On the first drive of its 56-24 win over UAB, Tennessee football marched down the field for a touchdown. The drive took just 2:04 off the clock on seven plays and went 75 yards down the field. It was capped off with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Joey Aguilar to Chris Brazzell.
While at first glance it may have just seemed like a typical touchdown against an inferior opponent, the playcall put a fantastic wrinkle on film. Brazzell was split wide with slot receiver Braylon Staley. On the snap, Brazzell initiates contact at the line of scrimmage and begins to block the defender covering him. This simulates the smoke screen play that Josh Heupel goes to often in early-down situations.
However, instead of delivering the ball to Staley in a one-on-one, Brazzell disengages the block and heads downfield. As he runs toward the middle of the field, Staley hugs the sideline on his route to help draw the defenders. The safety, who was in Cover-1 as the lone high defensive back, couldn’t get over in time to help.
The result was a perfectly schemed up touchdown pass for Aguilar to take the early lead. With UT going to the same formation the play before and giving it to the running back on the RPO instead of throwing the screen, it gave Heupel a look at how UAB would cover it, too. He took advantage on the next play.
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You may think it isn’t worth it to throw any wrinkles in against a team like UAB that you should be able to beat straight up. What this did was put the threat of a fake smoke screen on film, though.
Now, defenses, such as Mississippi State this week, will have to keep in mind the chance that these often-run screen plays could end up down the field. This tick of potential hesitation could be the difference in a positive play and a loss of yardage.
Contrarily, teams could opt not to worry about it. Then, Tennessee could take advantage of the dedication to blow up the screen and hit for another big gain or score.
The Bulldogs will be the next defense to try to stop the Vols’ red-hot offense to start 2025. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. ET and the game will air on SEC Network.
