VFL-82-JP
Bleedin' Orange...
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- Jan 17, 2015
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Let's give out some game balls. Lotta lads deserve recognition:
#11 Jalin Hyatt - junior from Irmo, South Carolina -- all he did was catch 6 balls for 5 touchdowns and 207 yards. Yes, 207. Lost in the 5 TDs is turning the corner twice on a 100-yard game. Incredible performance by a great young man.
#5 Hendon Hooker - senior from Greensboro, North Carolina -- Hendon cemented himself as the Heisman front-runner with this performance, where he shared the stage with a very-impressive Bryce Young, and showed himself to be the better QB on the field. 21 of 30 for 385 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT (his first of the year)
#40 Chase McGrath - senior from Newport Beach, California -- kicked the game-winning 40-yard field goal, added a total of 8 points to the scoreboard with that FG and five PATs (missed a sixth).
#15 Bru McCoy - junior from Palo Verdes Estates, California -- two catches for 38 yards may sound just ho-hum, but when and where those two catches happened made all the difference. Game saver.
[thank you, USCw, for those two lads--we really appreciate them]
#53 Jeremiah Crawford (sr), #54 Gerald Mincey (soph), #58 Darnell Wright (sr), #63 Cooper Mays (jr), #75 Jerome Carvin (sr), and #76 Javontez Spraggins (jr) -- the unsung heroes of this game. You know who we never heard about last night? Will Anderson, "one of the nation's most feared defenders," as he has been described. Know what else we never heard about during the game? Some "cheetah package." Non-factors? Thank those fellas in the trenches.
#2 Jabari Small (jr, Memphis, TN) and #20 Jaylen Wright (soph, Durham, NC) -- Wright had 12 carries for 71 yards, Small 12 for 53 and a TD. Not eye-popping numbers, but the lads--along with Hendon using his own legs--kept the Bama defense respecting the run enough to open up the field for Hyatt.
#88 Princeton Fant - senior from Nashville, TN -- three catches for 24 yards is just a day at the office, but one goal line run for 2 yards and a TD cements the lad as our de facto fullback in an era without fullbacks. Put Fant with the Offensive Line for praise in protecting our QB, as well.
#80 Ramel Keyton - senior from Marietta, GA -- our team truly has an embarrassment of riches when a fella catches 5 balls for 78 yards and is almost an afterthought behind two of his fellow receivers. WR U is back.
#14 Christian Charles - sophomore from Gainesville, GA -- recovered Bama's lone fumble of the night. Was also our #4 tackler, with 8 (3 solo).
#21 Omari Thomas - junior from Memphis, TN -- had the team's only sack of the night, plus another tackle for loss, and a QB hurry. Omari was disruptive to the Bama offense in a way Nagurski Award winner Will Anderson wanted to be--but wasn't--to ours.
#24 Aaron Beasley (sr, Franklin, GA) and #33 Jeremy Banks (sr, Cordova, TN) -- hurrying and harassing the QB is normally the role of Byron Young in our defense, but when the Bama offensive line keyed on him all night, Aaron and Jeremy picked up the slack with combined 7 QB hurries and 8 tackles.
#1 Trevon Flowers - senior from Atlanta, GA -- The top tackler for the Vols in last night's win, with 11 takedowns (7 of them solo).
[no number] Head Coach Josh Heupel - Aberdeen, South Dakota (how many years will he be in Knoxville before we all acknowledge this is where he's actually from) -- between his Xs and Os scheming (we frequently had lads running alone in the vaunted Bama defensive backfield), his leadership, and his game management (he had one of the most timely timeouts I think I've ever seen in the game of football), this game was the kind of keystone needed in any coach of the year season. I personally think he has already--just halfway through the season--locked up SEC COY honors, and is firmly in the hunt for the national awards. Of course, every coach will tell you it takes the whole coaching staff working together, and Josh has some pretty amazing assistants (yes, including DC Tim Banks whose bend-but-don't-break play calling continues to impress those who understand the game well].
[no number] The Tennessee Fan Base - mostly from Tennessee, but also from London and Australia and, well, worldwide, really, with a lot of our fans serving our nation in garden spots and godforsaken places all over the globe -- word is, the noise got to 124 decibels last night. For sure it hit 119. A new record. But more than the noise, was being there. Being there through a 13-year Dark Ages, and never giving up on the lads. Being there through thick and thin. There is no more impressive fan base in all of sports, I believe.
So if I count it up right, that's about 21 game balls. What the heck, we can afford that.
Go Vols!
#11 Jalin Hyatt - junior from Irmo, South Carolina -- all he did was catch 6 balls for 5 touchdowns and 207 yards. Yes, 207. Lost in the 5 TDs is turning the corner twice on a 100-yard game. Incredible performance by a great young man.
#5 Hendon Hooker - senior from Greensboro, North Carolina -- Hendon cemented himself as the Heisman front-runner with this performance, where he shared the stage with a very-impressive Bryce Young, and showed himself to be the better QB on the field. 21 of 30 for 385 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT (his first of the year)
#40 Chase McGrath - senior from Newport Beach, California -- kicked the game-winning 40-yard field goal, added a total of 8 points to the scoreboard with that FG and five PATs (missed a sixth).
#15 Bru McCoy - junior from Palo Verdes Estates, California -- two catches for 38 yards may sound just ho-hum, but when and where those two catches happened made all the difference. Game saver.
[thank you, USCw, for those two lads--we really appreciate them]
#53 Jeremiah Crawford (sr), #54 Gerald Mincey (soph), #58 Darnell Wright (sr), #63 Cooper Mays (jr), #75 Jerome Carvin (sr), and #76 Javontez Spraggins (jr) -- the unsung heroes of this game. You know who we never heard about last night? Will Anderson, "one of the nation's most feared defenders," as he has been described. Know what else we never heard about during the game? Some "cheetah package." Non-factors? Thank those fellas in the trenches.
#2 Jabari Small (jr, Memphis, TN) and #20 Jaylen Wright (soph, Durham, NC) -- Wright had 12 carries for 71 yards, Small 12 for 53 and a TD. Not eye-popping numbers, but the lads--along with Hendon using his own legs--kept the Bama defense respecting the run enough to open up the field for Hyatt.
#88 Princeton Fant - senior from Nashville, TN -- three catches for 24 yards is just a day at the office, but one goal line run for 2 yards and a TD cements the lad as our de facto fullback in an era without fullbacks. Put Fant with the Offensive Line for praise in protecting our QB, as well.
#80 Ramel Keyton - senior from Marietta, GA -- our team truly has an embarrassment of riches when a fella catches 5 balls for 78 yards and is almost an afterthought behind two of his fellow receivers. WR U is back.
#14 Christian Charles - sophomore from Gainesville, GA -- recovered Bama's lone fumble of the night. Was also our #4 tackler, with 8 (3 solo).
#21 Omari Thomas - junior from Memphis, TN -- had the team's only sack of the night, plus another tackle for loss, and a QB hurry. Omari was disruptive to the Bama offense in a way Nagurski Award winner Will Anderson wanted to be--but wasn't--to ours.
#24 Aaron Beasley (sr, Franklin, GA) and #33 Jeremy Banks (sr, Cordova, TN) -- hurrying and harassing the QB is normally the role of Byron Young in our defense, but when the Bama offensive line keyed on him all night, Aaron and Jeremy picked up the slack with combined 7 QB hurries and 8 tackles.
#1 Trevon Flowers - senior from Atlanta, GA -- The top tackler for the Vols in last night's win, with 11 takedowns (7 of them solo).
[no number] Head Coach Josh Heupel - Aberdeen, South Dakota (how many years will he be in Knoxville before we all acknowledge this is where he's actually from) -- between his Xs and Os scheming (we frequently had lads running alone in the vaunted Bama defensive backfield), his leadership, and his game management (he had one of the most timely timeouts I think I've ever seen in the game of football), this game was the kind of keystone needed in any coach of the year season. I personally think he has already--just halfway through the season--locked up SEC COY honors, and is firmly in the hunt for the national awards. Of course, every coach will tell you it takes the whole coaching staff working together, and Josh has some pretty amazing assistants (yes, including DC Tim Banks whose bend-but-don't-break play calling continues to impress those who understand the game well].
[no number] The Tennessee Fan Base - mostly from Tennessee, but also from London and Australia and, well, worldwide, really, with a lot of our fans serving our nation in garden spots and godforsaken places all over the globe -- word is, the noise got to 124 decibels last night. For sure it hit 119. A new record. But more than the noise, was being there. Being there through a 13-year Dark Ages, and never giving up on the lads. Being there through thick and thin. There is no more impressive fan base in all of sports, I believe.
So if I count it up right, that's about 21 game balls. What the heck, we can afford that.
Go Vols!
