Tennessee Vols Football: Mid-Season Report Card

Six games down, six to go for the Tennessee Volunteers in 2011. The first six games were a mixed bag of good, bad, and ugly. 

The good: Tennessee's first regular season win over a BCS conference opponent since 2006.

The bad: Losses to Florida, Georgia, and LSU. 

The ugly: Season altering injuries to quarterback Tyler Bray and wide receiver Justin Hunter.

Tennessee has played well in some aspects of the game while others continue to suffer do to youth and lack of depth. 

Here's a closer look at how each unit graded out in the first half. 

Quarterback

Grade: B-

Tyler Bray was having a great sophomore season until the fourth quarter of the Georgia game. His multiple touchdowns in consecutive games streak was broken, along with the thumb on his throwing hand, against Georgia two weeks ago. 

Before the injury, Bray had thrown for 1,579 yards and 14 touchdowns. 

In Matt Simms' first start since Oct. 30, 2010, the senior was 6-for-20 with two interceptions against No. 1 LSU. His second start comes this week at No. 2 Alabama. 

Running Back

Grade: C-

Senior Tauren Poole has had some issues rushing against SEC teams this season. Whether it's Tyler Bray's inability to check out of certain plays against various defensive fronts or Poole's lack of vision at times, the senior struggled mightily in all but one game against SEC competition in the first half. 

Poole ran for 100-plus against Cincinnati and Buffalo. 

Wide Receiver

Grade: B+

Tennessee's wide receivers have been a bright spot for much of this season. Da'Rick Rogers has proven to be everything the coaches thought he was coming out of high school.

The loss of Justin Hunter hurt this group immensely, but tight end Mychal Rivera has picked up a ton of the slack. 

De'Anthony Arnett and Zach Rogers must step up in the second half to keep the first half grade from falling. 

Offensive Line

Grade: C

The offensive has been a miniature snapshot of the Vols up and down season to this point. In pass protection, the line has been great. They have allowed 10 sacks and the pressure that resulted in Bray breaking his thumb, but for the most part Bray and Simms have had plenty of time to operate in the pocket. 

Run blocking is a different story. The Vols line had trouble controlling the line of scrimmage in SEC games against bigger, faster, stronger defensive linemen. That is, until last week when Tennessee's line finally played physically and with attitude against LSU. Maybe things are about to start getting better in the trenches. 

Defensive Line

Grade: C

The defensive line is still working in the "potential" range. It hasn't been spectacular, but it hasn't been awful either. As a matter of fact, it played very well in the first half against LSU last weekend before getting beat up and outlasted in the second half. 

Malik Jackson is the star on the line, but Tennessee needs Jacques Smith to step up and start making plays on the end. Daniel Hood has shown glimpses at tackle. 

Linebacker

Grade: C+

For a linebacking corps with so much youth, this unit has played a little better than most thought coming in. Freshmen AJ Johnson and Curt Maggitt have been flying all over the field making tackles all season long. 

Senior middle linebacker Austin Johnson has played well. He's not setting the world on fire by any means, but he has not made a ton of boneheaded mistakes either. 

This unit should get a boost sometime in the second half when Herman Lathers returns from a fractured foot injury suffered in June. 

Secondary

Grade: C-

What was supposed to be one of the Vols better defensive units coming into 2011 has turned into something much less. The loss of Janzen Jackson hurt greatly, and it has shown. 

Prentiss Waggner has played very well at safety, but corners Marsalis Teague and Izauea Lanier have been beat early and often in SEC play. 

This unit has one interception this season, in the first game against Montana. 

Special Teams

Grade: C

This unit only recently began improving with the addition of Devrin Young as punt and kick returner. There are still issues with kickoffs and field goals, thanks to Michael Palardy's inconsistency, but Matt Darr seems to have settled in to the punting duties just fine. 

If Devrin Young doesn't break a kickoff or punt return for a touchdown sometime in the next six games I will be tremendously surprised. 

Coaching

Grade: C

The Vols are not 3-3 because of in-game coaching decisions. Sure, there have been a few head-scratchers along the way, but for the most part the coaches have put the right personnel in the right place at the right time up to this point. 

It's the time in-between games that has caused this C grade. Issues with the running game and special teams plagued the Vols for much of the first half of the season. Things appear to be changing for the better on both of those fronts.

Overall

Grade: C-

The young Vols were supposed to struggle again this season. So, the 3-3 mark at the halfway point isn't exactly a great surprise. Tennessee should have played better against Georgia, but injuries to Justin Hunter and Tyler Bray have hurt an otherwise bright outlook for the remainder of the season.

Some areas, like special teams, the offensive line, and running back seem to be improving. While quarterback and wide receiver seem to be regressing--mainly because of those injuries. 

The defense will get a shot in the arm once linebacker Herman Lathers comes back from injury, but it needs more consistent play up front and in the secondary to compete against big time competition.

The Vols still have a chance to improve in the second half. Just how much they can or might improve with inconsistencies on defense and without their top two offensive threats and is still a mystery.