Tennessee football Smokey points: Top five Vols in 30-7 UAB win

It only took a few key Volunteers to make lots of big plays for Tennessee football to beat the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers.

A victory that came down to elite team defense and a few big plays on offense made it very clear who the top guys were for Tennessee football on Saturday. And it’s beyond clear who the best player on the field was against the UAB Blazers.

However, it’s not as clear who were the standout players were as a whole. Again, the game came down to lots of big plays in different moments by the Vols as they won 30-7 and were pitching a shutout heading into the fourth quarter.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Tennessee football made sure it controlled the game, and it overcame key mistakes in the first half to do it. That’s a huge positive for Jeremy Pruitt’s second team as they continue to show dramatic improvement on the year.

Anyway, as we get set to dish out our Smokey points this week for the top UT performers, the nature of the game made it very easy for us to pick one guy. Three others didn’t have amazing stats, but they did standout things enough to win.

The fifth spot could have gone to a lot of different defensive players, though, and it’s almost a bit unfair to name one and not name the others. That’s the nature of any top five list, however, is that somebody has to be left off. And we have to do that here.

What is so tricky, though, is the fact that this was such a defensive victory, and there’s only one clear defensive guy who belongs on this list. But that guy was the anchor for the entire defense, as he just happened to be that elite.

So who are we talking about there? And which other players were most deserving of a shoutout Saturday? Let’s break that all down here. These are our Smokey points for Tennessee football’s top performers in the Vols’ homecoming victory over the UAB Blazers.