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Tennessee football stock report following Week 15 of 2020

By Caleb Calhoun

Dec 12, 2020; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers linebacker Henry To'o To'o (11) celebrates after a defensive stop during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2020; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers linebacker Henry To'o To'o (11) celebrates after a defensive stop during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 12, 2020; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Bryce Thompson (0) returns an interception for a touchdown during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2020; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Bryce Thompson (0) returns an interception for a touchdown during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /

Stocks to sell

Defensive line

Nobody was more dominant than Tennessee football’s defensive line last Saturday at the Vanderbilt Commodores. The pass rush finally showed up and was in Ken Seals’ face, which was the biggest benefit to the defense.

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Two sacks don’t tell the whole story. They also had five quarterback hurries that were officially tallied, and even that doesn’t show how much they dominated. Don’t believe any of it. Vandy was wrecked in terms of its roster size, and the Vols took advantage. This defensive line is still a major issue, and that will show up on Saturday.

Secondary

The defensive line taking advantage of a horrendous Vanderbilt offensive line that was severely depleted allowed the Vols’ pass defense to make some big plays. Bryce Thompson was SEC co-Defensive Player of the week with a pick-six, and Jeremy Pruitt says Jaylen McCollough played his best game of the year.

All of that is masking the fact that the Vols still let Seals throw all over them at times. The fact that he had 239 yards and two touchdowns with all of that pressure is an indictment against the secondary, which continues to struggle. These guys are still going to be in for a long day if they don’t improve when Kellen Mond and the Texas A&M Aggies come to town.

Five takeaways from Vols' 42-17 win at Vanderbilt. dark. Next

Overall, even the negative stocks on this post showed improvement for Tennessee football. You take what you can get after a six-game losing streak. It was still largely a mirage, though, and Jeremy Pruitt still has plenty to fix.

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