Tennessee football Smokey Points: Top five Vols from 34-3 Florida loss

Let’s first get the negative out of the way. Jauan Jennings made a very uncharacteristic mistake when Tennessee football was inside the five-yard line. Down 7-0, Jarrett Guarantano hit him over the middle with a perfect pass, but he let it bounce off of his facemask only for it to be intercepted in the red zone. That was a bad play.

And it could have been enough to keep him off of this list. But Jennings, more than anybody else on offense, kept fighting. That’s not a surprise to anybody who has followed the Vols this year through their 1-3 start. And he would predictably be one of the guys whose hard play could overcome a crucial mistake.

Don’t forget that Jennings was part of the reason the Vols got down to that yard-line to begin with after gaining eight yards on a reception to open the drive. And he was the only reason the Vols ever got anything on offense for the day, catching seven passed for 73 yards. With only 151 passing yards on the day for UT, Jennings was clearly the star.

Sure, he made one critical mistake. But Guarantano and even Brian Maurer rightly kept looking his way, as the redshirt senior will not quit playing. He deserves some love for that, and we are going to give it to him.