London Vol
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GAME 7 – ALABAMA
Everybody knows the phrase “brave as a Lion” but a Lion is not just brave it is smart and cunning. What it does is it sneaks up on its prey, assessing when the prey is most vulnerable and then when it strikes it makes sure it finishes it off. Tennessee 2025 is half a Lion.
Time and again last night the game seemed to be lost and yet the Vols bravely fought back and there was no better example of this than the Pick 6 right on half time. Most teams would have folded but Tennessee started the second half even stronger, and I applaud them for that. But just as you started to believe in them they went and ‘stood on the rake’ time and time again. False starts, dropped passes, dropped INTs, a tackle out of bounds, successive PIs and misses tackles especially when they wore down in the 3rd quarter. Before the game I felt we would be comfortably beaten but I am more frustrated that we blew a good chance to win, just to prove this look at the yards for the game, Tennessee 409 yards Alabama 373 yards.
One other observation, I wish somebody had pointed out to me Ty Simpson’s father
QUARTERBACKS B
This morning Joey Aguilar might have trouble trying to tie his shoelaces due to the battering he took last night. Yes, it wasn’t a flawless performance, but Tennessee do have a true warrior behind Center as he battled through the pain and continually kept us in the game. Coming back to the pain, I thought it was a blatant hit to the head when he ran in the second quarter, how comes there was no targeting call? I hope he is OK. As I wrote last week he must slide, he is too important to lose for a 5-yard gain as the Vols will be a shadow of the side this season in his absence.
RUNNING BACKS B +
That’s two weeks that DeSean Bishop was the primary Running Back with 123 yards at 8.8 y.p.c. Most people will rightly complain about the coaching play call for the Pick 6, but there was another pivotal moment for me. After the 44-yard TD run the Vols forced a short field and Bishop ripped off another 18 yards to the edge of field goal range. “Please please run it down their throat” I demanded but the sequence was Throw in the flat to Mike Matthews for no gain, a botched snap and a dropped pass to Matthews. Sometimes the coaching gets too clever for its own good by playing the “second guessing game." Star Thomas was also badly underused finishing with 26 yards from only 3 carries.
WIDE RECEIVERS C
After Braylon Staleys disaster game at Mississippi St, last night he again shone with 10 catches for 92 yards and Chris Brazzell II was underused after a bright start. But we still drop far too many balls, and I think I heard we were 133 out of 134 in the Country for dropsies. In fact, this unit is a microcosm of my earlier observation that there are good and bad moments at any time
TIGHT ENDS B
Miles Kitselman had a good but not perfect game, but something appeared “through the mist” to me and that was the emergence of DaSaahn Brame. He looks a very fluid TE as 38 yards for 3 catches show, but he is also a real specimen with a senior’s body. We have been looking for a Tyler Warren, Brock Bowers, Kyle Pitts type who is explosive in the receiving game and we hoped that Ethan Davis would develop into that, but perhaps Brame is that one, let’s hope so.
OFFENSIVE LINE D -
The O`Line has probably been the most pleasant surprise this season but when they had to face an elite opposition then they were found wanting with everyone having bad moments. The result was that Aguilar was sacked 4 times and took a number of punishing hits. They did improve in the second half and the Running game came alive as a result, but it wasn’t a “good day at office”. It also highlighted that Shamurad Umarov is probably the weakest lineman, and David Sanders needs to be inserted at RT with Jesse Perry moving to LG
DEFENSIVE LINE B +
I thought the D`Line were their best this season and only when they wore down in the 3rd Quarter did they start to leek yards. Jaxon Moi and Bryson Eason both recorded TFLs. The grade is slightly lower since the DE`s didn’t get to the Quarterback as much as they have this season. As you will know I try to stay away from complaining about the Zebras, but I need to mention them again as the opposing D`Linemen have had zero holding calls against them against our Pass Rush which beggars both my eyes and my belief.
LINEBACKERS D
I am still not happy with either Arion Carters space awareness or Jeremiah Telander`s mobility There were two 3rd and longs completed by Alabama over the middle where they were so alone, I saw visitors to the Leper colony in Ben Hur get closer to people. One minor point, Jadon Perlotte is one lucky guy as when the fumble landed at his feet, he just swatted it away clearly thinking the play was dead, but fortunately for him Joshua Josephs fell on the ball. Jadon PLAY to the damn whistle.
DEFENSIVE BACKS C -
With Ty Simpson throwing the rock at a level of a possible Heisman Trophy winner the DB`s were always going to be in for a long day. And whilst there were breakdowns and missed tackles (put your hand up Ty Redmond), It could have been a far worse day for them. Alabama only threw for 253 yards and Ryan Williams accounted for 87 of them all of his catches were Sunday standard which the DB`s can not be blamed for. Colton Hood had some shaky moments but is still a great addition this season.
BIG MOMENTS – THE ALABAMA 1 YARD LINE
It just felt we were always one yard short; it was a nine-yard pass just short of a 1st down; it was a nine-yard run just short of a 1st down. But most frustratingly we were at the Alabama 1 yard line then they return it back for a back breaking 99-yard INT. After a positive start to at the second half, we pinned Alabama back to the 1 yard line again and this time Alabama drove 99 yards. So, it only seemed fitting that the game finished with Tennessee having the ball at the Alabama 1 yard line and still no success.
At the start of the season, I was split between 9-3 and 8-4, of which both would have been none to shabby. In SEC play we could easily be 4-0 or 0-4 in 2025. So to get to the playoffs it would probably need us to ”run the table” and with the mistakes Tennessee make it is hard to realistically say we will not drop one of OKA (Mateer is back), KEN (Texas were taken to OT last night), FLA (you all know the pitfalls of this fixture) and then VAN (who seriously could be competing for a SEC title berth). Losses are always painful just as Lion gets hungrier each time he lets his prey escape, but I am still proud to be a VOL
GO VOLS
Everybody knows the phrase “brave as a Lion” but a Lion is not just brave it is smart and cunning. What it does is it sneaks up on its prey, assessing when the prey is most vulnerable and then when it strikes it makes sure it finishes it off. Tennessee 2025 is half a Lion.
Time and again last night the game seemed to be lost and yet the Vols bravely fought back and there was no better example of this than the Pick 6 right on half time. Most teams would have folded but Tennessee started the second half even stronger, and I applaud them for that. But just as you started to believe in them they went and ‘stood on the rake’ time and time again. False starts, dropped passes, dropped INTs, a tackle out of bounds, successive PIs and misses tackles especially when they wore down in the 3rd quarter. Before the game I felt we would be comfortably beaten but I am more frustrated that we blew a good chance to win, just to prove this look at the yards for the game, Tennessee 409 yards Alabama 373 yards.
One other observation, I wish somebody had pointed out to me Ty Simpson’s father
QUARTERBACKS B
This morning Joey Aguilar might have trouble trying to tie his shoelaces due to the battering he took last night. Yes, it wasn’t a flawless performance, but Tennessee do have a true warrior behind Center as he battled through the pain and continually kept us in the game. Coming back to the pain, I thought it was a blatant hit to the head when he ran in the second quarter, how comes there was no targeting call? I hope he is OK. As I wrote last week he must slide, he is too important to lose for a 5-yard gain as the Vols will be a shadow of the side this season in his absence.
RUNNING BACKS B +
That’s two weeks that DeSean Bishop was the primary Running Back with 123 yards at 8.8 y.p.c. Most people will rightly complain about the coaching play call for the Pick 6, but there was another pivotal moment for me. After the 44-yard TD run the Vols forced a short field and Bishop ripped off another 18 yards to the edge of field goal range. “Please please run it down their throat” I demanded but the sequence was Throw in the flat to Mike Matthews for no gain, a botched snap and a dropped pass to Matthews. Sometimes the coaching gets too clever for its own good by playing the “second guessing game." Star Thomas was also badly underused finishing with 26 yards from only 3 carries.
WIDE RECEIVERS C
After Braylon Staleys disaster game at Mississippi St, last night he again shone with 10 catches for 92 yards and Chris Brazzell II was underused after a bright start. But we still drop far too many balls, and I think I heard we were 133 out of 134 in the Country for dropsies. In fact, this unit is a microcosm of my earlier observation that there are good and bad moments at any time
TIGHT ENDS B
Miles Kitselman had a good but not perfect game, but something appeared “through the mist” to me and that was the emergence of DaSaahn Brame. He looks a very fluid TE as 38 yards for 3 catches show, but he is also a real specimen with a senior’s body. We have been looking for a Tyler Warren, Brock Bowers, Kyle Pitts type who is explosive in the receiving game and we hoped that Ethan Davis would develop into that, but perhaps Brame is that one, let’s hope so.
OFFENSIVE LINE D -
The O`Line has probably been the most pleasant surprise this season but when they had to face an elite opposition then they were found wanting with everyone having bad moments. The result was that Aguilar was sacked 4 times and took a number of punishing hits. They did improve in the second half and the Running game came alive as a result, but it wasn’t a “good day at office”. It also highlighted that Shamurad Umarov is probably the weakest lineman, and David Sanders needs to be inserted at RT with Jesse Perry moving to LG
DEFENSIVE LINE B +
I thought the D`Line were their best this season and only when they wore down in the 3rd Quarter did they start to leek yards. Jaxon Moi and Bryson Eason both recorded TFLs. The grade is slightly lower since the DE`s didn’t get to the Quarterback as much as they have this season. As you will know I try to stay away from complaining about the Zebras, but I need to mention them again as the opposing D`Linemen have had zero holding calls against them against our Pass Rush which beggars both my eyes and my belief.
LINEBACKERS D
I am still not happy with either Arion Carters space awareness or Jeremiah Telander`s mobility There were two 3rd and longs completed by Alabama over the middle where they were so alone, I saw visitors to the Leper colony in Ben Hur get closer to people. One minor point, Jadon Perlotte is one lucky guy as when the fumble landed at his feet, he just swatted it away clearly thinking the play was dead, but fortunately for him Joshua Josephs fell on the ball. Jadon PLAY to the damn whistle.
DEFENSIVE BACKS C -
With Ty Simpson throwing the rock at a level of a possible Heisman Trophy winner the DB`s were always going to be in for a long day. And whilst there were breakdowns and missed tackles (put your hand up Ty Redmond), It could have been a far worse day for them. Alabama only threw for 253 yards and Ryan Williams accounted for 87 of them all of his catches were Sunday standard which the DB`s can not be blamed for. Colton Hood had some shaky moments but is still a great addition this season.
BIG MOMENTS – THE ALABAMA 1 YARD LINE
It just felt we were always one yard short; it was a nine-yard pass just short of a 1st down; it was a nine-yard run just short of a 1st down. But most frustratingly we were at the Alabama 1 yard line then they return it back for a back breaking 99-yard INT. After a positive start to at the second half, we pinned Alabama back to the 1 yard line again and this time Alabama drove 99 yards. So, it only seemed fitting that the game finished with Tennessee having the ball at the Alabama 1 yard line and still no success.
At the start of the season, I was split between 9-3 and 8-4, of which both would have been none to shabby. In SEC play we could easily be 4-0 or 0-4 in 2025. So to get to the playoffs it would probably need us to ”run the table” and with the mistakes Tennessee make it is hard to realistically say we will not drop one of OKA (Mateer is back), KEN (Texas were taken to OT last night), FLA (you all know the pitfalls of this fixture) and then VAN (who seriously could be competing for a SEC title berth). Losses are always painful just as Lion gets hungrier each time he lets his prey escape, but I am still proud to be a VOL
GO VOLS
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