Tennessee football: Vols 10 greatest individual performances vs. South Carolina Gamecocks
2009 (W 31-13). 839. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Linebacker. Rico McCoy. 5. player
Yes, the famous black jersey game that was never used again had one legendary performance. Tennessee football really had a team win in this game, as they beat a No. 21 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks team by forcing them to make a lot of mistakes, Jonathan Crompton passing efficiency and Montario Hardesty running hard.
A 12-10 loss to the No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide on the road the previous week hinted that the Vols would be back as a program under Lane Kiffin soon enough, and they appeared to be a program on the rise. This Halloween night, they added to the energy by surprising everybody with the black jerseys to complement the orange pants.
Despite it being a team win, the star of the game was undoubtedly Rico McCoy. The Vols had already gone up 7-0 thanks to one turnover. But on the very next drive, McCoy forced a Kenny Miles fumble. UT responded with an immediate touchdown to go up 14-0. McCoy wasn’t done.
Early in the second quarter, McCoy forced Stephen Garcia to fumble the ball. The Vols recovered and scored again, going up 21-0. When you factor in the fact that he had multiple forced turnovers along with 10 tackles and a pass deflection, very few people had a complete game defensively like McCoy did against South Carolina on this night. So he makes the list.