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Pro Football Focus grades, snap counts from Tennessee's win over Mississippi State

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey11/10/24

GrantRamey

Bryson Eason, Tennessee Football | Tennessee Athletics
Bryson Eason, Tennessee Football | Tennessee Athletics

The Pro Football Focus grades and snap counts from Tennessee’s 33-14 win over Mississippi State Saturday night at Neyland Stadium:

Tennessee’s Offense

PlayerOverall PFF GradeSnap Count
Dont’e Thornton84.135
Nico Iamaleava81.441
Squirrel White78.926
Dylan Sampson75.455
Cameron Seldon69.59
Shamurad Umarov68.19
Lance Heard63.484
Chris Brazzell61.751
Peyton Lewis60.320
Nathan Robinson60.01
Chas Nimrod60.02
Jaxson Moi60.01
Javontez Spraggins59.872
Jackson Lampley59.766
Miles Kiltselman58.664
Cooper Mays57.684
Mike Matthews56.616
Andrej Karic55.521
Bru McCoy54.859
Ethan Davis54.519
Gaston Moore52.943
Holden Staes52.862
Dayne Davis51.956
John Campbell Jr.49.528
Tennessee’s Offensive Grades vs. Mississippi State

Nico Iamaleava completed 8 of 13 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, before being ruled out at halftime with what was described by the ESPN game broadcast as an upper-body injury. Iamaleava also ran four times for 22 yards and was apparently injured after getting hit after throwing on a third down late in the first half. 

“We anticipate having him ready for next week (at Georgia),” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said during his postgame press conference. “Precautionary measure at halftime. Feel like we’ll be ready to roll Saturday.”

Gaston Moore completed 5 of 8 passes for 38 yards and led a touchdown drive and two field goal drives in the second half. 

Dylan Sampson rushed for a career-high 149 yards on a career-high 30 attempts, scoring on a 33-yard touchdown run in the second half to give him 20 rushing touchdowns on the season. He also went over the 1,000-yard barrier for the season on Tennessee’s opening drive, becoming the 20th running back in program history to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season.

Sampson left the game late in the first half with what appeared to be a lower left leg injury, but he returned after missing one possession to start the second half. Peyton Lewis carried 14 times for 44 yards and Cam Seldon ran six times for 26 yards. 

Dont’e Thornton also left in the second half with an upper-body injury, after catching three passes for 104 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown from Iamaleava in the second quarter.

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Squirrel White caught three passes for 63 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown on the opening possession. It was Tennessee’s first points on an opening drive since Kent State on September 14.

Chris Brazzell caught two passes for 17 yards and Bru McCoy caught two passes for 12 yards. 

Tennessee’s Defense 

PlayerOverall PFF GradeSnap Count
Jayson Jenkins91.126
Boo Carter79.935
James Pearce79.745
Jalen McMurray76.922
Jakobe Thomas76.818
Arion Carter75.251
Rickey Gibson75.150
Jaxson Moi74.917
Elijah Simmons73.16
Jeremiah Telander72.741
Dominic Bailey71.542
Andre Turrentine71.149
Christian Charles70.724
Caleb Herring69.25
Kalib Perry69.210
Joshua Jospehs68.929
Omari Thomas66.628
Will Brooks64.243
Christian Harrison63.736
Daevin Hobbs63.219
Jordan Matthews62.15
Jermod McCoy61.757
Bryson Eason58.530
Omarr Norman-Lott56.421
Jalen Smith46.828
Tennessee’s Defensive Grades vs. Mississippi State

Tennessee’s defense, while holding an opponent to 19 points or less for a 10th straight game, gave up just 271 total yards. Mississippi State threw for 92 yards and ran for 179 yards on 38 attempts. The Bulldogs scored twice on the ground, on a 1-yard run in the second quarter and an 18-yard run in the third. 

State went 3-for-13 on third down and 2-for-3 on fourth down. The Vols had four sacks, nine tackles for loss and forced two turnovers. Boo Carter intercepted a Michael Van Buren pass at the Mississippi State 11-yard line in the first quarter and Jeremiah Telander recovered a fumble in the third quarter after a Jayson Jenkins strip sack.

James Pearce, Bryson Eason, Omarr Norman-Lott and Jenkins all had one sack each while nine different players combined for the nine tackles for loss, led by 1.5 TFLs from linebacker Arion Carter.

Carter and Jermod McCoy led Tennessee with seven tackles each and Telander had six.

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