It’s hard to adequately grade units for Tennessee Football when they face a team on Chattanooga’s level, but certain units were clearly better than others. Also, there are areas where UTC could test Rocky Top a little more. Using that information, here is a grade of every unit in the Vols’ 69-3 win over the Mocs.

Quarterbacks: A-

Nico Iamaleava was nearly perfect, but he did miss a couple throws on the final two drives of the first half. Gaston Moore then overshot a touchdown pass and threw an interception. The combination of those things pushes this from an A+ down to an A-, but I’ll admit this is nitpicking.

Running backs: A

Dylan Sampson, Cameron Seldon and DeSean Bishop were all elite. Khalifa Keith and Peyton Lewis were solid too. The unit as a whole had 288 yards and three touchdowns on 39 carries. They added five catches for 37 yards to hit 325 all purpose yards in the game. However, Sampson had another horrendous block to kill a drive, which pushes this from an A+ to an A.

Wide receivers: A

A drop by Kaleb Webb is the only thing that is keeping this from being an A+. Overall, Tennessee Football was elite at receiver. The wideouts were the real stars, as Dont’e Thornton had three catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns, Bru McCoy had six catches for 89 yards and Chris Brazzell II had five catches for 59 yards.

Tight ends: A+

Ethan Davis is a future superstar, and he showed it in this game with two catches for 20 yards and a touchdown grab. Holden Staes added two catches for 13 yards. The two did exactly what they needed to do, and they were a huge part of the success the Vols had in pass protection, so this is easily the first perfect score of the game.

Offensive line: C+

You would think over 300 yards on the ground would mean an A, but it’s against an FCS school. The truth is, there were too many mistakes. Lance Heard gave up a sack. John Campbell Jr. had a holding penalty. Andrej Karic killed a drive with a chop block. That outweighs the success in games like this for Tennessee Football.

Defensive line: A+

Tyre West was the star with two tackles for a loss, a sack and a forced fumble. The interior of the defensive line did its part, and that resulted in Chattanooga having barely over two yards a carry on the ground. Although UT only had one sack, it applied pressure all game, and that set the tone for the rest of the defense.

Linebackers: A-

Arion Carter and Keenan Pili made the Vols look like they’re in good hands at linebacker, as they replace Aaron Beasley and Elijah Herring. In terms of stopping the run, they were as superb as the defensive line, which is why they get an A. One bit of nitpicking, though, was that Chattanooga moved the ball using slot receivers on three drives. That’s why this is an A-.

Secondary: B+

Boo Carter stepped up and showed promise immediately. The Mocs moving the ball into field goal range twice through the air is why the defensive backs can’t get an A, but they looked significantly better than they have in years past for Tennessee Football under Josh Heupel. B-play by the secondary for the season is all they need.

Place kicking: A+

Every Josh Turbyville kickoff went for touchbacks, and Turbyville and Max Gilbert hit all their combined nine extra points. Gilbert, meanwhile, hit two field goals, one of 42 yards, which is very rare for a freshman to pull off in his first game as a place kicker for UT. As a result, this unit gets far and away an A+ even if it didn’t mean much.

Punting: D

There’s not going to be any reason to worry about Jackson Ross long-term, but his one punt in this game was a shank that took a bad bounce, so it was only a 23-yarder. As a result, we have to give this grade a D. It’s not an F since there were no blocks or anything like that. Don’t worry, though. Ross will be fine.

Return game: A+

Squirrel White had 20 yards on his one punt return, Cameron Seldon had 35 yards on his one kickoff return, and Jordan Ross blocked a punt and ran it back for a touchdown. Simply put, Tennessee Football had a perfect return game, and if the Vols can repeat that going forward, they’ll be in incredible shape.