Vols Week 1 Recap: Georgia Tech

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Every single Vols fan out there now has a certified five star heart. Jokes aside, I can’t believe we pulled that one off. We survived a number of thrillers last year, including the App State opener, yet none of us have died of heart attacks due to a win yet (at least I don’t think so). Last night was Deja Vu. We came back from a 14 point deficit in the third quarter, blocked a last minute field goal, and stopped Georgia Tech on 2-point conversion in 2nd overtime. What a thriller! Sure it was sloppy, sure we almost lost, but we didn’t. I forgot what I learned in 2016, never count these guys out. I’m calling this team the Zombie Vols because they came back from the dead. Here’s a recap of things I got right, things I got wrong, and things that surprised me during this opener.

RIGHT PREDICTIONS

Here are a few things I predicted that went as I expected on Monday night.

JOHN KELLY IS A BEAST

John Kelly had a rough first half, but once he got going he was hot. Wow! Averaging a nasty 6.7 yards a carry was amazing enough. Lets top that off with four touchdowns. I love his style, he just keeps going and going. You think you got him and he gets five more yards. He runs like his life depends on it and we love it. If he keeps doing performances like that, my dark horse Heisman take will seem less and less bold.

OUR RUN DEFENSE BELONGS IN A GARBAGE CAN

Sure, it was Georgia Tech’s triple option, but we looked terrible against the run. I think they didn’t get at least three yards on maybe five plays the entire game. We allowed a program record 535 yards rushing against this team. I didn’t know you could actually win when a team rushes that much on you, but we did. I knew our rushing defense would be bad, but it was even worse than I imagined. Teams are gonna watch that Georgia Tech tape and have a lot of ideas on what is effective against our defense.

COLTON JUMPER IS TERRIBLE

Colton Jumper came on and played well in 2016. This looked like 2015 Colton Jumper. Hesitating to pursue several times, he gave up some big plays. He also got blocked and tripped up way too easily. I hope he improves, but I don’t see how Dillion Bates could be worse than Jumper’s performance Monday night. Bitouli was a nice surprise in the linebacker spot. However, as a unit, they weren’t impressive.

TREY SMITH IS THE REAL DEAL

Did anyone else see how well Trey Smith played? He absolutely destroyed a Georgia Tech defensive back and played like a veteran all night. Five star is supposed to mean an instant impact player, and Trey Smith is doing that.

WRONG PREDICTIONS

Here are some items I got flat out wrong about this team:

JAUAN JENNINGS IS OUR ONLY RECEIVER

Before this game, I thought we had Jauan Jennings, then everyone else. We had no other receivers with touchdowns. I was wrong to think there was no one else besides Jennings. After Jennings got hurt, Callaway came in and showed us who he is. What a player! Callaway looks to be a reliable target who can put up a lot of yards after catch. After Jennings went out, I was nervous about throwing the ball. Then Callaway scored two touchdowns and I realized he’s on the same level as Jennings. Four receptions, 115 yards and two touchdowns. That’s a hell of a day for a receiver if you ask me.

GREAT OFFENSIVE LINE

While Dormady didn’t get sacked, he got pressured often. As ESPN pointed out, this was often against three linemen. In the first half, the line had a lot of trouble opening up for Kelly. They played a better second half, but it still wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. I thought this unit would get around the adversity of injuries and suspensions, but it didn’t appear that way Monday. Maybe they play better once Drew Richmond is back from suspension, but maybe not. Either way, it looks like we could have a long year if the line plays like they did Monday.

WE FOUND OUR QUARTERBACK

Based on the first half performance of Dormady, I was one of the fools suggesting we give Guarantano a shot. That was a dumb idea because Dormady put together a brilliant second half. His throws in the first half weren’t great, and he made some bone headed throws that should have been interceptions. In the second half, his throws looked crisp, with nice touch. He has a very nice arm, not sure if I would call it a rocket, but it has a lot of strength. He had 54.1% completion for 221 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Not the most beautiful stats, but no interceptions is always a plus. I wish he would have kept it on a few more read options, he’s sneaky athletic and Georgia Tech didn’t respect that. There were a few times were Dormady could have ripped off ten-plus yard runs. Overall, I’m impressed with Dormady and can’t wait to see him against Florida. I think it’s safe to say the job is his indefinitely, especially since Guarantano pouted on the bench the entire game.

THINGS I DIDN’T PREDICT THAT WERE SURPRISES

A few things I didn’t predict, that still surprised me:

KONGBO PLAYS SOFT, TAYLOR DOMINANT

Kongbo, the #1 Juco player from 2016, has yet to play up to his potential. Sure, he talks nasty, looks the part, but he doesn’t play the part. I thought Darrell Taylor played much better. Kongbo couldn’t do anything against the triple option. He would go after the QB, but the fullback had it, he would go after the running back, but the QB had it. He needs to do better at making the correct decision and knowing who has the ball. Right now, Taylor looks to be the more dominant defensive-end, and it’s not even close. Taylor could be the spark on defense this team needs. I expect teams to see how bad Kongbo is and just run it at his end every play.

DEFENSE TRASHCAN

I thought once Butch said we won the “Championship of Life” that the dumb PR stuff was over. Then, he hit us with we’re looking for “five-star hearts.” I thought surely he wouldn’t say anything else dumb. Well, he didn’t say anything else, but instead we had a trashcan with ‘team 121’ printed on it. This is for our defensive players to dunk in when they get a turnover. A defense that gave up over 500 yards rushing and looked liked trash. Perfect! Bring on the memes.

SUMMARY

The offense looks pretty good as a unit, just as I predicted during the offseason. The defense looks pretty awful, especially against the run. Hard to tell what our pass defense looks like since Georgia Tech just ran us over all night. I didn’t buy it when Butch said the defense was way ahead of the offense during camp. John Kelly, Callaway, and Dormady were exciting to watch. Kongbo and Jumper made me cry because LSU, Alabama and Georgia are going to run us over unless there is someone on the bench better than those guys. After Florida and Georgia’s showing in week 1, it looks like the SEC East is wide open for anyone to win. Even Kentucky or Vandy stand chances to win it. If the Vols want to win the East, we are going to need to figure out how to stop the run. 531 yards is a shit show. Let’s hope we get better defense against Florida in the swamp.

Smokey covers the Tennessee Volunteers for the SoBros Network. He loves a good backpacking trip, but hates taking a shit in the woods. Follow on Twitter: @SoBroSmokey