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

Again, Henry To’oTo’o has been developing fast for Tennessee football at inside linebacker on a weekly basis. After a horrendous start against the Georgia State Panthers, Jeremy Pruitt has done a very good job sticking with him over the course of the last few games. And it really showed against the Florida Gators on Saturday.

The true freshman tied for leading the team in tackles with eight. He also hurried the quarterback twice, and he had a critical fumble recovery on the Florida Gators’ second offensive drive that should have set up a game-tying touchdown for the Vols. Again, he is emerging into a playmaker, and it showed in this game.

Jeremy Pruitt is having a hard time getting his defensive line to develop, as they still struggle to get pressure alone. So he and Derrick Ansley have had to send To’oTo’o on lots of blitz packages and sneak him around at times to help make up for that issue, and To’oTo’o has been coming through more and more each week.

As a result, the Vols have a future star in the works there, despite all of their issues elsewhere. To’oTo’o is a guy who won’t quit playing, and he will make lots more plays in the future to help this team win. Saturday was just the surface of what he could do.