Tennessee football Smokey Points: Top 5 Vols performers vs. WVU

Tennessee football did have some standout players despite losing 40-14 to the West Virginia Mountaineers. Here are the Volunteers who performed.

Well the excitement died quickly on Rocky Top. After a promising first half, Tennessee football came apart against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second half. Dana Holgorsen’s team torched the Vols behind Will Grier and his receivers 40-14, spoiling Jeremy Pruitt’s first game as head coach.

The result, while certainly always considered a possibility, was disappointing for Vol Nation nonetheless. However, it was clear from the start that they would face match-up issues in the game. Those issues just became magnified.

Despite that, some players did still stand out for Rocky Top. A few, actually, did everything they could to try to keep the game close. It’s hard to take away too many positives from such a blowout loss in Charlotte, but a few Tennessee football players do deserve credit.

In this post, we’re going to look at those Vols who did come out to perform well in this game. Returning with our Smokey Points would seem hard in a blowout, but there were some clear helmet sticker winners here.

As always, we come out with five helmet stickers. And yes, it was easy to give out five. Remember, with 11 players on either side, if just five show up you still lose in a blowout. A few more than five were able to absolve themselves from the blame of what happened yesterday, but not all were worthy of our Smokey Points.

Remember, we reserve these for players who really stood out. And in this case, they give the program a glimmer of hope for the future as it continues rebuilding. So let’s do that here. Following a rough Game One loss, it’s time for a few positives. These are the five Tennessee football standout performers in their season-opening loss to the West Virginia Mountaineers.