London Vol
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GAME 6 – FLORIDA 12 OCTOBER 2024
As most of you know Tennessee have beaten Florida only twice in the last 19 years, but can you remember the exact score and how well everybody played in those two wins? I guess the answer is no, but you do remember who won. My point is whatever occurs during the games, what the most important thing is is to remember was it a W or a L?
The W last night told us a bit more about the 2024 team or more accurately what the individual units were like, well they were quite like in the Arkansas game. Whilst I would have happily taken a record of 5-1 before the start of the season, unless certain areas of the team do not improve and quite frankly massively improve, then the season could still be no better than last year. Georgia and Alabama are who they are, Vanderbilt are an overtime loss to Missouri and a shocking loss to Georgia State away from being unbeaten (yes that’s not a typo) Kentucky lost by a point to the Bulldogs and Mississippi State hung 31 on Georgia last night. The SEC this year is brutal
So, here’s this week’s grades:
QUARTERBACKS F
Last week I wrote about my concerns about Nico Iamaleava, well last night was about as bad a performance from a Tennessee Quarterback as I can remember. The list of missteps are embarrassing, botching a RPO (we had a fast start and everything was looking promising), multiple misfires downfield when the WR had a 5 yard cushion and would have had certain TDs (Joe Milton would have been hammered for that), Taking far too long reading the field resulting in multiple Sacks (yes, the protection was bad but it was at Arkansas so why not look for “hot reads”, it is what a savvy QB does), A terrible INT throw into triple coverage but that was after he did the very same thing earlier but Chris Brazzell that time bailed him out by coming out of the melee amazingly with the ball. Inaccuracy nearly all evening except for the TD drive especially missing Chas Nimrod at the end of the game which would have put Tennessee in field goal range and saved us the stress of Overtime. Oh, and his two minute drill was completely out of sink for the second week running.
The unspoken truth here is, if this was a 3* QB he would be struggling to be 2nd on the depth chart never mind hold on to his starting position, but we all know Josh Heupel will ride this horse to the end so I hope that coach Heupel can find a play list to at least stop killing this team, because with the Defense (who was nothing short of heroic) and Dylan Sampson, this team could achieve literally anything this year before they all leave for the NFL in April. No more excuses Iamaleava about inexperience, D J Lagway was much more impressive than you, are you the real deal or a bust? next week will really confirm the situation either way.
RUNNING BACKS B
Yet again Dylan Sampson proved he is a tough SOB, despite abysmal blocking he still managed to rack up 112 yards and he was the one delivering on offense at the business part of the evening. I am enjoying watching Jaylen Wright shining at Miami, but I think Sampson is even better than him. He also got another 3 TDs as he hurtles towards breaking the all-time Tennessee records for TDs in one season. DeSean Bishop was OK running the ball last night but some of his blocking assignments were not so good, but overall he has been a big plus this season at RB.
WIDE RECEIVERS B
The lack of production from the WRs lays squarely at the door of Iamaleava as they were open on multiple occasions, remember the two bombs in the first half and Nimrod was in space when the game was on the line. A special mention for Brazzell who had three immense snares, all from inaccurate passes, good news is that he still has multiple eligible years left. I feel sorry for Bru McCoy who is not going to have a big year before the Draft thanks to…….
TIGHT ENDS D
Nothing much to boast about in receiving again (where there is bad O`Line protection the TE`s should be an outlet) and they were called more and more in supporting with blocking duties.
OFFENSIVE LINE F
Dreadful, disgraceful, awful, shocking, pick your own adjective. I hope Lance Heard is out of shape and will improve with game-time reps and John Campbell is playing injured, but they are simply not up to the job at present. They should both be on a short leash going forward as we might as well play Larry Johnson, Jesse Perry or Bennett Warren as they cannot do worse and will be needed next season anyway, so take the lumps now. In their defense I did think that some of the holding calls were a bit ticky-tacky but that does not exonerate the performance overall.
DEFENSIVE LINE A+
What a performance by the D`Line for the second week running. In the 1st half Florida visited the Red Zone 4 times and scores only 3 points, that means we could have been 28-0 down at half time and still not complained. Everybody and I mean everybody contributed so I am loaved to mention people by name, but I must mention two. James Pearce was influential all game long without getting the stats to prove it and the strip fumble recovery from the one inch line was key when the game could have got away from Tennessee. My other mention was Byson Eason, after last weeks game I thought Bryson was gone for the season but he “gutted” it out for the team last night and was rewarded with two TFLs late on.
LINEBACKERS A
To lose Keenan Pili so early was huge especially as they wished to run so much but Arion Carter stepped up and had a massive day which included a lovely INT, we have a real stud here for the next couple of years. With the loss of Pili it was Jeremiah Telander who was called upon to replace him and as I seem to write every week he does not let the side down. I was also pleased to see Jalen Smith be more prominent which gives us more depth.
DEFENSIVE BACKS A
What a performance from the DB`s. Jermod McCoy again proved he is an elite talent at CB and will make a lot of money on Sundays in a few years’ time, but the real star was Rickey Gibson, last week he was patchy but last night he matched McCoy and that is no light praise, this included his open field tackle on 4th down which was every bit as important as James Pearce heroics on the goal line. For the second week running Christian Charles made multiple big plays and must be pushing hard to start at Safety. Boo Carter had a breakout game, he was seemingly always around the action in a good way. Both he and Carter are going to be the headliners in our Defense next season if not later this season. Lastly, because how good the secondary played, how about a shout out to the much-maligned Willie Martinez, he finally has talent to coach up to deliver and maybe that was the problem.
I always try not deviate from the subject of football on here, but I do need to mention how sorry I am to hear overnight of the shooting in Nashville, my prayers go out to all of those affected.
GO VOLS
As most of you know Tennessee have beaten Florida only twice in the last 19 years, but can you remember the exact score and how well everybody played in those two wins? I guess the answer is no, but you do remember who won. My point is whatever occurs during the games, what the most important thing is is to remember was it a W or a L?
The W last night told us a bit more about the 2024 team or more accurately what the individual units were like, well they were quite like in the Arkansas game. Whilst I would have happily taken a record of 5-1 before the start of the season, unless certain areas of the team do not improve and quite frankly massively improve, then the season could still be no better than last year. Georgia and Alabama are who they are, Vanderbilt are an overtime loss to Missouri and a shocking loss to Georgia State away from being unbeaten (yes that’s not a typo) Kentucky lost by a point to the Bulldogs and Mississippi State hung 31 on Georgia last night. The SEC this year is brutal
So, here’s this week’s grades:
QUARTERBACKS F
Last week I wrote about my concerns about Nico Iamaleava, well last night was about as bad a performance from a Tennessee Quarterback as I can remember. The list of missteps are embarrassing, botching a RPO (we had a fast start and everything was looking promising), multiple misfires downfield when the WR had a 5 yard cushion and would have had certain TDs (Joe Milton would have been hammered for that), Taking far too long reading the field resulting in multiple Sacks (yes, the protection was bad but it was at Arkansas so why not look for “hot reads”, it is what a savvy QB does), A terrible INT throw into triple coverage but that was after he did the very same thing earlier but Chris Brazzell that time bailed him out by coming out of the melee amazingly with the ball. Inaccuracy nearly all evening except for the TD drive especially missing Chas Nimrod at the end of the game which would have put Tennessee in field goal range and saved us the stress of Overtime. Oh, and his two minute drill was completely out of sink for the second week running.
The unspoken truth here is, if this was a 3* QB he would be struggling to be 2nd on the depth chart never mind hold on to his starting position, but we all know Josh Heupel will ride this horse to the end so I hope that coach Heupel can find a play list to at least stop killing this team, because with the Defense (who was nothing short of heroic) and Dylan Sampson, this team could achieve literally anything this year before they all leave for the NFL in April. No more excuses Iamaleava about inexperience, D J Lagway was much more impressive than you, are you the real deal or a bust? next week will really confirm the situation either way.
RUNNING BACKS B
Yet again Dylan Sampson proved he is a tough SOB, despite abysmal blocking he still managed to rack up 112 yards and he was the one delivering on offense at the business part of the evening. I am enjoying watching Jaylen Wright shining at Miami, but I think Sampson is even better than him. He also got another 3 TDs as he hurtles towards breaking the all-time Tennessee records for TDs in one season. DeSean Bishop was OK running the ball last night but some of his blocking assignments were not so good, but overall he has been a big plus this season at RB.
WIDE RECEIVERS B
The lack of production from the WRs lays squarely at the door of Iamaleava as they were open on multiple occasions, remember the two bombs in the first half and Nimrod was in space when the game was on the line. A special mention for Brazzell who had three immense snares, all from inaccurate passes, good news is that he still has multiple eligible years left. I feel sorry for Bru McCoy who is not going to have a big year before the Draft thanks to…….
TIGHT ENDS D
Nothing much to boast about in receiving again (where there is bad O`Line protection the TE`s should be an outlet) and they were called more and more in supporting with blocking duties.
OFFENSIVE LINE F
Dreadful, disgraceful, awful, shocking, pick your own adjective. I hope Lance Heard is out of shape and will improve with game-time reps and John Campbell is playing injured, but they are simply not up to the job at present. They should both be on a short leash going forward as we might as well play Larry Johnson, Jesse Perry or Bennett Warren as they cannot do worse and will be needed next season anyway, so take the lumps now. In their defense I did think that some of the holding calls were a bit ticky-tacky but that does not exonerate the performance overall.
DEFENSIVE LINE A+
What a performance by the D`Line for the second week running. In the 1st half Florida visited the Red Zone 4 times and scores only 3 points, that means we could have been 28-0 down at half time and still not complained. Everybody and I mean everybody contributed so I am loaved to mention people by name, but I must mention two. James Pearce was influential all game long without getting the stats to prove it and the strip fumble recovery from the one inch line was key when the game could have got away from Tennessee. My other mention was Byson Eason, after last weeks game I thought Bryson was gone for the season but he “gutted” it out for the team last night and was rewarded with two TFLs late on.
LINEBACKERS A
To lose Keenan Pili so early was huge especially as they wished to run so much but Arion Carter stepped up and had a massive day which included a lovely INT, we have a real stud here for the next couple of years. With the loss of Pili it was Jeremiah Telander who was called upon to replace him and as I seem to write every week he does not let the side down. I was also pleased to see Jalen Smith be more prominent which gives us more depth.
DEFENSIVE BACKS A
What a performance from the DB`s. Jermod McCoy again proved he is an elite talent at CB and will make a lot of money on Sundays in a few years’ time, but the real star was Rickey Gibson, last week he was patchy but last night he matched McCoy and that is no light praise, this included his open field tackle on 4th down which was every bit as important as James Pearce heroics on the goal line. For the second week running Christian Charles made multiple big plays and must be pushing hard to start at Safety. Boo Carter had a breakout game, he was seemingly always around the action in a good way. Both he and Carter are going to be the headliners in our Defense next season if not later this season. Lastly, because how good the secondary played, how about a shout out to the much-maligned Willie Martinez, he finally has talent to coach up to deliver and maybe that was the problem.
I always try not deviate from the subject of football on here, but I do need to mention how sorry I am to hear overnight of the shooting in Nashville, my prayers go out to all of those affected.
GO VOLS
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