Tennessee football report card: Grading the Vols in their win over ETSU

Coaching

Offensive play-calling: B+

Tyson Helton was a step up in this game, as Tennessee football mixed things around. The big thing, though, was the efficiency. Helton was able to get Keller Chryst in and have him throw an easy 50-yard touchdown pass. He also relied on common sense, something Butch Jones lacked, which is why they were able to pound the rock with Madre London and Jeremy Banks in the red zone. The trick running play to Josh Palmer was another great call. So the Vols weren’t great on offense overall, but the play-calling was fine.

Defensive play-calling: B+

Again, there was nothing spectacular here. The lack of great play by the front seven is the only thing to make this unit look like it struggled, though. Tennessee football’s defense was able to catch ETSU napping, which is why they forced multiple turnovers to set up offensive touchdowns. It took good play-calling to keep Logan Marchi from being able to get anything going, especially when Randy Sanders had some balance with a decent rushing attack that gained 125 yards because of the struggling front seven.

Jeremy Pruitt’s overall coaching grade: A-

The Vols ran a lot of players out there on Saturday against ETSU, and that was crucial for the future. On top of that, Pruitt had his second weather delay in a week. This time, though, he got his team to come out and play better, not worse, after only clinging to a 10-0 lead. As we’ve said with all the coaching on this slide, nothing was spectacular. But Pruitt was able to get the Vols to coast to a 59-3 lead, and he was able to experiment with a lot of things. So you couldn’t ask for much more than what he did on Saturday.