Tennessee football: Five Vols to watch for vs. Georgia State Panthers

Again, with Shawn Elliott being a Steve Spurrier protege, he is going to revolve the entire Georgia State Panthers offense around Dan Ellington. But what makes this GSU offense unique is it uses Ellington in a pass-heavy offense while he also uses his dual-threat abilities. Ellington led the team in rushing last year as well.

Given that mobility, Ellington can sling it from the pocket to a solid receiving corps., or roll out and make a play, or just take off. So Tennessee football needs guys who can contain him. Daniel Bituli, however, is likely to be sidelined in this game. Jeremy Pruitt noted they needed to clean up a minor injury, and there’s no reason to risk further aggravating it in the opener.

However, with him out, that puts pressure on senior safety Nigel Warrior. As the glue guy in the Vols’ secondary, Warrior has more pressure than ever. Without Bryce Thompson, he’ll have more things to do in the passing game. However, without Bituli’s help, he has to make sure he can contain a mobile quarterback who just might be the breakout star this year in the Group of Five.

This is a nice way for Warrior, the son of UT legend Dale Carter, to start off his senior campaign. Again, it’s just Georgia State, but Ellington has enough in him to give the Vols trouble. Nobody will be more crucial to stopping that than Warrior, which is why he is on here.