Tennessee football’s top five performers in 44-21 loss at Georgia

3 tackles (1 solo); Fumble recovery for TD

As we already said, big plays alone can be enough to put somebody on the list. Who made a bigger play than Kivon Bennett? Although it was an unforced error by the Georgia Bulldogs on their opening offensive drive, Bennett recovered the snap that went over Stetson Bennett’s head into the end zone for a touchdown to give Tennessee football a 7-0 lead.

By the way, while it was an unforced error, Kivon Bennett still deserves credit for making a play. That could have gone lots of different ways. UGA could have had a safety, Stetson Bennett or another Georgia player could have recovered it on the one-yard line, or even a Vols player could have recovered it without scoring.

Kivon Bennett had to bring the proper pressure already to be in position to be able to recover that ball in the end zone. As a result, he makes our list. That’s not the only reason he makes our list either. The guy did have three tackles, one of which were solo, and just like the defensive tackles, he was an integral part of getting the push on those short-yardage stops.

Now, as a pass-rusher, Bennett probably would have liked a sack, but he was neutralized by the targeting penalty that knocked Deandre Johnson out of the game. That made it much harder for the Vols to generate a pass-rush. Bennett holding his own without Johnson was enough for him to make this list.