4 Tennessee players who exceeded expectations in the thrashing of Syracuse

In terms of opening the season up with a bang, that's exactly what the Tennessee Vols were able to get done against Syracuse on Saturday afternoon. Goodness, who thought the offense would look so fantastic in a 45-26 win?

It sure was a performance to remember, though Josh Heupel will be the first one to admit that there are still plenty of things for the Vols to clean up leading up to the home opener. Despite that, we're going to give these four guys some love before we fully shift our focus to East Tennessee State. Yup, we're highlighting four standouts from the Week 1 win, with the list of course including the guy who ran the offense in stellar fashion.

Tennessee flips 4-star Auburn commit in another big win for Josh Heupel

4. Quarterback Joey Aguilar

It's no surprise that we're starting off our list with Aguilar. His debut was pure magic for the Vols. Did he start off a bit shaky to open things up? Sure. However, Aguilar quickly calmed down and he ended up getting into a strong groove with his pass-catchers. On the day, Aguilar finished with 247 passing yards and three touchdowns.

It's exactly what Heupel wanted to see out of the veteran quarterback. Aguilar's day no question was highlighted by the 73-yard connection with Braylon Staley. Joey tossed a dime and Staley not only made the great grab, but then he sprinted his way into the end zone. If you need a reminder of how great it looked, go ahead and watch the clip below:

We hate to bring up Nico Iamaleava again, but he wasn't able to make that kind of a throw for the Vols last season. It only took Aguilar one game to prove he can be an upgrade with the deep ball. Aguilar's confidence is high and he'll look to put up even more big numbers for the Vols this weekend vs. East Tennessee State. Then, it will be time to focus on trying to take down Georgia.

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3. CB Colton Hood

Over on defense, we've of course got to show love to cornerback Colton Hood, who also made his UT debut. With Jermod McCoy still recovering from his torn ACL, Hood stepped in as the leader of the CBs room and he didn't disappoint. In the first half, he made a ton of noise with his fantastic scoop and score TD.

Hood was at the right place at the right time, which was awesome for him. Imagine suiting up for your new team for the first time and then also scoring - it led to Tennessee fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium going absolutely wild. It was no doubt a moment that Hood is going to cherish for a long time. His family will too.

In some unfortunate news for the Vols, Rickey Gibson III suffered an injury against the Orange and he's going to be out for an extended amount of time. The pressure is going to be on Hood to keep playing at a high level, but something tells us he'll deliver there for Heupel and DC Tim Banks. The Colorado transfer will be ready to live up to the challenge.

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2. RB DeSean Bishop and RB Star Thomas

We're cheating a little bit and splitting things here between running backs DeSean Bishop and Star Thomas. To start things off, man, Bishop was fun to watch with the ball in his hands. Bishop turned plenty of heads when he was seen without gloves, but that wasn't the only reason he had people talking over the weekend.

Against Syracuse, Bishop carried the ball 11 times for 82 yards and a touchdown. His 7.5 yards per carry was pretty spectacular to see. Vols fans were worried how the ground game would look with Dylan Sampson no longer in orange and now in the NFL playing with the Cleveland Browns. Bishop showcased that a big 2025 could be on the way for him.

The same could be said for Thomas, who was a force with the ball in his hands. The Duke transfer led the team with his 12 carries and 92 yards. He didn't have a TD on the ground, but he did catch one from Aguilar to make his day complete. Hey, we're not going to forget about Peyton Lewis either, who had 38 rushing yards and a TD. All in all, the rushing attack was brilliant.

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1. Center Sam Pendleton

Up front, the Syracuse defensive line must be having nightmares over how strong Sam Pendleton looked. Leading up to kickoff, it was up in the air where he was going to start, as he was an option at both center and right guard. With David Sanders Jr. getting injured, there was some shuffling and Pendleton ended up manning things in the middle.

His performance truly was better than expected. The Notre Dame transfer was a force in the trenches and he dominated the guys in front of him. Pendleton didn't allow a sack, barely allowed any pressure on Aguilar and he also had a pancake block that's going viral on social media. Once again, take a look at the clip below:

Pendleton opened up a hole there for Thomas that would have been big enough for a truck. The offensive line as a whole was spectacular, but Pendleton sure stood out a little bit. In some even more good news for Heupel, Sanders is expected to be back on the field this weekend against East Tennessee State too.