Tennessee football Smokey Points: Top 5 Vols performers in loss at Georgia

Many players competed in Tennessee football’s 38-12 loss to the UGA Bulldogs. Here are the five Volunteers who earned helmet stickers vs. the Dawgs.

Tennessee football has lost all three games against Power Five opponents by 26 points. But with a 2-3 record and morale super low under first-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt heading into the bye week, the Vols need to find positives somewhere.

Cutting the game to 24-12 in the fourth quarter after one touchdown they surrendered was a fluke play in which they forced a fumble that was recovered by the offense was that positive. The Vols once again showed they can be competitive, and they continue to show a level of fight in them that leaves something to be proud of.

Thanks to lots of players, Tennessee football is fighting hard in games, but there continue to be specific standout guys that we need to mention. Such was the case Saturday, which is why Pruitt got emotional in his postgame press conference.

As we get set hand out our Smokey Points this week, there were some pretty obvious helmet sticker winners. As you’ll see the top two guys were clearly the No. 1 and No. 2 best players for the Vols on the field Saturday afternoon.

We could have chosen from a variety of players for the other three spots, as even in such a bad loss, plenty of guys earned some recognition. But there were clear reasons for us to narrow it down to the other three guys we chose.

This isn’t to say those players were perfect Saturday. On the contrary, some of them made crucial mistakes. But they all kept fighting and came through with some crucial plays against the No. 2 team in the nation on the road, which is why they deserve respect.

So heading into the bye week, let’s go ahead and take a look at the top performers from the Vols’ fifth game of the year. These are the players who earned Tennessee football Smokey Points following their loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.