Upon the re-watch of Tennessee’s 6th straight loss a 31-19 loss to Florida that featured the Vols scoring two late touchdowns here 10 things I think I know.
I thought both quarterbacks were solid Saturday watching the game live and they were on re-watch as well.
2. Plenty about this offense baffles me beyond the quarterback decisions — Let’s start with play calling. I love the fact that Ty Chandler and Eric Gray were on the field together. Why it took to game 8 to happen I don’t know, but they scored a touchdown out of it and one would think that they could do more things to tax the defense if they elected to.
Every game you can knitpick an offensive coordinator. So maybe this is not fair, but down 10-7 and needing to not led the game get away from you, Chaney dials up a deep shot on 3rd and 6 that was in complete. In fact in the Vols last two possessions of the first half Chaney dialed up three deep shots which were all incomplete. Interesting play calling there after the west coast intermediate passing game stuff was what got you the first touchdown.
I for the life of me have no understanding of their offensive line rotation. They simply rotate too much. Tennessee comes off their own goal line and march 96 yards for a touchdown with Jerome Carvin at center. On the next possession Cooper Mays is back at center. Why? Making the change there seems to make no sense to me. That’s not a knock on Mays at all. He’s going to be a good player, but he’s not as developed at Carvin and the feeling from some back in September was that Tennessee’s best five included Carvin at center. Too many times this year, Tennessee has appeared to have some rhythm/success in the offensive line and they randomly change the line up. That yo-yoing makes no sense.
It also makes no sense that you suddenly start targeting Velus Jones after he had been a non-factor in the passing game basically all season. The Bailey to Jones back shoulder throw on 3rd down on the Vols touchdown drive was a thing of beauty as was Jones’ touchdown catch from J.T. Shrout. For a team looking for more speed to stretch the defense, Velus Jones did that against the Gators. They didn’t hook up, but Jones was open on at least a couple of deep throw targets in the game.
3. Jalin Hyatt needs the weight room — If it were a year from now Hyatt would have had some pretty nice YAC yards. Tennessee schemed it a couple of times to get Hyatt the ball in space with one man to beat and Hyatt was tackled by a defensive back. I love Hyatt as a player and think he’s going to be a really good Vol, but he needs an off-season to get stronger and more physical. When he gets there watch out because Hyatt can run every route and could be a really nice player in the slot for the Vols.
4. Tennessee’s blitz package isn’t very effective — Upon rewatch Pruitt and Ansley tried to dial up pressure but they just couldn’t get home. Give Florida’s offensive line credit and give Kyle Trask credit as he got rid of the ball. It feels like watching it live and on re-watch that the timing of the blitzers aren’t very good and that the back end and the front seven aren’t on the same page. Tennessee would blitz and the hot would be open because the secondary was backed off or the blitzers delayed coming given Trask who doesn’t hold onto the ball long ample time to get rid of the ball.
With the two sacks, Tennessee now has recorded 18 on the year. In 13 games last year, Tennessee recorded 34 sacks.
5. Broken record, linebackers and pass coverage in the middle of the field — We have talked about middle of the field coverage or the lack of it all year long. I had the numbers in Friday’s 10 things I think about the opponents completion percentage between the hash marks.
Kyle Trask loves playing the middle of the field against the Vols. According to PFF, Trask was 20 of 24 for 246 and two scores. Making his totals in two years against Pruitt’s defense Trask between the numbers is 35 of 42 (83%) 472 yards, 4 touchdowns.
On Florida’s touchdown to start the second half, Trask hit Grimes for a score and Tennessee’s defense linebackers/safeties and star position was lost on who to cover and how to cover.
6. Pass protection — Coming into the game, the Vols had given up 17 sacks on the season. They gave up 6 Saturday against the Gators. Of the 23 sacks given up in 8 games, 11 of them were recorded by Georgia and Florida.
Upon rewatch, there was some confusion, communication issues at times on the offensive line. I appeared at times the tight ends weren’t good in pass protection. At times the quarterback held the ball too long and the running backs had their pass pro issues.
Clearly, Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham dialed up the pressure. Tennessee didn’t give up a sack in the first quarter and Bailey wasn’t sacked on the touchdown drive in the second quarter. After the Vols went up 7-3, Bailey was sacked twice before the half and he was sacked 3 times in the third quarter. Grantham brought more pressure, he ran some twists and games up front that Tennessee had a hard time figuring out who to block.
7. What does Shrout’s play mean? — Shrout was the after thought. He didn’t travel to Arkansas. No one thought he would play Saturday night after injuring his shoulder in practice last week. When he went in the game, I thought Pruitt was crazy for the decision because Bailey hadn’t played bad and the freshman needs all the work he can get.
After seeing Shrout live and re-watching, Shrout needs to play more. He had command of the offense. He pushed the ball down the field a bit better in the passing game. Bailey deserves to play after his play on Saturday as does Shrout who was the biggest surprise of the day.
8. Need more Alontae Taylor — Bryce Thompson is banged up and is not 100%. Thompson also hasn’t played well the last couple of weeks. Taylor has been battling the hamstring most of the year. He only played 8 snaps against Auburn and he only played 38 against Florida while Thompson played 64. The last two games Thompson has played 130 snaps while Taylor has played 46. Taylor had a nice PBU in the second half and was Tennessee’s best corner in week one. I think the Nashville native needs more snaps either at corner or star or somewhere.
9. Fair catch kickoffs — Tennessee wanted to see if they could make a play returning kicks to give the offense better field position to the point that Pruitt made Florida re-kick as kickoff. It didn’t work on that kickoff and didn’t work all night. Aaron Beasley had two penalties on two kickoffs. That return unit didn’t get anyone blocked up. Florida’s kickoffs had high hang time and Tennessee’s return game was awful.
10. Find a new onside kick — Tennessee has tried three onside kicks this year and all three have been middle dribble kicks and all three have failed. Paxton Brooks has done a nice job in his career with onside kicks so I don’t know why you change kickers in that role. But if you are going to kick another one this year try something different, because you haven’t been close to recovering the middle dribbles.
- I simply don’t understand — I don’t know why Harrison Bailey or J.T. Shrout wasn’t good enough to play legitimate snaps in the Kentucky, Arkansas or Auburn game. I don’t think they suddenly got ready mentally the last two weeks on the practice field. Neither one were “great” upon re-watch. Bailey struggled with the deep ball. Shrout was playing against a more relaxed defense. However both of them knew where to go with the ball. For the most part they got rid of the ball on time and they were accurate especially on the swing passes and the intermediate throws.
I thought both quarterbacks were solid Saturday watching the game live and they were on re-watch as well.
2. Plenty about this offense baffles me beyond the quarterback decisions — Let’s start with play calling. I love the fact that Ty Chandler and Eric Gray were on the field together. Why it took to game 8 to happen I don’t know, but they scored a touchdown out of it and one would think that they could do more things to tax the defense if they elected to.
Every game you can knitpick an offensive coordinator. So maybe this is not fair, but down 10-7 and needing to not led the game get away from you, Chaney dials up a deep shot on 3rd and 6 that was in complete. In fact in the Vols last two possessions of the first half Chaney dialed up three deep shots which were all incomplete. Interesting play calling there after the west coast intermediate passing game stuff was what got you the first touchdown.
I for the life of me have no understanding of their offensive line rotation. They simply rotate too much. Tennessee comes off their own goal line and march 96 yards for a touchdown with Jerome Carvin at center. On the next possession Cooper Mays is back at center. Why? Making the change there seems to make no sense to me. That’s not a knock on Mays at all. He’s going to be a good player, but he’s not as developed at Carvin and the feeling from some back in September was that Tennessee’s best five included Carvin at center. Too many times this year, Tennessee has appeared to have some rhythm/success in the offensive line and they randomly change the line up. That yo-yoing makes no sense.
It also makes no sense that you suddenly start targeting Velus Jones after he had been a non-factor in the passing game basically all season. The Bailey to Jones back shoulder throw on 3rd down on the Vols touchdown drive was a thing of beauty as was Jones’ touchdown catch from J.T. Shrout. For a team looking for more speed to stretch the defense, Velus Jones did that against the Gators. They didn’t hook up, but Jones was open on at least a couple of deep throw targets in the game.
3. Jalin Hyatt needs the weight room — If it were a year from now Hyatt would have had some pretty nice YAC yards. Tennessee schemed it a couple of times to get Hyatt the ball in space with one man to beat and Hyatt was tackled by a defensive back. I love Hyatt as a player and think he’s going to be a really good Vol, but he needs an off-season to get stronger and more physical. When he gets there watch out because Hyatt can run every route and could be a really nice player in the slot for the Vols.
4. Tennessee’s blitz package isn’t very effective — Upon rewatch Pruitt and Ansley tried to dial up pressure but they just couldn’t get home. Give Florida’s offensive line credit and give Kyle Trask credit as he got rid of the ball. It feels like watching it live and on re-watch that the timing of the blitzers aren’t very good and that the back end and the front seven aren’t on the same page. Tennessee would blitz and the hot would be open because the secondary was backed off or the blitzers delayed coming given Trask who doesn’t hold onto the ball long ample time to get rid of the ball.
With the two sacks, Tennessee now has recorded 18 on the year. In 13 games last year, Tennessee recorded 34 sacks.
5. Broken record, linebackers and pass coverage in the middle of the field — We have talked about middle of the field coverage or the lack of it all year long. I had the numbers in Friday’s 10 things I think about the opponents completion percentage between the hash marks.
Kyle Trask loves playing the middle of the field against the Vols. According to PFF, Trask was 20 of 24 for 246 and two scores. Making his totals in two years against Pruitt’s defense Trask between the numbers is 35 of 42 (83%) 472 yards, 4 touchdowns.
On Florida’s touchdown to start the second half, Trask hit Grimes for a score and Tennessee’s defense linebackers/safeties and star position was lost on who to cover and how to cover.
6. Pass protection — Coming into the game, the Vols had given up 17 sacks on the season. They gave up 6 Saturday against the Gators. Of the 23 sacks given up in 8 games, 11 of them were recorded by Georgia and Florida.
Upon rewatch, there was some confusion, communication issues at times on the offensive line. I appeared at times the tight ends weren’t good in pass protection. At times the quarterback held the ball too long and the running backs had their pass pro issues.
Clearly, Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham dialed up the pressure. Tennessee didn’t give up a sack in the first quarter and Bailey wasn’t sacked on the touchdown drive in the second quarter. After the Vols went up 7-3, Bailey was sacked twice before the half and he was sacked 3 times in the third quarter. Grantham brought more pressure, he ran some twists and games up front that Tennessee had a hard time figuring out who to block.
7. What does Shrout’s play mean? — Shrout was the after thought. He didn’t travel to Arkansas. No one thought he would play Saturday night after injuring his shoulder in practice last week. When he went in the game, I thought Pruitt was crazy for the decision because Bailey hadn’t played bad and the freshman needs all the work he can get.
After seeing Shrout live and re-watching, Shrout needs to play more. He had command of the offense. He pushed the ball down the field a bit better in the passing game. Bailey deserves to play after his play on Saturday as does Shrout who was the biggest surprise of the day.
8. Need more Alontae Taylor — Bryce Thompson is banged up and is not 100%. Thompson also hasn’t played well the last couple of weeks. Taylor has been battling the hamstring most of the year. He only played 8 snaps against Auburn and he only played 38 against Florida while Thompson played 64. The last two games Thompson has played 130 snaps while Taylor has played 46. Taylor had a nice PBU in the second half and was Tennessee’s best corner in week one. I think the Nashville native needs more snaps either at corner or star or somewhere.
9. Fair catch kickoffs — Tennessee wanted to see if they could make a play returning kicks to give the offense better field position to the point that Pruitt made Florida re-kick as kickoff. It didn’t work on that kickoff and didn’t work all night. Aaron Beasley had two penalties on two kickoffs. That return unit didn’t get anyone blocked up. Florida’s kickoffs had high hang time and Tennessee’s return game was awful.
10. Find a new onside kick — Tennessee has tried three onside kicks this year and all three have been middle dribble kicks and all three have failed. Paxton Brooks has done a nice job in his career with onside kicks so I don’t know why you change kickers in that role. But if you are going to kick another one this year try something different, because you haven’t been close to recovering the middle dribbles.
