Not much big news here. Easy romp as expected. Short celebration. New focus is Pitt and serious business ahead, getting back to even in the Johnny Majors Classic.
Tennessee and Ball State combined for 69 points in a season opening rout at renovated and painted Neyland Stadium. The Vols had 59. The visitors assisted. The start was exciting.
First play by the Cardinals: Razzle-dazzle pass, pressured by linebacker Aaron Beasley, was intercepted by nickel Tamarion McDonald.
First play by the Volunteers: Hendon Hooker threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Jalin Hyatt. Chase McGrath converted. Up-tempo attack? Thirteen seconds on the trick-and-pick play, 10 for the TD.
Understated Josh Heupel said, “What a great start.”
Most of the other numbers were mostly predictable but you may not have expected Tennessee to deploy five quarterbacks (Hooker and Joe Milton for the win and ceremonial appearances by Tayven Jackson, Gaston Moore and Navy Shuler, number 21, same as his dad).
You may not have expected seven Vols to score touchdowns. Hooker ran for two and threw for two (to Hyatt and Walker Merrill). Jabari Small was credited with a seven-yard TD run but the offensive line did it. They pushed him in a heavyweight show of force.
Jaylen Wright scored in thick traffic. Joe Milton threw the best pass of the game, to Jimmy Holiday, for the biggest play, a 53-yard score.
Dylan Sampson was the most productive of the 17 freshmen who made debuts. He got a touchdown.
Hooker was good as usual – 18 completions in 25 throws for 225 yards. Milton looked much better than last year – eight of nine for 113.
Minor surprise that superstar Cedric Tillman caught six passes without scoring. Newcomer Bru McCoy caught three but did not come down with a 50-50 ball. Don’t give up. He will. He’s man-sized.
Heupel didn’t have time to count the house but he noted the 92,000-plus “was 8,000 more than we had last year for the opening game.”
I don’t think he is on commission.
The coach said there is “belief and optimism and excitement for the program … you can feel it, and we appreciate our fans coming out in a big way.”
Heupel mentioned “awesome energy from the time we got off the bus for the Vol Walk to running through the T. Fans were awesome. It was a great way to kick off our season … I was really happy with a lot of things: offense, defense, special teams, effort, energy and competing.
“Obviously, we had a huge turnover right off the jump. The defensive line was disruptive on the reverse pass. The team comes up with a big play and we were able to put it in the end zone on the next play.
“I thought there was a lot to be excited about.”
The coach answered questions about McCoy:
“He functioned and operated really well within our tempo, and I thought he showed some things with the ball in his hands as far as being physical after contact. That is one of the things we anticipated with him.
“It was good to see him performing at a really high level.
Heupel answered a question about the on-going competition between Gerald Mincey and Jeremiah Crawford at left tackle.
“The biggest thing for both is we did not notice any issues. Pass protection was clean and in the run game, they did a nice job creating movement.”
Mincey found time to sign autographs for end-zone youngsters after one touchdown.
Linebacker Juwan Mitchell missed the game but we don’t know why.
“He just was not able to go in this one,” said the coach. “We will re-evaluate when we get to next week.”
Mitchell missed almost all of last season with injuries.
Freshman defensive lineman Joshua Josephs made a favorable first impression.
“I anticipate him playing at a really high level,” the coach said. “I believe that is going to happen for James Pearce Junior, too.
“We have the ability to affect the quarterback … we are drastically different than we were.”
The Vols looked good, quick, enthusiastic, ambitious … they most often look good in orange shirts.
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
