In-Depth Final Thoughts from Vols’ Loss to West Virginia

Defense

Secondary play and an inability to get pressure from the front seven plagued Tennessee’s defense on Saturday.

Will Grier carved up the Vols, throwing for 429 yards and five touchdowns on 25-of-34 passing. Grier’s arm was on full-display, but every grandma in the country could have carved Tennessee’s defense up with the lack of pressure it generated. Of Grier’s 34 passes, the Heisman hopeful did not face any pressure on 25 of them. The Vols produced just eight pressures on the afternoon.

If Pruitt is going to make a bowl game in year one, the Vols’ pass rush is going to have get better in a hurry. Too many times, the line was blown off the ball five-to-seven yards down the field within moments of the ball being snapped. Shy Tuttle had a nice outing, recording five tackles and a sack, but he was the only member of the front-seven who produced.

Jonathan Kongbo and Darrell Taylor, the Vols key pass-rushers, combined for just two tackles. Far too often, Kongbo and Taylor allowed the West Virginia tackles to block them upfield, taking them out of the play. The pair did a poor job of setting the edge as a result.

Tennessee lacked pressure despite bringing several different styles of pressure on various plays. Here’s a breakdown of how many defenders Pruitt brought on different pass-rushes:

Four-man pass rush: 23 times

Five-man pass rush: 18 times

Six-man pass rush: Twice

Seven-man pass rush: Once

At defensive end, Alexis Johnson made a couple of nice plays including a big run-stop on fourth and short. Fellow senior Kyle Phillips looked better than he did a year ago but couldn’t fend off blocks. The trend was consistent with the linebackers as well, with Daniel Bituli and Quart’e Sapp being blocked out of several plays. Expected to be key cogs on the Vols’ defense, Bituli and Sapp combined for just eight tackles. After an interesting offseason, Darrin Kirkland Jr. was a pleasant surprise. Despite coming close to transferring and an injury-plagued 2016 and 2017, Kirkland was all over the field, recording 10 tackles.

On the afternoon, Tennessee stopped the West Virginia run 11 times and allowed 13 positive runs. In terms of missed tackles, I counted 13.

Missed tackles

Micah Abernathy – 4

Nigel Warrior – 2

Bryce Thompson – 1

Shy Tuttle – 1

Trevon Flowers – 1

Emmit Gooden – 1

Marquil Osborne – 1

Alexis Johnson – 1

Darrin Kirkland Jr. – 1

Part of the problem with not getting any pressure on Grier was that it left an inexperienced secondary that lacks proven talent out on an island. As if Grier receiving zero pressure at least 25 different times wasn’t bad enough, he faced a Tennessee secondary that provided poor coverage on 23 different occasions and good coverage on 10 occasions. That’s not a recipe for success.

Freshman Alontae Taylor had a solid outing, not allowing an explosive play. As for the rest of the group, Abernathy, Thompson, Baylen Buchanan, Flowers, Warrior, and Osborne all allowed at least one explosive play. Now, Thompson and Flowers flashed potential, and Warrior and Abernathy had plays against them that there was just nothing that could be done because of Grier’s throw. But all in all, it was an awful day for the secondary.

The good news for Tennessee is that despite its defensive struggles against West Virginia, it has three weeks of practice to correct its mistakes before its first conference game against Florida. With a defensive mastermind in Pruitt, I would be surprised if the defense doesn’t look at least a little bit better against the Gators.

Tennessee will take on East Tennessee State this Saturday at 4 p.m. ET before taking on UTEP next Saturday at noon.