Tennessee football: Five key Vols to watch for at Missouri

5’11” 220 pounds; Hometown: Hartsville, S.C.

Just like we discussed, Mizzou’s passing offense, we also discussed their horrendous rush defense and how Tennessee football can exploit it. Mizzou has allowed one 100-yard rusher in every game except against their FCS foe, the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, when they let C.J. Ogbonna gain 96 yards on 12 carries.

More importantly, against three of their foes, they’ve allowed at least two people to gain over 60 yards on the ground, and they’ve allowed at least two running backs to gain over 80 yards from scrimmage in two of their games. The Vols have two running backs who went over 80 each just last week.

Tiyon Evans and Jabari Small have combined for over 200 yards from scrimmage in the only two games they both played. Last week against Florida, Evans had 11 carries for 50 yards and another three catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. As the most productive player with the ball in his hands and the healthiest entering Saturday, he’s the most important running back.

That makes Evans Tennessee football’s most important player. Last year, Eric Gray and Ty Chandler combined for over 230 yards from scrimmage, and both went over 100. Small and Evans need to do that this year, but Evans is the most important of the two.