Tennessee football: Vols stock report following Week 13 of 2019

Stock down

Cornerbacks

Lost in Tennessee football’s win at the Missouri Tigers was the fact that the cornerbacks actually had a bad day. Remember, Mizzou hasn’t been moving the ball at all this month, and Kelly Bryant has looked horrible. But he did have 166 yards, and UT did allow two touchdown passes, albeit one being on a trick play. The issue was cornerback play.

Bryce Thompson had his worst game all season since coming back, as he lost out on multiple one-on-one deep passes. The cornerbacks still played physical and racked up tackles, but with the safeties trying to focus on Bryant’s mobility, they needed to do their job more. Add in Mizzou playing without Albert Okwuegbunam, and there’s just no denying the play was bad.

Running back ball security

Outside of special teams, doing something this specific shows you just how hard it is for us to find something struggling. However, we simply couldn’t ignore what has happened the last two games. In each of them on the road, a UT running back fumbled the ball with the Vols clinging to a one-score lead in the fourth quarter.

Ty Chandler nearly cost the Vols by doing it at the Kentucky Wildcats. Tim Jordan did it at Missouri on a drive in which they were sure to score up 24-17. Jordan’s fumble was the result of a helmet on the ball, so it wasn’t necessarily his fault. However, it has now happened in two straight games, so it’s become a problematic trend.