Tennessee football Smokey points: Top five Vols in 23-22 Gator Bowl win

Although Tennessee football will severely miss Daniel Bituli, Henry To’o To’o showed with his development that the Vols will be alright. Bituli was knocked out for a couple of drives on Thursday, and To’o To’o led the way. His performance was much better than the performance he had in the season-opener against the Georgia State Panthers.

For the game, To’o To’o had eight tackles and a pass deflection. That doesn’t seem like much. But he was all over the field and the key to stopping the rushing attack of the Indiana Hoosiers. It’s why they only had 31 carries for 76 yards on the day.

They were only ever able to get anything going when quarterback Peyton Ramsey was running with the ball, and yes, he succeeded a lot on that front with 54 yards and a touchdown. However, once the Vol defense got some rest, To’o To’o joined Daniel Bituli in helping with that, as he always made sure Ramsey was contained while also helping the defensive line stop the run up front.

To’o To’o always had to be accounted for on pass rushes as well, and he was doing a lot of what we saw Bituli do all year in terms of directing the defense on where to be and helping everybody get into the right position. His future is incredibly bright on Rocky Top, and this was a superb performance by him.