Tennessee football: Five takeaways from Vols’ dominating season-opening 59-10 win vs. Ball State

2. Vols went deep at offensive skill positions

We just named Jimmy Holiday and Ramel Keyton beyond Cedric Tillman as players who stood out for Tennessee football. This was a factor for the Vols all night on offense, as they showed they could go much deeper. Josh Heupel had been stressing that all offseason, and in this game, it clearly came to fruition.

In addition to Holiday and Keyton, there were multiple completions to Jalin Hyatt, Bru McCoy, Squirrel White and Walker Merrill. We should obviously mention that Merrill had a touchdown reception too. However, it’s not just in the passing game were the Vols went deep.

The run game also saw lots of players step up. Obviously, Jabari Small did his part, gaining 63 yards on the ground and scoring a touchdown. However, Jaylen Wright came in and gained 88 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown himself. Then came freshman Dylan Sampson, who had 32 yards and a late touchdown run.

It’s pretty clear the Vols want to go five-deep or six-deep at receiver, for better or worse, and three to four-deep at running back. They were able to do that in this game, and it wasn’t just the result of them using players in garbage time. Watch out for how Josh Heupel utilizes this talent later.