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Tennessee football’s top five performers in 31-27 win at South Carolina

By Caleb Calhoun

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 26: Defensive back R.J. Roderick #10 of the South Carolina Gamecocks tackles running back Ty Chandler #8 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the football game at Williams-Brice Stadium on September 26, 2020 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 26: Defensive back R.J. Roderick #10 of the South Carolina Gamecocks tackles running back Ty Chandler #8 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the football game at Williams-Brice Stadium on September 26, 2020 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images
Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images /

These were the best Tennessee football Volunteers players against the Gamecocks.

An ugly game that once again scared the heck out of Tennessee football fans everywhere ended with a 31-27 win at the South Carolina Gamecocks for the Vols. Regardless of how it happened, Jeremy Pruitt’s third team on Rocky Top is 1-0 and set to host the Missouri Tigers the next week.

Numerous players made mistakes in the game, and that nearly cost UT the win. However, you don’t beat an SEC East team on the road without a few key players stepping up as well, and that’s exactly what happened in this case.

On both sides of the ball, Tennessee football found new standout players to replace the key guys who left from last year, and other players picked up right where they left off. These players made sure that Pruitt would win his first opener, no matter how difficult it had to be.

In this post, we return with our weekly helmet stickers, breaking down the top performers in the Vols’ crucial victory in Columbia, S.C. Saturday night. Our criteria for this is simple. It’s just an analysis of the best UT players from the game, ranked in a countdown to the player of the game.

Obviously, we take into account where the opponent’s strengths were and who was most able to overcome them. Players who came through in crucial moments and made game-changing plays will also get an advantage here.

After one outing, it appears that a few new faces may have emerged to be players Pruitt could rely on long-term this year. There were also a few freshmen who surprisingly saw some action in the game, although none of them stood out in a huge way.

Who did stand out, though? Which players made the first splash headlines on Rocky Top for the 2020 season? Let’s go ahead and break that down. These were the five best Vols performers in Tennessee football’s season-opening 31-27 win at the South Carolina Gamecocks.

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