getting any better.
Tennessee is so obviously bad here that Alabama hardly even bothered with outside routes. They attempted 15 throws of more than 10 yards on the day, only three of those were out wide.
< 50 = Backup
50-59 = Below average starter
60-69 = Average starter
70-79 = Above average starter
80-89 = Very good
90-99 = Elite
1 — Princeton Fant (9 snaps) 88.5
2 — Jacob Warren — (50) 77.5
3 — Chris Akporoghene — (6) 75.3
4 — Brian Maurer — (7) 73.5
5 — Jarrett Guarantano (60) 73.4
6 — Jalin Hyatt — (29) 72.2
7 — Josh Palmer — (50) 70.3
8 — Jahmir Johnson — (64) 66.4
9 — Trey Smith — (58) 64.5
10 — Cooper Mays — (8) 62.3
11 — Brandon Kennedy — (60) 61.7
12 — Jabari Small — (7) 61.1
13 — Dee Beckwith — (1) 60.0
14 — Jordan Allen — (2) 59.9
15 — Eric Gray — (39) 58.2
16 — Malachi Wideman — (7) 57.8
17 — Cade Mays — (60) 57.3
18 — Jimmy Holiday — (6) 55.6
19 — Ty Chandler — (21) 55.3
20 — Cedric Tillman — (12) 54.7
21 — Ramel Keyton — (25) 53.9
22 — Velus Jones Jr. — (33) 51.0
23 — Brandon Johnson — (36) 50.0
24 — Kingston Harris — (2) 49.6
25 — Jimmy Calloway — (7) 45.9
26 — Darnell Wright — (67) 41.8
27 — Javontez Spraggins — (12) 37.1
I obviously, as many of you do, don’t see the same things that the PFF guys do and this week is no exception. I think this stuff is neat to look at and sometimes useful in processing what we saw from the game but in now way can I look at the Alabama game and think that Darnell Wright and Javontez Spraggins were the worst performers on offense, but maybe that’s just me.
Spraggins played 12 snaps and got a 0.0 in pass protection on four drop backs. I don’t get that. I do recall Wright whiffing one time in pass protection but I think he was better than the 41.8 pass pro grade PFF slapped on him.
According to their grades Cade Mays was the best OL in pass protection at 80.8 followed by Trey Smith (79.3) and Brandon Kennedy (78.0).
The tailbacks have been obviously atrocious in pass protection at times this fall and that’s been reflected accurately (I think) in their PFF grades. This week they were better and that showed up in their grades. Ty Chandler came in at 78.4, Eric Gray at 75.0.
I thought that Tennessee was pretty decent on the ground against Alabama. Not great by any means at all but they had an acceptable day on the ground. I certainly thought they were better than the PFF grades reflect, no offensive lineman graded out at 70+ with Jahmir Johnson leading the way at 63.5 and Kennedy the only other guy over 60 at 60.5.
I also think that Guarantano’s grade is too high if we’re to assume that 70+ is the grade for an above average starter. He made three really nice throws, two to Hyatt and one to Palmer, and give him credit for playing a turnover free game after what we’ve seen in the last two weeks, other than that he directed the offense to 17 points against what has been a pretty vanilla defense in 2020.
Jim Chaney continues to be reluctant to work the middle of the field. Of Guarantano’s 23 pass attempts only six of them past the line of scrimmage were between the hashmarks. As noted above, Guarantano had three really nice throws on the day, those were the Vols only completions past 20 yards down the field though JG was a respectable 3-for-7 on throws past 20 yards.
The biggest disappointment in the passing game was a paltry 1-for-3 effort on throws in between 10-20 yards. That’s just bad football right there.
Again, give Guarantano credit for not turning the ball over after some tremendous struggles in that department recently, but he was ‘checkdown Charlie’ most of the day against Alabama with 12 of his 23 attempts under 10 yards.
Tennessee had some obvious tendencies in the run game. More than a third of their called runs (13 of 35) either went between right guard and center or directly over right guard. That was moderately productive, producing 46 yards on those 13 carries.
Running right behind Trey Smith at left guard produced 4.5 yards per carry on four attempts. It was a small sample size (3 rushes) but right tackle was the most productive spot, producing 5.3 ypc.
Tennessee did pop off four runs of more than 10 yards though that’s a little deceiving as two of those were quarterback scrambles.
DEFENSE
1 — Trevon Flowers — (75 snaps) 81.7
2 — LaTrell Bumphus — (38) 76.6
3 — Solon Page — (2) 75.3
4 — Bryce Thompson — (42) 74.4
5 — Aaron Beasley — (14) 73.6
6 — Kivon Bennett — (18) 70.6
7 — Doneiko Slaughter — (19) 70.0
8 — Jaylen McCollough — (63) 67.9
9 — Key Lawrence — (17) 67.4
10 — Morven Joseph (7) 61.6
11 — Alontae Taylor (44) 61.3
12 — Matthew Butler (46) 60.8
13 — Tamarion McDonald (10) 60.1
14 — Bryson Eason — (2) 60.0
14 — Warren Burrell (2) 60.0
14 — Cheyenne Labruzza (2) 60.0
17 — John Mincey (13) 59.4
18 — Aubrey Solomon — (23) 58.9
19 — Ja’Quain Blakely (11) 57.2
20 — Roman Harrison — (19) 57.2
21 — Kenneth George Jr. — (56) 55.0
22 — Shawn Shamburger — (32) 54.6
23 — Quavaris Crouch — (55) 53.5
24 — Theo Jackson — (12) 52.9
25 — Elijah Simmons — (19) 51.2
26 — Omari Thomas — (20) 49.6
27 — Tyler Baron — (31) 49.0
28 — Kurott Garland — (28) 48.6
29 — Deandre Johnson — (30) 45.4
30 — Savion Williams — (9) 36.2
31 — Greg Emerson — (9) 34.1
32 — Henry To’o To’o — (77) 33.5
33 — Darel Middleton — (24) 28.6
This is a hodge podge to me. I agree with a lot of these grades. I don’t know that To’o To’o deserves a 33.5 but he clearly struggled at times and had two very obvious whiffs on tackles right in front of him, including one on Mac Jones who isn’t exactly Lamar Jackson.
On a day when Alabama just absolutely eviscerated you through the air I don’t see how two starters in the secondary grade out as two of your best players on the day, especially when both dropped clear interceptions. I get that that’s just one play, but it leaves an impression.
Flowers actually received a pass coverage grade of 89.6 which is borderline elite, and if you think Tennessee got elite pass coverage from the safety spot on Saturday you were watching a different game than I was. Similarly Thompson (72.6) and Theo Jackson (70.5) received high marks in pass coverage. Don’t get it.
Roman Harrison (72.8) is the only member of the front seven who received an ‘above average starter’ rating as a pass rushing grade, which I can totally get no board with.
LaTrell Bumphus (83.6) graded out by far the highest of the defensive lineman in run defense no other member of the front seven was 70+.
To’o To’o’s failing grade was all due to pass coverage and missed tackles. He received a 37.3 in tackling and a 27.9 in pass coverage. I would call both of those fair. Not his best day.
Butler (77.2), Bumphus (76.6) and Garland (73.8) got the highest grades as tacklers in the front seven.
It was like a broken record as far as pass coverage goes. Everyone has roasted Tennessee’s pass defense in the middle of the field so it’s no surprise that the most explosive passing attack in the SEC picked at that scab, even without the services of it’s most explosive playmaker in Jaylen Waddle.
Alabama just gashed Tennessee between the hashes completing 10-of-12 passes for 245 yards. I mean, that would be a good performance in your routes on air portion of practice. The Vols have just been awful from the opening game in this department and Saturday’s outing makes a pretty loud statement about the fact that they aren’t getting any better.
Tennessee is so obviously bad here that Alabama hardly even bothered with outside routes. They attempted 15 throws of more than 10 yards on the day, only three of those were out wide.
