PFF Grades: Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt

Tennessee football’s regular season came to a close on Saturday evening as the Vols fell to Vanderbilt 45-24 at Neyland Stadium. The game was tied at halftime before Vanderbilt out-scored the Vols 24-3 in the second half.

If you need a reminder on how Pro Football Focus works, read the opening of the Syracuse 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 >

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Offensive Grades (minimum 15 plays — 20% of offensive plays)

QB Joey Aguilar — 84.8 (79 plays)

RB DeSean Bishop — 67.1 (59 plays)

TE Ethan Davis — 65.6 (73 plays)

RT David Sanders — 64.3 (79 plays)

WR Chris Brazzell — 64.3 (78 plays)

C Sam Pendleton — 64.2 (79 plays)

LG Sham Umarov — 62.7 (64 plays)

LT Lance Heard — 61.0 (79 plays)

RB Star Thomas — 58.9 (16 plays)

WR Mike Matthews — 55.2 (77 plays)

OG Wendell Moe — 54.8 (15 plays)

WR Braylon Staley — 54.0 (76 plays)

RG Jesse Perry — 53.5 (79 plays)

Across the board, Tennessee’s offense posted its worst PFF grades of the season against Vanderbilt. Joey Aguilar posted a strong grade but no one else earned a starter grade or better.

Tennessee’s offensive line grades were particularly poor as the Vols struggled to get much going on the run game while having some breakdowns in pass protection— particularly in the second half.

One last offensive note, Tennessee running back Peyton Lewis did not play. The Vols listed him as valuable on their availability report but he did not play on offense. Star Thomas totaled 16 snaps and Daune Morris totaled four snaps behind DeSean Bishop.

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Defensive Grades (minimum 13 plays — 20% of defensive plays)

LEO Josh Josephs — 89.7 (34 plays)

LB Jadon Perlotte — 79.8 (16 plays)

CB Ty Redmond — 78.0 (67 plays)

DT Bryson Eason — 73.3 (45 plays)

S Kaleb Beasley — 70.3 (18 plays)

LB Jeremiah Telander — 67.6 (41 plays)

DE Tyre West — 66.1 (24 plays)

LEO Caleb Herring — 65.2 (35 plays)

STAR Jalen McMurray — 65.1 (57 plays)

DE/DT Dominic Bailey — 64.2 (43 plays)

DE Tyree Weathersby — 63.6 (14 plays)

DT Nathan Robinson — 61.4 (23 plays)

CB Colton Hood – 61.0 (68 plays)

S Edrees Farooq — 60.1 (68 plays)

DT Daevin Hobbs — 55.8 (31 plays)

LB Edwin Spillman — 54.9 (34 plays)

S Andre Turrentine — 50.6 (50 plays)

LB Arion Carter — 50.6 (55 plays)

Tennessee’s defensive shortcomings for much of the season started up the middle at linebacker and safety. The Vols had patched that issue up in recent weeks but it showed up again to close the season. Four of Tennessee’s five lowest graded players against the Commodores were linebackers or safeties.

On the positive side, freshmen Ty Redmond and Jadon Perlotte earned two strong grades. Both played better-and-better as the season went on and were building blocks going into next year.

Jaxson Moi played just four snaps in this game before suffering an injury that he was unable to return from. That thrust Nathan Robinson and a few other defensive tackles into larger roles.