Saturday is by far the best chance Tennessee football has to upset the Georgia Bulldogs since Josh Heupel has been the Volunteers’ head coach. With ESPN College GameDay in town, can they pull it off? If UT is going to ende UGA’s eight-game winning streak against them, these Vols players will have to step up in a big way. Otherwise, the Dawgs will win again.
5. Arion Carter
UT is honoring John Henderson Saturday, and the last time the Vols beat a team this highly ranked at home in September was the Florida Gators in 1998. How are the two connected? Well, Henderson was a defensive leader for his teams in 2000 and 2001, and he followed in the footsteps of Al Wilson, who had the greatest defensive performance in school history in that ’98 win over UF.
Like Wilson, Arion Carter is a linebacker, and like Wilson and Henderson he is a defensive leader for this team. Although he still tends to have some issues in coverage, Carter is much more seasoned this year. He will be the guy most important to the goal of forcing Gunner Stockton to make mistakes. This is Stockton’s first road game in the SEC, so Carter needs to make his life hell.
4. Mike Matthews
Joey Aguilar, the run game and the other wide receivers will all matter against Georgia, but the wideout who dictates coverage will be most important. The biggest issue for Tennessee football against Kirby Smart under Josh Heupel is that none of the Vols’ wideouts have been fast enough to beat the Dawgs’ top corners one-on-one, which renders Heupel’s wide splits useless.
For the first time under Heupel, the Vols do have a speedy wideout in Mike Matthews. He certainly brings more to the table on that front than Bru McCoy or Cedric Tillman did, and Aguilar proved he’s willing to throw the ball up for Matthews to make a play. If Matthews can continue to make those plays, given his speed, he’ll dictate coverage for the whole offense, dramatically changing the game.
3. Colton Hood
With Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson III out, all the cornerbacks will face a tough test. Boo Carter is crucial at star, Jalen McMurray needs to keep playing like a veteran, and Ty Redmond needs to keep showcasing his potential as a true freshman. However, the Colorado Buffaloes transfer who is looking early on like a lockdown corner on McCoy’s level will be most crucial.
Heupel and Tim Banks will rely heavily on Colton Hood to take away one side of the field. McCoy got burned in one-on-one coverage last year, but that was with Carson Beck throwing the ball. Stockton has more issues, so that could allow Hood to succeed where McCoy couldn’t. If he does, then the Vols will be in prime position to take control of this game.
2. Jesse Perry
Of the four new starters on the offensive line, Jesse Perry has been most crucial. He has played right tackle the past two weeks since David Sanders Jr. has been banged up, moving Shamurad Umarov into the starting lineup at guard with Wendell Moe Jr. and then Sam Pendleton at center. Lance Heard is at left tackle. Perry has been the highest graded PFF linemen in the nation playing his role.
If Sanders is back, Perry will move back into the middle. That versatility combined with his production makes him the most important lineman in this game, and if Tennessee football is going to beat Georgia, it has to do so in the trenches. As a result, Perry is actually the most important offensive player on this team, although the whole line will be critical.
1. Bryson Eason
Lost in the coverage of McCoy and Gibson being out is the fact that we still don’t know what the status of UGA offensive linemen Earnest Greene and Juan Gaston. They missed last week’s game against the Austin Peay Governors, and the Dawgs looked awful without them. Vegas moving the line from Georgia -7 to Georgia -3.5 suggests they have some insider knowledge they shouldn’t have.
That knowledge could be that those two are hurt, and since Gaston is a true freshman, we know the Dawgs are a lot thinner up front than they need to be. All of this leads to Bryson Eason. The Tennessee football defensive tackle is the only returning contributor at the position fully healthy, as Daevin Hobbs hasn’t yet played, and Jaxson Moi was held out last week.
As a result, Eason will be the anchor for the Vols’ defense up front. He’s got to be the one to take advantage of Georgia’s injuries, and doing so will allow the rest of the defense to wreak havoc. For the first time under Heupel, the Vols have an opportunity to win the battle in the trenches against a Smart-led team, and if they are going to do that, it will come down to Eason.
