What We Learned From The Vols’ Win Over Austin Peay

Aug 31, 2013; Knoxville, TN, USA; Austin Peay Governors defensive back Leron Eaddy (24) tackles Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Justin Worley (14) at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

The Vols opened the Butch Jones era with a 45-0 drubbing of Austin Peay. The win amounted to basically a glorified practice for the Volunteers, essentially the best evaluation tool Jones has had to date.

Unfortunately for us, there isn’t a whole lot to take away from this game — except the Vols have a serious lack of depth. It will be very important for Tennessee to develop some of their younger players, especially on the offensive line, as an injury here or there could put the team in dire straits.

Here are the five things we took away from the Vols win over Austin Peay.

1. Justin Worley Is Entrenched As The Starter — For Now

Butch Jones wasn’t lying when he said Worley doesn’t need to be looking over his shoulder. Nathan Peterman got in the game in the second half, only because the Vols had built such a large lead. Peterman, working with the second team offense, wasn’t able to get much going. Even though he was working with the second team offense, he still should’ve been able to move the ball more effectively. Unless Worley severely falters, there’s no reason to believe he’ll lose the job anytime soon.

2. Rajion Neal Got The Bulk Of The Carries 

It was hard to get a grasp of how Butch will use his top two running backs (Rajion Neal and Marlin Lane) during the Vols’ win over the Governors. If you look at just the box score, it would appear that Neal is the clear favorite to shoulder the rushing load. Neal rushed for 141 yards in one half of action on Saturday. Marlin Lane, however, received only six carries in the game, but he made him the count — scoring on two of his six rushing attempts.

Jones has previously leaned heavily on just one running back. We thought before the season that Jones may go with a 50-50 split between Neal and Lane, due to both running backs being similar in terms of talent. With what we saw Saturday, it could indicate that Jones will go with a 60-40, or even 70-30 split instead. Again it’s hard to take much away from the Austin Peay game, but based solely on that game, it looks like it’ll be Neal leading the ground game.

3. The Vols Will Spread The Ball Around — A Lot

Seven wide receivers caught a pass for the Vols on Saturday, and others got in the game but didn’t record a catch.

The Vols started Marquez North, Pig Howard and Jason Croom, but Josh Smith, Jacob Carter and Devrin Young saw a lot of time early as well.

The top two receivers on this team will definitely be Marquez North and Pig Howard. Beyond that, it could be clustered. Butch likes to play a lot of wide receivers. He’s mentioned that he’d like to play as many as ten, so you may have trouble at times this season keeping up with who’s lining up at wideout.

4. The Vols Pass Rush Could Use Some Work

Tennessee record only two sacks against Austin Peay on Saturday. Maurice Couch and Marlon Walls were the only Vols to get to the Governors’ quarterback.

The Vols should’ve had more success against a much weaker Austin Peay offensive line. This could be a cause for concern for the Volunteers.

The pass that Daniel Hood tipped, and intercepted, was an extremely poor decision by Governors quarterback Andrew Spivey. While it was a great play and reaction by Daniel Hood, that’s not a mistake that SEC quarterbacks will make very often.

The Volunteers will have to improve in this area if they plan on competing against the likes of Georgia and South Carolina this season.

5. Devrin Young Will Return A Kick For A Touchdown This Season

Butch Jones said after the win on Saturday that his special teams unit still has a lot of room for improvement. While that is definitely true, one thing is for sure — Devrin Young WILL return a kick for a touchdown at some point this season. Young looked electric on a 58 yard return to open the second half.

The junior from Knoxville, TN has the potential to be a huge asset for the Vols this season, in both the return game and the passing game. Look for Young to be one of the key components to Tennessee’s success as the season progresses.