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PFF Grades: Tennessee vs. NC State

Photo via Tennessee Athletics

The Tennessee football team remained undefeated in the young season on Saturday, crushing No. 24 NC State 51-10 in the Duke's Mayo Classic. Will Brooks' interception in the second quarter got the Vols going as they went on a 30-0 run midway through the game.

If you need a reminder of how Pro Football Focus works, check out the introduction to the Chattanooga grades.

Let's see how the Vols did.

Elite Class = 90-100, All-Conference = 85-89, Starter = 70-84, Backup = 60-69, Replaceable = 60 >

Offensive grades (at least 16 games – 25% of offensive games)

TE Miles Kitselman – 94.0 (39 games)

RB Dylan Sampson – 73.2 (45 games)

RB DeSeasn Bishop – 72.8 (18 games)

TE Ethan Davis – 70.7 (23 games)

LT Lance Heard – 69.1 (63 games)

LG Andrej Karic — 68.8 (63 games)

WR Squirrel White – 65.9 (35 games)

C Cooper Mays — 64.9 (63 games)

WR Bru McCoy – 60.8 (43 games)

QB Nico Iamaleava – 60.4 (63 games)

WR Chris Brazzell – 60.2 (38 games)

RG Javontez Spraggins – 59.7 (58 games)

WR Dont'e Thornton – 55.4 (20 games)

RT Dayne Davis – 54.1 (33 games)

TE Holden Staes – 51.0 (36 games)

RT John Campbell Jr. – 47.0 (36 games)

And how about Miles Kitselman? After being completely insignificant in his two years at Alabama, Kitselman earned the best PFF grade of any player in his second game against Tennessee. The tight ends' numbers were interesting to watch overall. Tennessee's three tight ends played a total of 98 snaps while the Vols played 67 plays. That means the Vols ran two tight end sets nearly 46% of the time in this game.

Nico Iamaleava received a mediocre grade here, which surprised me. I wasn't expecting a great grade, but I thought it would be in the 70s.

Credit goes to Lance Heard and Andrej Karic. The two new starters on Tennessee's offensive line received the two highest ratings for offensive linemen.

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Defensive Grades (at least 12 games – 25% of defensive games)

DT Omari Thomas —90.8 (23 games)

DE Tyre West – 84.7 (12 games)

DT Omarr Norman-Lott – 80.2 (14 games)

CB Jermod McCoy – 76.7 (42 games)

LB Jeremiah Telander – 75.1 (25 games)

DE Dominic Bailey – 73.9 (29 games)

DT Jaxson Moi – 70.7 (14 games)

S Will Brooks — 70.1 (40 games)

LEO Josh Josephs – 69.2 (18 games)

DT Daevin Hobbs – 66.5 (13 games)

CB Jalen McMurray – 66.2 (18 games)

CB Rickey Gibson – 64.9 (39 games)

LB Jalen Smith – 63.8 (17 games)

LEO James Pearce Jr. – 63.8 (29 games)

S Andre Turrentine – 63.1 (41 games)

S Jakobe Thomas — 62.2 (15 games)

LB Keenan Pili – 60.5 (31 games)

LB Arion Carter – 59.8 (33 games)

STAR Christian Harrison — 56.9 (23 games)

STAR Boo Carter — 54.4 (23 games)

DT Bryson Eason – 53.4 (23 games)

DT Elijah Simmons – 52.1 (11 games)

It was no surprise that Tennessee's defensive players were the best defensive players. The Vols' top three defensive players and five of their top seven defensive players were defensive players, led by Omari Thomas, Tyre West and Omarr Norman-Lott, who played in the NC State backfield.

Given how well Tennessee's secondary performed, I was very excited to see the grades, especially in the defensive backfield. Jermod McCoy received a really good grade, while Gibson received a solid grade, although not as good as expected.

I was also surprised Tennessee's inside linebackers didn't perform better. However, Pili received a run defense grade of 79.5 and a tackling grade of 78.6, while Carter received a run defense grade of 60.7 and a tackling grade of 80.0. The two struggled in the pass rush and pass coverage.

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