Special Teams
Daniel: For once, there are some pretty good things to say about the special teams. Johnson’s late field-goal block was a great example of playing to the final whistle and not worrying about the scoreboard or game situation. Reeves-Maybin made a good heads’ up play to recover a punt that an Oklahoma player touched. The Vols didn’t allow any damaging returns either and Aaron Medley hit his lone field goal attempt. Tennessee’s return game wasn’t special, however. Devrin Young had a rough night – struggling to get back to the 20 and fumbling one kickoff return that was fortunately recovered by Joe Stocstill. Matt Darr was uninspiring punting as well, not hitting any over 40 and averaging just 34.8 yards per attempt. Those units need some work, but the Vols can definitely feel better about their overall effort here. Grade: B
Houston: A blocked field goal, a forced turnover on punt coverage, solid kick coverage and Aaron Medley’s field goal were the positives, but Devrin Young struggled on kick returns, Matt Darr hasn’t looked very good since rolling his ankle against Utah State and it looks like teams are very reluctant to punt to Cam Sutton. It wasn’t a bad night for special teams, but the Vols are still looking for someone to give them that spark in the return game. Grade: C
Reed: After struggling in this phase against Arkansas State, the Vols too a small leap forward this week. They were solid in kick coverage and nearly blocked a punt. They did block a field goal and Medley made his lone FG attempt. The bad? Darr had a rough day and added to his SEC-worst punt average and Tennessee’s kick return team was underwhelming. Grade: C-
