Some of the top performers for the Vols in their 36-23 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores on the road Saturday made the worst mistakes early in the game. However, they helped dig Tennessee out of that hole they dug and were a huge part of turning this game into a blowout. Here are the UT torchbearers from their final regular season game of the year.
5. Will Brooks
Lots of players were in on tackles for losses, including Bryson Eason, Omarr Norman-Lott and Joshua Josephs. Tyre West had a safety. However, Will Brooks had a key tackle for a loss on a fourth down play and was a huge part of Diego Pavia having such an awful game throwing the ball, so among everybody who had a tackle for a loss, he is the torchbearer.
4. Dylan Sampson
An early fumble by Dylan Sampson spotted Vanderbilt a 14-0 lead. After that, though, he went off. Despite no touchdowns, Sampson had 25 carries for a career-high 178 yards, breaking Travis Stephens’ single-season school rushing record, and made sure Vandy didn’t get the ball back in the final six minutes of the game because of his hard running. He did all that despite getting hurt twice.
3. Dont’e Thornton Jr.
Bru McCoy got hurt in pregame warmups, so Dont’e Thornton had to step up. He did just that, catching three balls for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Thornton caught the first touchdown to cut Vandy’s lead to 14-7, and he then had an 86-yard touchdown reception to tie the game up at 17. In the second half, he left due to injury, but he already did his work.
2. Nico Iamaleava
Similar to Sampson, Nico Iamaleava had an early mistake. He underthrew Thornton for what should have been an 80-yard touchdown pass. However, he regrouped and finished 18-of-26 for 257 yards and four touchdowns while carrying the ball six times for 42 yards. Iamaleava did this all without McCoy and with Thornton missing the second half, both due to injury.
1. Jermod McCoy
Back to the defense, the secondary shutting down Pavia was the story, and Jermod McCoy was the main reason for that as a lockdown cornerback. McCoy played shutdown defense all night and snuffed out one Vandy drive with an amazing interception that should’ve been a touchdown. If the ‘Dores score there, they go up 24-7, so McCoy truly saved the day and was the player of the game.
