Tennessee football went on the road and turned in its worst performance of the season in a 36-7 loss at Missouri. The Vols fall to 7-3 (3-3 SEC) with the loss.
Each week, we’ll share how the Vols graded out according to Pro Football Focus grades.
If you need a reminder on how Pro Football Focus works, read the opening of the Virginia grades.
Let’s see how the Vols graded out.
Elite grade = 90-100, All-Conference = 85-89, Starter = 70-84, Backup = 60-69, Replaceable = 60 >
Offensive Grades (minimum 14 plays — 25% of offensive plays)
LG Ollie Lane — 67.7 (55 plays)
RB Dylan Sampson — 62.7 (32 plays)
WR Ramel Keyton — 61.8 (61 plays)
RG Javontez Spraggins — 61.7 (61 plays)
WR Chas Nimrod — 60.5 (21 plays)
LT Jeremiah Crawford — 60.2 (34 plays)
WR Kaleb Webb — 59.1 (35 plays)
TE Jacob Warren — 58.7 (32 plays)
WR Squirrel White — 57.7 (56 plays)
QB Joe Milton III — 56.1 (61 plays)
C Cooper Mays — 55.7 (61 plays)
LT John Campbell Jr. — 54.9 (27 plays)
TE McCallan Castles — 53.5 (29 plays)
RT Gerald Mincey — 50.3 (61 plays)
RB Jaylen Wright — 37.8 (20 plays)
Dont’e Thornton graded out as Tennessee’s best offensive plays (80.6) but only played nine snaps before suffering a game-ending injury.
But besides Thornton, Tennessee’s entire offense graded out very poorly and that is truly no surprise. It was the worst statistical offensive performance of the Josh Heupel era and it was also the worst offensive PFF grades.
Jaylen Wright has been the bell cow of Tennessee’s offense and the Missouri game was his worst of the season. He never got anything going on the ground, had a crucial fumble. That earned him Tennessee’s worst offensive grade.
More From RTI: Tennessee Linebacker Approaching Season Ending Surgery
Defensive Grades (minimum of 19 plays — 25% of defensive plays)
DE Tyler Baron — 77.6 (47 plays)
DT Elijah Simmons — 75.1 (31 plays)
DT Kurott Garland — 74.6 (34 plays)
CB Doneiko Slaughter — 71.8 (78 plays)
STAR Jourdan Thomas — 71.0 (74 plays)
S Jaylen McCollough — 71.0 (78 plays)
LB Aaron Beasley — 69.9 (66 plays)
CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally — 69.6 (75 plays)
LEO Josh Josephs — 69.0 (32 plays)
LB Jeremiah Telander — 65.8 (21 plays)
LEO James Pearce Jr. — 61.4 (50 plays)
DT Omari Thomas — 59.4 (27 plays)
DT Omarr Norman-Lott — 51.1 (19 plays)
S Wesley Walker — 44.9 (78 plays)
DT Bryson Eason — 44.6 (31 plays)
LB Elijah Herring — 31.3 (54 plays)
The defensive grades weren’t nearly as bad and it really didn’t surprise me despite the bad performance as a whole. Josh Heupel always talks about how one player can throw off a play and that feels like what happened to the defense., And for an individual grading system like PFF, it makes sense that now all grades were terrible.
It was Tennessee’s defensive line that earned some better grades. Tyre West also earned a 74.5 grade but played only1 15 plays.
Two guys that seemed to play very poorly watching live and the grades backed it up was Wesley Walker and Elijah Herring. A game to forget for both players.
4 Responses
So, Vols are on the upswing huh, lol? Well the swing broke and the entire team was left standing around with their fingers up their az, er noses, and Missouri players laughing their az, er heads off. Both players AND coaches total embarrassment to Vol nation!
A pathetic showing of offense line, n defensive linebackers! Questionable COACHING, overall a complete butt kicking by MIZZOU. Disappointing VOLS performance top to bottom 🤔😒🏉
Grade coaching because that is the root of the problem.
Bottom line: Tennessee just doesn’t have the team it did last year and I am seriously concerned for next year too.