Tennessee football stock report after Week 6 of 2022

Stocks to buy

Defensive tackles

Here’s a really underrated part of Tennessee football’s success. Omari Thomas wasn’t going to get the big play against LSU that he had gotten against a Florida or a Pittsburgh, but that’s because of how much of a horizontal rushing attack LSU relies on, particularly with Jayden Daniels. However, Thomas did do the job he was supposed to do.

This week, it was the defensive tackles who had to play containment while the ends turned loss, and that’s what the unit did. There’s a reason LSU had under two yards a carry. The push by the tackles helped the pass rush too, as they had to close lots of gaps. Bryson Eason helped like Thomas and assisted on one of Bryon Young’s sacks.

Offensive line

Hendon Hooker was strip-sacked twice, even though neither was recorded as a sack in this game. That took away some of the hype behind the offensive line. However, neither strip-sack was on any of the linemen, as other players whiffed on blocks. More importantly, the line only committed one penalty all day.

When you take those things into account, the Vols were great up front, particularly given the fact that Gerald Mincey wasn’t even out there at left tackle. There’s a reason the running backs hit 200 yards. Simply put, the trenches were huge in this one.