Tennessee tight end Miles Kitselman came to Knoxville from Alabama with a desire to play more. However, he probably didn’t expect to play as much as he did against Arkansas. The senior transfer from the Crimson Tide logged 65 plays against the Razorbacks
“I haven’t played that many snaps ever,” Kitselman said. “Normal soreness. We’re good. Get back in the training room and get my body right.”
The Vols, who lost to Arkansas 19-14 and fell to No. 8 in the AP Poll, certainly didn’t capitalize on Kitselman’s extensive playing time. He caught just two passes for 24 yards against the Razorbacks.
“We just got to hone in on the details, watching the film, a lot of missed opportunities,” Kitselman said when asked what went wrong against Arkansas. “That goes into our preparation throughout the week, realizing that we didn’t take it seriously enough. Just details and everything that we do shows up on Saturdays. We got to clean that stuff up.”
The Vols were particularly shown up by Arkansas’ pass rush. Tennessee gave up four sacks against the Razorbacks. What went wrong?
“Just being on the same page, communication wise, they came out in a completely different front, completely different defense, that we’ve never seen from them in before,” Kitelman said, referring the Razorbacks utilization of a 3-3 defensive front. “So just being able to get adjustments made and just all be on the same page. Just communication.”
Kitselman said he certainly saw an increased sense of urgency from his team during practice on Monday. That certainly needs to be the case as another loss could end the Vols’ College Football Playoff hopes.
“Definitely just coming in the building today and the emphasis that everything that we want. All of our dreams and goals are still in front of us,” Kitsleman said. “So learn from this. Get past it, flush it, and on to the next week.”
Kitselman wasn’t the main issue of the Arkansas game. That designation would have to go to quarterback Nico Iamalaeava, who struggled throughout the game against a stiff pass rush and ended up running out of bounds on the final play of the game with no time left on the clock.
“As you can imagine, Nico was pretty torn up,” Kitselman said. “Trying to put a lot of blame on himself. I put a lot of blame on myself as well there at the end of the game.”
After a game like the abysmal performance against Arkansas, there is plenty of blame to go around.
