Tennessee football Smokey Points: Top 5 Vols performers at South Carolina

Tennessee football’s defensive front seven played horrible in the second half. Shy Tuttle was a huge part of those issues. And Alexis Johnson and Kyle Phillips were able to make more plays anyway up front.

However, you have to give Tuttle credit. His one interception was more key than anything any of the other guys did, so he made this list. Even with all his struggles, stopping that second drive to give the Vols the lead was huge.

Sure, you can say Daniel Bituli is the guy who really belongs on this list by tipping the ball in the air. But Bituli was part of a linebacker unit that struggled so severely on the night we still couldn’t give him props in good conscious.

Tuttle is simply a victim of the lack of depth up front. But before that got exposed, he made sure to make a huge play. So the senior did his part to win the game. Even while struggling in the second half, he was part of the crucial fumble that was never called.

Simply put, Tuttle’s been doing lots of the brutal legwork for the defensive line and not getting a lot of stats to show for it. He finally got that on Saturday, and as a result, he earned a spot on this list for the Vols.