Some maybe non-obvious guys to watch against Pittsburgh

When Tennessee hits the field against Pittsburgh Saturday, there’s no doubt Hendon Hooker’s and Cedric Tillman’s performances will be integral to the game’s outcome.

But against Ball State, with victory well in-hand early, Vols’ Head Coach Josh Heupel got to fiddle with some rotations and get some otherwise, likely lesser-utilized guys on the field to see how they’d fare. Let’s take a peek into how some of those players performed and if that might translate to some opportunities for these guys against Pittsburgh.

Freshman RB Dylan Sampson

Sampson was the lower-rated of the two running back signees from last year’s recruiting class, but he got recurring praise through fall camp and seems to be the clear No. 3 back behind Jabari Small and Jaylen Wright.

Last Thursday, he finished second on the team with 10 carries but managed just 32 yards on those runs. He did score a touchdown — the first of his UT career — in a short-yardage opportunity. And I’m taking as a positive no matter the context just because the Vols struggled often in those situations last year.

Via Pro Football Focus, 18 of Sampson’s 32 yards came after first contact, which is encouraging, given that his break-away speed was the talk of fall camp, and he was also the only Vol back to catch a pass, other than Jabari Small.

Tennessee’s other freshman RB, Justin Williams-Thomas, had just three carries for six yards and didn’t see the field until the fourth quarter. Then he lost a fumble on his final run of the game. Ouch.

The Vols are definitely going to need more production from Williams-Thomas at some point this year, but it was encouraging to see the manifestation of the overtly positive Sampson fall-camp chatter in live-game action. I’d say the staff leans more on Small and Jaylen Wright against Pittsburgh, but there’s no doubt we’ll see Sampson get some snaps.

Junior WR Jimmy Holliday/ Senior WR Ramel Keyton

Tennessee’s starting trio of WRs, Cedric Tillman, Bru McCoy and Jaylin Hyatt, led the position group in snaps against Ball State with 47, 46 and 45, respectively.

After those guys, though, it was Holliday and Keyton who saw the most action. Keyton played 31 snaps and wasn’t just playing in a reserve role. His first catch was on the Vols’ fourth drive of the game and was a 32-yarder that converted a third-and-10 into a fresh set of downs on an eventual TD-scoring drive

That’s a contested catch, some yards after the grab, a third-and-long conversion on a drive that led to seven points and a critical play against any opponent.

Holiday’s game probably grabbed more attention, given his 53-yard TD snag from Joe Milton in the third quarter. And he hauled in all four of the passes thrown his way, which is definitely a good thing, but his total receiving yards for the game was 62 and means he averaged just three yards per-catch if you remove the big-play TD. Either way, his 27 snaps were the fifth-most of any WR and notably more than Walker Merrill, Jimmy Calloway or Squirrel White.

Something that is worth noting about the WRs in general from the game against Ball State: Tennessee utilized the middle of the field really well, without any substantial contributions from the RBs or TEs. Hooker went 8-11 with a TD and 111 yards at various depths between the numbers, while Joe Milton hit three of his four tosses over the middle and had the beautiful ball to Holiday that scored the long TD that came off a route ran between the hash marks.

Junior DB Kamal Hadden

Though he played just 16 snaps, Hadden looked like the best cornerback on Tennessee’s roster against Ball State.

He had the interception — the Vols second of the game — and posted an 88.1 coverage rating via PFF. For context, the next highest coverage rating dolled out to a Vol DB was Trevon Flowers’s 66.7.

The ball on Hadden’s pick was definitely underthrown, but fluid hips and some hand fighting kept the junior CB in position to make a play on the ball. And if Hadden was a wide receiver, he woulda gotten credit for a contested catch there as the WR tried to break up the interception on his way to the ground.

Hadden’s spring and summer play had put him atop the CB depth chart for the start of fall camp, but an injury during the first week of camp basically kept him mostly off the field for the rest of arguably the most critical month for a college football team’s season preparation. It’s worth a mention here that Hadden missed time last season due to various injuries, too. For whatever that’s worth.

I imagine the coaches are trying to bring him along slowly as to not reaggravate anything, but he’s definitely somebody to keep an eye on this week against Pittsburgh. He might have to play more, if the Vols don’t get better results from Warren Burrell and Christian Charles.

Senior LB Aaron Beasley

This one was/ is a bit perplexing, because I don’t know if Beasley looked great against Ball State because it was against Ball State, or if it’s because he’s made considerable improvements as a linebacker.

He was all over the field last Thursday and was credited for a tie for the team-lead in tackles with seven (the other two guys with seven tackles — Burrell and Charles. That can’t be a good sign). He was targeted twice in pass coverage and gave up two catches, but he finished second to Hadden in PFF’s overall defensive rating at 78.2 (Hadden’s was 88.3), he finished third in run defense (77.9) and led the team with a 81.9 tackle rating. He didn’t miss a tackle all game and was credited with a team-leading four “stops,” which PFF defines as “a tackle that constitutes as a failure for the offense.” I interpret that as those were occasions when Beasley simply beat his blocking assignment en route to the tackle.

Needed context — Beasley was really bad last season. He finished second on the team with 60 solo tackles but led the team in missed tackles with 21 and gave up receptions on 88 percent of the 42 times he was targeted in the passing game.

I reckon we’ll get a good idea Saturday if Beasley’s made any real strides, or if his play against Ball State was just a product of him not being extravagantly out-talented.

Freshman DE Joshua Josephs

While most considered James Pearce or Tyre West the gem of Tennessee’s defensive haul from the 2021 recruiting class, it’s been Josephs turning heads since he arrived on campus in the summer. His 247 recruiting profile has him listed at 6-3, 215 pounds, but UT Sports dot com says he’s up to nearly 240 — which maths out to him putting on 35-ish pounds since June.

He lined up outside the offensive tackle in all of his plays against Ball State, and this past Monday, Heupel said he expects Josephs to “have a big role throughout the course of the year.” Those factors lead one to believe that the staff will likely use Josephs situationally, i.e., “go get the QB and don’t worry about anything else.”

For me, he popped on film because of the way he used his reported 82-inch wingspan to wrought disruption. In just 14 snaps — limited sample size disclaimer — he graded out as Tennessee’s most effective pass rusher (PFF rated him at 76.0, with Tyler Baron coming in second at 72.9. Byron Young’s grade was 63.2 and seventh-best on the defense.). He also was credited with half a tackle for loss and accounted for one of the Vols’ two passes batted down at the line of scrimmage. He’s got great burst and long arms — that’s a difficult combination for opposing offensive linemen to deal with. Tennessee didn’t record a sack against Ball State, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Josephs in on some third-and-longs and possibly record a couple pressures or hurries on Kedon Slovis.

Freshman LB Elijah Herring

Like Josephs, Herring was another young player the coaches mentioned by name several times through fall camp. He was 23rd-rated player in Tennessee in last year’s recruiting cycle and an overall 3-star prospect, but he was also a state-level competitor in both the hurdles and shot put. I didn’t watch him in high school, but 247 indicates he was more of a pass rusher than a linebacker in Murfreesboro. The staff must like his athleticism, because out of his 20 total snaps, 16 came in the box and just four came from him lining up as a defensive lineman.

Tennessee needs athletes at LB in the worst way, but it’s likely too early in the year for him to take a whole buncha snaps away from veterans like Beasley or even Solon Page in a big game against a tough opponent. Still — he was one of just seven Tennessee players to register a QB hurry against Ball State, so maybe they’ll look for ways to get him involved.