RTI Film Study: What Went Wrong vs. Florida

John Kelly Still Needs More Touches

The biggest positive in this game was pretty clear. And he was wearing No. 4.

John Kelly ran wild, showing that he’s not just a good back, but a great player who deserves to be talked about as one of the SEC’s best rushers.

He also deserved more of the football.

Right here, Tennessee calls a read option on third down. And Dormady, who’s still inexperienced on when to give or keep the ball, makes the wrong choice.

Interesting call here. Dormady keeps it on third down, gets stopped easily. Kelly may have had a first down here. #RTIFilmStudy pic.twitter.com/94BrmNxES5

— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) September 18, 2017

The defensive end stays at home, but Dormady incorrectly reads the play because of the defensive tackle. He panics. And he pays for it.

Drew Richmond actually gets a fantastic push on the left defensive end. The right defensive end waits for Dormady to hand it off, staying at home. That’s a clear signal to give the ball to Kelly, who would’ve run for a first down since Jack Jones made a remarkable recovery after initial pressure up the middle.

But when Kelly did have the ball in his hands, he was unstoppable. Especially in the second half.

On this play, his screen look is made possible by Jashon Robertson and Trey Smith. Whenever Kelly has success, it’s usually because he’s running behind those two.

Brett Kendrick, Jashon Robertson and Trey Smith make this play happen. UT's linemen are fantastic at downfield blocking. #RTIFilmStudy pic.twitter.com/GnNvwWxJ1b

— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) September 18, 2017

If Kelly just runs forward here, he likely scores a touchdown. But he unfortunately doesn’t notice the corner chasing him down on the weak side.

This play happens because of bad defense. Florida’s defensive backs take terrible angles, and Kelly makes them pay. But this play probably should have been stopped no more than six or seven yards past the line of scrimmage. When Tennessee used Kelly in the passing game, it took pressure off Dormady to do everything himself.

It reminded me a lot of Alvin Kamara last season against Texas A&M, when Tennessee’s gameplan was to just give him the ball in space. It worked then and it worked when they did it in this game too.

But even when Florida was keyed in on Kelly, UT’s offensive line still gave the junior room to run. Kelly doesn’t need much space, but when he has it, look out. He may be gone.

This one was also made possible by Smith and Robertson.

John Kelly is good at football. And so are Jashon Robertson and Trey Smith.

Give the ball to Kelly and let him carry you. #RTIFilmStudy pic.twitter.com/6F3mfvQB9o

— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) September 18, 2017

When Kelly can burst through the line of scrimmage, he almost always picks up at least five to ten yards. When he gets to the second level without being touched, you better hope he doesn’t run all the way to the endzone.

In this case he does. If Tennessee keeps it simple and hands the ball off to Kelly in a power running set like this one, the Vols win this game. UT’s offensive line wore down Florida in the fourth quarter. But they also opened up the run by keeping the defense honest on screen passes to the flat and over the middle. Larry Scott perfectly set up the run game, but didn’t cash in on it enough.

Late in the game, Tennessee relied on Kelly to give it the lead on the final drive. This play could’ve changed everything.

Butch said today that UT practiced this play against Florida's cover zero all week. But the offense can't quite execute. #RTIFilmStudy pic.twitter.com/BRh36SJS3y

— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) September 18, 2017

This ball probably should’ve been caught. But it wasn’t Dormady’s best throw of the day.

Butch Jones said on Monday that his team practiced this exact look over and over in practice. But he added that it simply wasn’t executed. Dormady knew he’d be under heavy pressure against a Cover Zero set, but he threw off his back foot, causing his pass to fall short of Kelly’s outstretched hands.

Kelly also needs to run more horizontally here, expecting a shorter throw since his quarterback is under pressure.

The real problem here — if this was practiced over and over, why wasn’t it executed? It was no secret what the defensive pressure was going to look like on this play. But Florida still managed to force a bad throw and an incompletion.

Something is wrong with that picture. If Jones and his staff knows exactly what’s coming, practices against it and still can’t make the play, then there’s a problem. Somewhere, there was a breakdown in communication between Jones and his players resulting in the lack of execution. That’s troubling.