Tennessee football: 10 best 2018 single game performances by returning Vols

2. Darrell Taylor at Georgia

Stat line: 6 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles

Result: Georgia wins 38-12

Tennessee football had very few standout performances in its losses. After all, most standout performances in general came from guys who have graduated, and since their losses were usually blowouts, there wasn’t much to celebrate.

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This game was a different story, though. Darrell Taylor had moved from defensive end to outside linebacker as Jeremy Pruitt orchestrated the transition to a 3-4 defense, and the expectations were for him to be a major playmaker.

Four games into the season, however, he hadn’t shown much. That’s understandable, as guys need time to get acclimated to such a system. In this game, however, Taylor finally broke out into a top-notch playmaker.

It started on Georgia’s first offensive drive. Taylor strip-sacked Jake Fromm after the Dawgs had passed midfield. Unfortunately for him, a Georgia offensive player recovered it and ran into the end zone for a touchdown.

That was the bad luck all game here. Taylor strip-sacked Fromm two more times in this game for an incredible three strip-sacks overall, but Georgia recovered both of those as well. The chances of that are obviously super slim.

Had Taylor gotten any help, the Vols could have made this a game. He didn’t though, and that’s why it was a blowout. Still, he was able to show his first flashes of greatness in his new role as outside linebacker, and that only got better for him as the season progressed. So even with the string of bad luck, Taylor’s performance here was a major silver lining.