Tennessee football’s top five performers in 59-10 win vs. Ball State
Senior. Aaron Beasley. 3. player. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. 839. Linebacker
8 tackles (2 solo); 1 QB hurry
Key to Tennessee football’s victory in this game was stopping the run and rushing the passer, and once again, tons of players deserve credit for that. To be fair, with Ball State’s questions at guard they should have stopped the run, but they did what they were supposed to do. Omari Thomas anchored a dominant defensive line. He had four tackles and a pass deflection.
Helping out Thomas was Elijah Simmons, who had a tackle for a loss, Da’Jon Terry, who had a quarterback hurry and Joshua Josephs, who had a pass deflection in his first game. Jeremy Banks had six tackles to help stop the run as well. Tyre West, Elijah Simmons and Byron Young each had a hurry, and Kalib Perry had two.
However, none of those guys stepped up the way Aaron Beasley did. Beasley joined Warren Burrell and Christian Charles in leading the team with eight tackles, and unlike them, he led it not because he gave up too many completions. He was mostly just in on stopping the run. Beasley was the main reason Ball State had just 74 yards on 27 carries.
Then there was the first play of the game from scrimmage. Tamarion McDonald came away with an interception on a reverse flea flicker called by Ball State. That pick happened, though, because Beasley blew up the play and got pressure on John Paddock. The credit for it mostly belongs to him, which puts him here.