Tennessee football report card in 34-13 loss to Aggies

Special teams grades

Place kicking: D

Without Brent Cimaglia, it was natural that the Vols would struggle in the kicking game. That’s exactly what happened. Toby Wilson filled in and missed an extra point. One missed extra point alone could have made this a failing grade, but Paxton Brooks was perfect on kickoffs, which is enough for us to bump this up to a D.

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Punting: B

Averaging 47.3 yards per punt on four punts and sending one 61 yards is clearly an above average grade. That’s close to A worthy, but that 61-yarder ended up in being a touchback, and two of his punts failed to go further than 40 yards while also failing to pin A&M inside the 20. A 51-yarder that pinned them inside the 12, however, was one positive.

Return game: A

Velus Jones Jr. returned one kickoff, and it was actually a nice return that went 35 yards. Tennessee football’s return game didn’t have much of an impact, but it did earn an A grade for one elite return.

Overall special teams grade: C-

The great return game was largely irrelevant. As a result, punting and place kicking were the difference makers here, and those two together made for a barely average grade. Overall, though, this unit had a minimal impact on the game.