Tennessee Football: Final 2015 Positional Grades for the Volunteers
A second half doesn't make an entire season, but for the Tennessee football team, a sizzling end to 2015 certainly didn't hurt.
For proof in that regard, go back and look at the midseason grades fresh off a comeback win over Georgia and compare them to the end-of-the-year tally here.
A front-loaded schedule full of near-misses and frustrations gave way to a 5-1 finish and an 8-4 record. Most importantly, the orange-hot Vols will get the opportunity to end the season in style with an Outback Bowl berth against a Top 15 opponent, Northwestern.
That's a rewarding finish considering an early season that included four losses, three blown fourth-quarter leads and lots of groaning and fuming from a Big Orange fanbase that saw too many games slip away.
Tennessee coach Butch Jones told reporters in Tampa this week that he's excited not only about the battle with the Wildcats but about UT's direction:
"We always talk about following a process and building it the right way, and building it for success—but not just for success, but sustained success. And we're building it the right way. I'm just proud of our football organization, all of our coaches, our players, because they have followed the blueprint. We're continuing to get better and better and better. We're recruiting at a very high rate, so that's good, as well. We have a very, very strong football family, and we have great character in our football program.
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So, how did the Vols do position by position now that the regular season is complete? Let's take a look and break it down.
Quarterbacks
1 of 8
Considering quarterback Joshua Dobbs was arguably the team's most valuable player, you'd think that would warrant a sterling grade.
But just because the 6'3", 207-pound junior signal-caller from Alpharetta, Georgia, was the team's most vital member this season doesn't mean he was perfect. As a matter of fact, he was far from it.
For every game where he was brilliant as a dual-threat weapon that opponents had to account for on every play (Florida, Georgia), he had forgettable efforts as well (Oklahoma). Throughout an early season rife with land mines, Dobbs stepped on more than his share.
Sure, he did a great job of protecting the ball. But he also seemed reluctant to take chances at times that called for Tennessee to have a fearless, daring leader. As the season matured, however, so did Dobbs. He battled through a late-season foot injury and kept trotting out there.
He wound up throwing for 2,125 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions while completing nearly 60 percent of his passes. He also took over a few games with his feet, rushing for 623 more yards and nine scores on the ground. He caught a scoring pass, too.
During this extra month of practice and especially in the offseason, Dobbs must work on his downfield passing. His mechanics were better this year, and there were a couple of "Wow! Did he just make that pass?!?" moments. But there were twice as many inaccurate passes.
So long as Dobbs is thought of as being only a running threat, he'll never be a complete quarterback. He has all the tools necessary to be one, and so, much like his difficult classes on the Hill in Knoxville, he'll be graded more harshly based on his immense ability.
For now, the Vols will just have to settle for Dobbs being a great leader who has shown time and time again that his will to win is great.
Grade: B
Running Backs
2 of 8
All throughout spring practice and leading up to the regular season, coach Butch Jones gushed about his running backs, talking about how well they complemented each other and how the Vols were going to run the football well.
He wasn't lying.
After the season opener when Tennessee ran all over what wound up being a strong Bowling Green team, Jalen Hurd told the Knoxville News-Sentinel's Dustin Dopirak: "They don't know who's coming. Me, Dobbs, Alvin, they don't know what’s going to hit them. They have to be prepared for anything."
That wound up being the theme throughout Tennessee's turnaround season.
Last year, UT finished 13th in the SEC with an average of 146.4 rushing yards per game (1,903 yards). This season, the Vols were second in the league behind LSU.
Tennessee now has tallied 2,682 rushing yards so far this season, which is the most since 1989 when the Vols ran roughshod over the SEC to the tune of 2,701 yards.
With a bowl game to play, they're 19 yards from the best single-season team rushing mark since they set a school record in the national championship season of 1951 with 3,068 yards.
Hurd enjoyed a breakout season with 1,158 rushing yards and doing the dirty work (4.6 average) all year. He stayed healthy, and his legs remained mostly fresh. That's because of Dobbs' running threat and because the emergence of JUCO transfer Alvin Kamara.
The dynamic sophomore finished with 645 rushing yards on a 6.7 average and scored six touchdowns. He also was the team's second-leading receiver with 31 catches for 272 yards and three more scores.
UT enjoyed one of the best one-two punches in all of college football, and the Vols will welcome back both stars next year.
Grade: A
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
3 of 8
Injuries continued to ravage the unit this year, but the bottom line is Tennessee's wide receiving corps continued to underachieve as it has all three years of Butch Jones' tenure.
With passing game coordinator Zach Azzanni reportedly a candidate to join DJ Durkin's inaugural staff at Maryland as offensive coordinator, according to Dan Wolken of USA Today (h/t 247Sports), that may not be a bad move for either party.
Sophomore Josh Malone showed flashes throughout the year in not only being a game-breaking target but also becoming more reliable at getting the tough yards. Then, senior Von Pearson came on late, winding up as the team leader in receptions and second in receiving yards.
Josh Smith did some good things after returning from an injury that cost him the majority of 2014 and led to a redshirt campaign, but besides that trio, Tennessee didn't have many threats in the passing game.
Freshmen Jauan Jennings and Preston Williams had glimpses where they looked like future stars, but neither put together any sort of consistency. Marquez North battled another injury-plagued year that basically wound up being a lost season. Jason Croom never stepped foot on the field.
To blame just the receivers would be short-sighted, though. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs also never threw the ball downfield with any accuracy throughout the course of a game. Most of the focus was on the running game, where UT thrived, but the receivers who were full of promise didn't live up to it.
Separation was an issue all year for a Tennessee group of receivers that is rated more highly than the vast majority of receiving corps in the nation. But production hasn't matched the promise.
Eventually, the Vols are going to have to get some consistency at the position in order to attain some offensive balance.
Grade: D
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Offensive Line
4 of 8
A pleasant surprise for the Vols this year was the play of their offensive front.
The addition of offensive coordinator Mike DeBord, who has years of experience at coaching the position in the NFL and in college, provided a major benefit.
Though UT endured more than its share of injuries, including the season-ending loss to starting guard Marcus Jackson, it kept inserting youngsters who got the job done. In the process, the Vols probably found a couple of dependable cogs for the present and future in freshmen Chance Hall and Jack Jones.
When you throw in redshirts Venzell Boulware and Drew Richmond, the future looks especially bright, but the present was good too.
Left tackle Kyler Kerbyson grew into the position in his redshirt senior year, despite the fact that it wasn't his natural spot. Center Coleman Thomas wound up having a nice season as well and looks like an NFL prospect at the position. On and on, the Vols found some quality linemen.
Not only did the Vols enjoy a strong rushing campaign, but they also trimmed their sacks allowed from an atrocious 43 a season ago to 21 this year. Five of those came in a 19-14 loss to Alabama to the Crimson Tide's incredible defensive line.
It was a nice rebound year for the Vols on the front line, and while they will miss Kerbyson and reserve guard Mack Crowder, UT is upgrading the talent across the line with some stellar recruiting wins. That is a position where the future looks bright.
Grade: B+
Defensive Line
5 of 8
This unit should be graded a little bit on a curve considering the early-season loss of senior leader Curt Maggitt, who hurt his hip on punt coverage and was lost for the year.
When that happened, it took the Vols several games to adapt to life without its vocal cheerleader on and off the field. The extra attention that offensive lines were able to pay Derek Barnett hurt the sophomore's numbers in the season's first few games.
Once Corey Vereen and LaTroy Lewis began to come on and solidify the defensive end opposite Barnett, injuries to starting defensive tackle Shy Tuttle and reserve freshman end Kyle Phillips hurt depth again. So, UT didn't have good luck at one of the positions that was supposed to carry the team.
Even so, Barnett wound up having another strong campaign that earned him second-team All-SEC honors with a late-season surge that included seven sacks in the final six games.
Senior defensive tackle Owen Williams had the kind of season that will draw the attention of NFL scouts everywhere, and the strong, compact interior lineman probably wound up making himself plenty of money. Kendal Vickers was steady throughout the year too.
Toward the end of the season, former 247Sports' 5-star Kahlil McKenzie began to live up to his hype and expectations, and there's no reason to think he can't team with Tuttle for a formidable force anchoring UT's interior of the future.
UT defensive line coach Steve Stripling told GoVols247's Ryan Callahan of McKenzie late in the year:
"I think it was probably about a third of the way through the season, I think the light finally clicked on that, 'I need to practice harder, and I can't just stand up and push people around like I've done my whole life. There's some pretty good players on that field,' I think the light's just going on. It's maturity. He's a young man that you can tell is developing and maturing as we go.
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The Vols tied for sixth in the league in sacks and were ninth in rush defense. Considering the high expectations, those numbers are disappointing. They need some luck in the health department next year to regain some of that necessary continuity.
Grade: C
Linebackers
6 of 8
This is another grade that improved significantly as the season progressed, and that can be directly attributed to the emergence of freshman middle linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr.
There's no question Tennessee's rush defense—and overall defense, really—struggled in the early going because of the youth and inexperience at the position. Quite frankly, losing A.J. Johnson was a blow that couldn't be dealt with swiftly, and walk-on Colton Jumper didn't get the job done early.
Neither did Kirkland when he first entered, but as he improved, so did the Vols. He wound up being one of the biggest playmakers on that side of the ball, routinely battling tackle gobbler Jalen Reeves-Maybin for the most stops on the team.
JRM is the unit's star, and he enjoyed a monster season with 99 tackles, including 13 for a loss, five sacks, four passes defended, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. In UT's two biggest games against Alabama and Oklahoma, JRM was the best player on the field at times.
He's a no-doubt future NFL starter, and the Vols need to hope he returns for his senior season. He and Kirkland can be exciting to watch in 2016. Kirkland finished with 60 tackles, including five for a loss, two sacks and an interception. He nearly scored on that pick too.
The loss of defensive end/outside linebacker hybrid Curt Maggitt was a tough one to deal with all over the field for the Vols, but it also led to freshman Austin Smith showing some signs of his potential at the position.
Tennessee has a lot of youth and excitement on the second level. This year, everything didn't exactly come together, but there are a lot of parts that, if they keep developing, can make for a strong '16.
Grade: B-
Defensive Backs
7 of 8
Perhaps the biggest disappointment on Tennessee's team came from a veteran-laden group of defensive backs.
You'd think a unit that featured seniors Brian Randolph and LaDarrell McNeil as well as junior star Cameron Sutton would be salty against the pass. Also, even though nickelback Rashaan Gaulden was lost for the season before it started, the Vols were able to replace him with junior Malik Foreman.
Instead, UT struggled to find any consistency on the back end, and the season-opening gaffes against Bowling Green became the norm rather than the exception.
Sutton didn't have his best season, and neither did Randolph. For some reason, Todd Kelly Jr. didn't play as much as he should have, but when he did play, he was one of the biggest playmakers on the team. He's a nice building block for the future along with Justin Martin and Gaulden, once he returns.
Foreman's re-emergence later in the year was a huge help to Tennessee's defense, and along with Kirkland coming on, that aided the transformation of the Vols on that side of the ball to being a defense that could carry the team at times.
Still, once all the smoke cleared, the numbers weren't pretty. The Vols finished 11th in the league in pass defense, allowing more than 217 yards through the air per game. They were also 13th in the league in interceptions, with only Vanderbilt finishing with fewer picks.
Even teams that were terrible at throwing the ball such as South Carolina and Vanderbilt found success against UT. The Vols must shore that area up as quickly as possible.
Grade: D
Special Teams
8 of 8
Everybody will point to Aaron Medley's struggles making long field goals against Alabama as a game that could dock this score a bit, but the sophomore wound up making 20 of his 29 kicks on the season.
He rebounded from that forgettable nightmare to be a major weapon for the Vols down the stretch.
Everything else was strong throughout all the special teams units.
Punter Trevor Daniel was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist, as the former walk-on earned his scholarship by averaging 45.6 yards over 56 punts. Early in the year against stiffer competition, Daniel was arguably the team's MVP and the biggest weapon the Vols had.
Arguably one of the two or three biggest plays of the season came against Georgia when Jakob Johnson forced a Sony Michel fumble on a kick return and John Kelly Jr. recovered it. The Vols turned that mistake into a touchdown just before the half to trim the Bulldogs lead to 24-17 in an eventual comeback.
Not to mention the Vols had two of the most dynamic returners in college football.
Evan Berry became the Vols' first Walter Camp All-American since his brother, Eric, leading the nation with a 38.3-yard kickoff return average. He also took three kicks to the house to tie a school record set by Willie Gault in 1980. He was named the SEC's Special Teams Player of the Year.
Cameron Sutton also housed two punts for touchdowns, and Alvin Kamara took another one back for a score.
All in all, it really couldn't have been a much better season in regard to special teams for UT. Sure, had Medley made a couple of those kicks (from 43, 51 and 51 yards) and the Vols had a "W" by Alabama in the win column, it would have been sweeter. But, it was still a banner season.
Grade: A+
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
