Pro Football Focus (PPF) UT Grades vs Ga State

[Tnphil]

C&P from TOS


From Simonton at VQ

“Tennessee's Week 1 advanced stats, courtesy of Pro Football Focus.

As a reminder, this is the PFF grading scale.

< 50 = Backup

50-59 = Below average starter

60-69 = Average starter

70-79 = Above average starter

80-89 = Very good

90-99 = Elite

With that … the PFF data Tennessee-Georgia State advanced stats…

OFFENSIVE GRADES
WR Jauan Jennings (80.7)
LT Jahmir Johnson (76.7)
LG Ryan Johnson (72.1)
TE Dominick Wood-Anderson (67.6)
TE Austin Pope (67.6)
RG Riley Locklear (64.7)
WR Marquez Callaway (63.7)
C Brandon Kennedy (61.3)
RB Eric Gray (61.1)
RT Darnell Wright (60.8)
RB Tim Jordan (60.6)
LT Wanya Morris (58.5)
LT Marcus Tatum (57.8)
LG Trey Smith (57.7)
QB Jarrett Guarantano (55.9)
RG Jerome Carvin (55.8)
WR Josh Palmer (54.5)
RB Ty Chandler (48.3)
The only guys who saw action who I didn’t list here were Ramel Keyton (5 snaps), Andrew Craig (1 snap), Tyler Byrd (4 snaps), Cedric Tillman (5 snaps) and Brandon Johnson (10 snaps).

The stats backup the eye test here, even on rewatch. Jennings was the team’s best player against Georgia State. I thought Jahmir Johnson was the team’s top OL on Saturday. So did Jeremy Pruitt and PFF agrees.

Overall, the offensive line graded out as fairly solid in pass protection, outside of Tatum (three hurries), Smith (three hurries) and Morris (1 quarterback hit). Locklear was the team’s best pass protector Saturday (a grade of 85.2), followed by both Jahmir and Ryan Johnson and then Kennedy and Wright, the latter of which is most encouraging considering the 5-star freshman’s lack of experience pass blocking. The aforementioned quintet are graded out in the 80s.

Conversely, Smith, Morris, Tatum and Carvin all graded out as sub-55 pass protectors.

Tennessee tailbacks were awful in pass pro, with Chandler (2 hurries) and Gray (1 sack, 1 hurry) both getting beaten more than once. Notably, PFF did credit Guarantano for two of the four sacks — which makes total sense watching the film and also hearing Pruitt’s comments there.

The Vols had issues running the ball against Georgia State and Wright, a bit surprisingly, graded out as the worst run-blocker of the group. Outside of both Johnson’s though, only Smith (61.3) was even “average,” per PFF. The Vols finished Saturday with just two runs of at least 10 yards — Chandler’s 31-yard touchdown and Keyton’s 10-yard jet sweep.

The snap count for the rotating group of lineman went…

Kennedy (72)

Locklear (60)

Tatum (46)

J. Johnson (42)

Morris (41 total — 29 at LT, 11 at LG)

R. Johnson (32)

Smith (31)

Wright (27)

Carvin (15)

At quarterback, PFF’s stats reinforce the takeaway that Guarantano had a rough 2019 debut. He was at fault for two sacks, two turnovers and had two balls batted at the LOS.

Among the 14 SEC starting quarterbacks in Week 0 or 1, Guarantano did have the the most “deep passing” yards with 99 on 3 of 8 attempts 20 yards or more downfield. Those stats included a touchdown and one interception. Overall, Guarantano graded out as the league’s ninth-best starter in Week 1.

A year ago, Guarantano was among the league’s best on play action, but that was not a strong point for him Saturday. He was just 4 of 8 for 29 yards off play action, per PFF, with the majority of his throws coming off standard drops.

A couple final quick-hitters here: Gray averaged just 4.1 yards per carry but displayed lots of the wiggle and shiftiness, ranking as the SEC’s most elusive tailback (eight avoided tackles vs. GSU) with a minimum of 10 touches. Of Jennings’ 108 yards, 55 were after contact. Callaway was targeted seven times, but three attempts were passes that sailed out of bounds. Palmer had a poor 2019 debut, despite playing the most snaps of any receiver.

DEFENSIVE GRADES
DT Greg Emerson (76.6)
DT Savion Williams (75.6)
DE Darel Middleton (73.7)
CB Shawn Shamburger (72.0)
DL Aubrey Solomon (69.9)
S Theo Jackson (69.8)
S Trevon Flowers (67.9)
OLB Kivon Bennett (67.9)
OLB Darrell Taylor (66.8)
MLB Henry To’oto’o (65.3)
DE Latrell Bumphus (61.8)
CB Warren Burrell (55.0)
CB Alontae Taylor (54.5)
FS Nigel Warrior (52.9)
MLB Will Ignont (49.4)
ILB Shanon Reid (48.5)
DL Kurott Garland (38.8)
MLB Jeremy Banks (37.4)
Tennessee played 25 guys on defense in all, but I didn’t include anyone who saw fewer than 10 snaps in the above grades. Jaylen McCollough (8 snaps) and Kenneth George (9 snaps) graded out as the only deep reserves who scored over 60.

Ja’Quain Blakely (6 snaps), John Mincey (5 snaps), Quavaris Crouch (4 snaps) and Matthew Butler (3 snaps) all were in the 50s.

The raw grades here are interesting, if not a bit confusing.

I wrote in my review piece I thought Emerson (who played with an edge and had a couple pressures) and Middleton were much better on second glance. I wasn’t nearly as impressed with Williams or Solomon but they both graded out right around “above average.” Seems strange to me as neither were impactful on a down-to-down basis.

Emerson was the only lineman who offered any pass rush though, as the other nine guys who saw snaps combined for zero hurries. Edge rushers Taylor (3), Bennett (2) and Johnson (sack-fumble) totaled six, while Shamburger (sack) and Flowers (pressure) had the other two hurries.

Snaps for main DL rotation:

Emerson (48)

Solomon (40)

Middelton (37)

Williams (28)

Garland (21)

Bumphus (21)

While the DL data was somewhat surprising, Tennessee’s linebackers graded out exactly as expected. They were not good. They definitely missed Daniel Biutli’s presence. To’oto’o led the team in tackles but the entire group was picked on in coverage, combining for five completions on six targets for 92 yards and a touchdown. That was nearly 70 percent of Dan Ellington’s total passing production.

I actually thought PFF was rather generous in its missed tackles assessment, crediting Tennessee with just eight total. Guys like Taylor (happened twice on film) and Flowers (once on GSU’s opening drive) both were put on skates by Ellington on a scramble but neither were tagged with a missed tackle.

A. Taylor (2), Warrior (2) and Burrell (1) had five of the eight whiffs, per PFF.

Pruitt and Derrick Ansley are looking for a ballhawking secondary, but the only player to record a PBU on Saturday was Darrell Taylor in coverage on a TE. Shamburger was the most solid defensive back in run support — both on film and per PFF.”

[PirateVOL]

Kivon Bennett's score surprised me
Watching on TV he seemed the most consistent and best LB on the field when he was in the game

[volsboy]

Aren't these players getting coached yet? I thought Butch's player development was bad. Some embarrassingly low scores. Trey Smith's should be higher despite his health setbacks.