London Vol
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GAME 13 – CLEMSON GRADES
30th DEC 2022
What a way to finish a season by beating the Clemson Tigers. In the end the Vols convincingly won the Orange Bowl for the first time for a couple of decades. Whilst I will drill down below how each Unit performed, I would just like to point out that during this season we beat LSU, Alabama, and Clemson. Those three teams have won six of the last seven National Championships which highlight why we are back in the national conversation. There is another way to highlight these victories as they were against teams coached by Brian Kelly, Nick Saban, and Dabo Swinney (hands up who is not smiling now?). So, Coach Heupel, if that is what you delivered in year 2 what have you got for us in store for year 3?
QUARTERBACKS A
All eyes were on Joe Milton III to see if he has learnt from 2021 or as they say, could “the leopard not change its spots”? Well, from the small sample of playing time this year, it did seem that he has learned to control all that talent and now he has the inside track of starting on the 2nd September against Virginia. The stats were fine, 19 of 28, 251 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs, but there was one play which stood out for me. Whilst the football world will purr at the two TD passes to Bru McCoy and Squirrel White, as there are few others who could have made these throws, it was the TD to Ramel Keyton that was so impressive to me. As Milton gave loads of air on the 46-yard pass to allow Keyton to adjust his route and walk into the endzone. Last year Milton would have made the throw with zero margin for error and the outcome would have been a frustrating overthrow. Is this a reflection that the ‘light has come on’ or a result of quality of coaching we presently have, I do not know, but the result was unmistakable in South Florida.
RUNNING BACKS B-
Yet again, Jaylen Wright, 89 yards at 8.1 ypc, outshone Jabari Small, 38 yards at 2.9 ypc and I notice this has led to a lot of comments that Wright should be the No 1 back, next year. Now I don’t disagree with this sentiment however, Small always faces the opposing Defense at the start of the game when they are fresh and organised, so Small has the unenviable task of wearing them down thus allowing Wright and Sampson to come on later and take advantage. If Wright took the initial pounding that Small gets, then his stats may very well be different. All this said, this department causes me no concern for next season.
WIDE RECEIVERS A-
A lot was said about missing Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman for this game and yes, I am sure we did miss them, but this season Bru McCoy, Squirrel White and Ramel Keyton had racked up a combined 1,478 yards in the regular season, so the cupboard was hardly bare. On the day, all three excelled by contributing 232 yards, combined with Webb, Nimrod, and Leacock, we again look fine for 2023. One word of caution after seeing the unique velocity of Milton’s TD pass to McCoy, I fear for some fingers next season.
TIGHT ENDS C
Princeton Fant had two catches, otherwise it was another quiet night offensively for Jacob Warren and Fant. But I suspected that would be the case, with Milton under centre his forte is not 5-yard ‘dump off passes’.
OFFENSIVE LINE B-
It was a harder night for the front five than it has been recently. Without the 42-yard run from Wright, the Running Backs would have only averaged 2.2 ypc and there were also 4 sacks given up. I was particularly worried for Jerome Carvin who was brave enough to put himself in the ‘NFL Draft shop window’ by playing in the game, as he had a difficult night. The man has been a trooper and I wish him well in the next stage of his career. Darnell Wright had a better evening, and I am pleased to see a Draft showing him as a late first rounder.
DEFENSIVE LINE A
Yet again the Defensive Line were stout against the Run as they restricted Clemson to only 164 yards on 45 carries and when you face 100 plays and carry over 300 llbs even in a rotation, you must wear down eventually. Yet they kept stiffening as the opponents threatened to score. I was delighted that Byron Young added two sacks to his resume, I also thought Tyler Baron had one of his more productive evenings. I would like to mention Bryson Eason who showed promise for next season and with GoBigOmari added to the stable of good pass rushers, we are set here as well.
LINEBACKERS A+
When we come to handing out awards for Most Improved Player another day, it will be hard to ignore Aaron Beasley. Last night he was immense and should have been awarded the MVP, but offenses always have an inbuilt bias for such awards. 2 Sacks, 4 TFLs, 1 BU and 12 tackles is an outstanding game even for a 5* Alabama player, so well-done Beasley. Juwan Mitchell was in on a number of the big stops and surprisingly, these two complimented each other better than when Banks is on the field. Elijah Herring flashed briefly again and combined with the incoming Arion Carter, I am pleasantly confident in this Unit going forwards.
DEFENSIVE BACKS C
Before the season, during the season and even at the end of the season the Defensive Backs have been the Achilles heel of the 2022 Vols and for a period during the Orange Bowl the only way of stopping the opponents was to commit PIs. Even though things did improve later, this was not a good season for these guys and a lot now rests on the promise of Jordan Matthews and Ricky Gibson who are two blue chip freshmen.
GO VOLS
30th DEC 2022
What a way to finish a season by beating the Clemson Tigers. In the end the Vols convincingly won the Orange Bowl for the first time for a couple of decades. Whilst I will drill down below how each Unit performed, I would just like to point out that during this season we beat LSU, Alabama, and Clemson. Those three teams have won six of the last seven National Championships which highlight why we are back in the national conversation. There is another way to highlight these victories as they were against teams coached by Brian Kelly, Nick Saban, and Dabo Swinney (hands up who is not smiling now?). So, Coach Heupel, if that is what you delivered in year 2 what have you got for us in store for year 3?
QUARTERBACKS A
All eyes were on Joe Milton III to see if he has learnt from 2021 or as they say, could “the leopard not change its spots”? Well, from the small sample of playing time this year, it did seem that he has learned to control all that talent and now he has the inside track of starting on the 2nd September against Virginia. The stats were fine, 19 of 28, 251 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs, but there was one play which stood out for me. Whilst the football world will purr at the two TD passes to Bru McCoy and Squirrel White, as there are few others who could have made these throws, it was the TD to Ramel Keyton that was so impressive to me. As Milton gave loads of air on the 46-yard pass to allow Keyton to adjust his route and walk into the endzone. Last year Milton would have made the throw with zero margin for error and the outcome would have been a frustrating overthrow. Is this a reflection that the ‘light has come on’ or a result of quality of coaching we presently have, I do not know, but the result was unmistakable in South Florida.
RUNNING BACKS B-
Yet again, Jaylen Wright, 89 yards at 8.1 ypc, outshone Jabari Small, 38 yards at 2.9 ypc and I notice this has led to a lot of comments that Wright should be the No 1 back, next year. Now I don’t disagree with this sentiment however, Small always faces the opposing Defense at the start of the game when they are fresh and organised, so Small has the unenviable task of wearing them down thus allowing Wright and Sampson to come on later and take advantage. If Wright took the initial pounding that Small gets, then his stats may very well be different. All this said, this department causes me no concern for next season.
WIDE RECEIVERS A-
A lot was said about missing Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman for this game and yes, I am sure we did miss them, but this season Bru McCoy, Squirrel White and Ramel Keyton had racked up a combined 1,478 yards in the regular season, so the cupboard was hardly bare. On the day, all three excelled by contributing 232 yards, combined with Webb, Nimrod, and Leacock, we again look fine for 2023. One word of caution after seeing the unique velocity of Milton’s TD pass to McCoy, I fear for some fingers next season.
TIGHT ENDS C
Princeton Fant had two catches, otherwise it was another quiet night offensively for Jacob Warren and Fant. But I suspected that would be the case, with Milton under centre his forte is not 5-yard ‘dump off passes’.
OFFENSIVE LINE B-
It was a harder night for the front five than it has been recently. Without the 42-yard run from Wright, the Running Backs would have only averaged 2.2 ypc and there were also 4 sacks given up. I was particularly worried for Jerome Carvin who was brave enough to put himself in the ‘NFL Draft shop window’ by playing in the game, as he had a difficult night. The man has been a trooper and I wish him well in the next stage of his career. Darnell Wright had a better evening, and I am pleased to see a Draft showing him as a late first rounder.
DEFENSIVE LINE A
Yet again the Defensive Line were stout against the Run as they restricted Clemson to only 164 yards on 45 carries and when you face 100 plays and carry over 300 llbs even in a rotation, you must wear down eventually. Yet they kept stiffening as the opponents threatened to score. I was delighted that Byron Young added two sacks to his resume, I also thought Tyler Baron had one of his more productive evenings. I would like to mention Bryson Eason who showed promise for next season and with GoBigOmari added to the stable of good pass rushers, we are set here as well.
LINEBACKERS A+
When we come to handing out awards for Most Improved Player another day, it will be hard to ignore Aaron Beasley. Last night he was immense and should have been awarded the MVP, but offenses always have an inbuilt bias for such awards. 2 Sacks, 4 TFLs, 1 BU and 12 tackles is an outstanding game even for a 5* Alabama player, so well-done Beasley. Juwan Mitchell was in on a number of the big stops and surprisingly, these two complimented each other better than when Banks is on the field. Elijah Herring flashed briefly again and combined with the incoming Arion Carter, I am pleasantly confident in this Unit going forwards.
DEFENSIVE BACKS C
Before the season, during the season and even at the end of the season the Defensive Backs have been the Achilles heel of the 2022 Vols and for a period during the Orange Bowl the only way of stopping the opponents was to commit PIs. Even though things did improve later, this was not a good season for these guys and a lot now rests on the promise of Jordan Matthews and Ricky Gibson who are two blue chip freshmen.
GO VOLS
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Great review, London. Thanks.
