What Are Our Biggest Takeaways From Tennessee's First Game? | RTI: Press Pass

all right ladies and gentlemen welcome into the Rocky Top inset our press pass instant reaction show my name is Rick Butler joined right here Ryan Shumpert we're up here in the booth at nean Stadium a little bit different normally last year we did our postgame reactions via podcast only well now we've got the video component to add along with it like we've kind of been doing so far so if you haven't been checking out our video podcast over on YouTube make sure you go ahead and do that as we bring you all the latest news from the Tennessee football season but Ryan how you doing man a little bit different setup for us but otherwise back in the same place doing the same thing yeah doing well glad to be back and uh glad to have some real tangible football to talk about here on the first Saturday of the season I I couldn't agree more fall Camp is is Fun For Those first couple practices to get back out there on the field see some of the new story lines but it all starts to blend in with each other right and you get to this first game day there's so much more to talk about after the game now granted for today a 66o victory right so it's still sort of narrow about all the observations and breakdowns that we can make uh but we're certainly going to do so today normally we have our our third member our third man Jack Foster he's not going to be with us in the podcast today so Ryan just you and I just the two of us yeah know hopefully I'll have Jack back uh we'll definitely have him back in the middle of this week preview in North Carolina State and uh hopefully I'm back next weekend talking about a big game for devs and Charlotte there we go well let's talk about the big game for Tennessee today right here in nean stadium it was a packed house as fans were excited to see some of those fans might have tried to beat the heat of around halftime and and left the stadium but we totally understand 69-3 is your final score number 15 Tennessee gets off to this or gets the season off uh gets off to the right start to the season with again a 66o victory Ryan a lot of different ways that we can go with this but 45 to zero at halftime Tennessee's offense and especially the starters dominated this game we're going to be talking about Nico but I believe it was seven straight scoring drives to start off the game you are going to find success uh when that's happening yeah no for sure and it was just or maybe I should say you're finding success if that's happening it's it's already happening yeah 100% and uh 24 nothing at the end of the first quarter just it felt like a a slow Burns almost a weird word to use to describe it because it's Tennessee offense but it just felt like it was all very steady a lot of quick drives I mean to go along with that shanan NOOA didn't get cross Midfield in the first half I think they had one first down a couple of drives but a lot of three and outs and nint Tennessee getting the ball back and a handful of drives a little bit slower you know obviously a couple quick touchdown drives they had the two-play touchdown Drive where they hit uh first Chris brazelle over the middle and then Dante Thorton for I think a 36 yard touchdown pass so uh Tennessee it was just slow and steady uh as they poured it on Chattanooga in the first half and obviously Josh iel talked about some after the game not the quite the end of the first half they were looking for offensively uh with a two-minute drill that kind of went ay because of uh a chop block and and then also Nico taking a sack but besides that you know not not too much that you could really nitpick with Tennessee's first team offense today no I I wouldn't say so Tennessee starts out the game with a with a touchdown on their first drive Dylan Samson punches it into the end zone for his first of three and then you look at that next drive by Chattanooga that was the fumble from Tyree West I I almost forget right now here a couple hours after how quickly that was into the game so Tennessee bounces back uh not really bounces back but the the ball bounces their way they pick it up they scor just about 1 minute later 14-0 then about less than a minute after that Tennessee once again scores nicoo imav IM malava connects with Ethan Davis uh over the middle of the or or excuse me over the middle of the field so seven or eight minutes in this game Tennessee already put up three touchdowns on the board and had a turnover forced by the defense yeah for sure and it was you know they had the fourth down it almost kind of felt a little bit like the Virginia game last year we an opening drive of the game they had a fourth down that they converted uh down inside the 10 yd line I think this one was what third and or fourth and two at like the five or six yard line they just lined up and ran it right out Chattanooga and then did the same thing again to scored a touchdown so um it was maybe not super explosive on the first drive I thought they very much maybe kind of tried to ease Nico into the game which makes sense I think we threw three passes and had like seven runs on that first drive of the game and one of the passes was the little shovel option to Dylan Samson so Dylan Samson had eight touches on what I believe was a 10pl touchdown drive to start the game and you know Chattanooga didn't put up any sort of resistance I mean it was a 38 and 1 half point spread Tennessee was up by 38 like Midway through the second quarter um and you know a little bit of success for Chattanooga's offense in the second half but but really not much I mean it was a very very dominant effort and um you know you it's what you expect it's kind of like we said in our uh video down on the field after the game you learn more about a team like an SEC team one of these games for what goes bad and you do what goes good uh not that a ton really went bad in this game but even then I mean you think about it Tennessee covered the point spread by 16 points like that's you know shows just how how well they played and they did that without playing you know their first team offense or starting quarterback didn't play at all in the second half they had the cover in the first half my it was around 38 so 45 half that was impressive Ryan's absolutely right it it you know it can be hard to take away things from this game we talked a lot about how we were going to be looking at the secondary heading into this game we wanted to see some of those rotations and what they would look like who maybe would step up but they really weren't tested that much now there's still things to break down uh we talked about bu Carter a little bit in our instant reaction video off the field uh but I kind of want to go back to the first half a little bit start there and then we'll make our way through I really like the way that that Tennessee did a good job of getting their guys comfortable in rhythm in the offense right off the bat that's something I'm I'm really watching for this year but they get the ball to Chris brazelle I believe first play of the game get the ball into his hands a newcomer to Tennessee's team a guy who you expect to be potentially an x- Factor get the ball in his hands get him feeling comfortable then they did the same thing with Dante thoron and to me man whatever Dante thoron whatever kind of was working for him at the end of the year last year he's really built on it he talked after the game about he really he really made an effort to work on his mindset how how he just wanted to go out there he wanted to play Confident he wanted to play free uh free he wanted to play loose Kelsey Pope actually said during uh during fall Camp I thought this was a really fascinating line he said Dante thoron is he's not trying to prove people wrong anymore he's just trying to prove himself right that's something that stuck with me for the last couple weeks and I think you can see that through the way he play so I again I just like the way that Tennessee did a good job of getting their Playmakers touches early into the game not a game that you necessarily need them to to feel comfortable in early on to to you know impact the final score of the game this game was going to be a blowout one way or the other but I like that they're getting this going to kind of build this season like this again those are Playmakers Chris brazelle Dante thoran guys who you believe are going to be X factors for the Tennessee team I like the idea of getting them as comfortable as you can early into the season yeah for sure and I thought the Josh hpel isn't one this disclose a lot or to talk in detail about a lot of stuff but I thought most interesting thing he said today by far was that he was talking about Dante Thorton uh last year and and he said he's like you know we don't really talk about scholarship losses much and try not to make a big deal out of it but you know we typically decided to take our lumps into scholarship spots into skill position spots which you know obviously makes sense and goes into white Tennessee rotated so little um at least in part over the last couple years at the receiver spot right and he says that or he said that we were thin at slot last year so we started Dante Thorton at slot and I thought that was really interesting you know thought because it wasn't necessarily how thin they were at slot that made me think that it was a little bit of his skill set in the way Tennessee throws the ball deep out of the slot and the fact that I thought you know squirrel white being such a smaller guy you wondered how he'd hold up over the course of the season so I thought that was really interesting and then he kind of talked about the obvious stuff that when they moved him out wide in the middle of the season last year before the Missouri game that's when he started playing well and it is kind of funny his first his last catch last season which I believe was his only touchdown was that 45 yard or 45ish yard touchdown against Missouri his first catch this year was a 36 yard touchdown so he's exciting you know it he is exciting is a good word to put how rolls break Tennessee continues to rotate a bunch of receiver how all the rols kind of work out I think will be really interesting um but he seems like a potential big play guy and funny train of thought here okay maybe not train of thought but train of knowledge so I hopefully I give it the right a comparison that somebody made put the locomotive on the track I heard the comparison from Chase Thomas who I believe heard it from Ben mcke uh but it was the fact it was like d tennis Dante thoron or Tennessee just needs Dante thoron to have like a dvon Payton type season in 2021 where maybe not he's a guy that catches 60 passes over the course of the season but the guy that can make some plays be a big play guy um and you know if you remember I believe it was 18 catches for Javonte Payton in 2021 six of them touchdowns could be off a little bit there a third I know a third of his catches were touchdowns um well three catches today for Dante thoron two of them are touchdowns one of them was a short touchdown but it's kind of traded off because as longest catch of today which I believe a 59 yard gain on probably nicoal yala's best throw yeah he he set up I believe it was Dylan Samson maybe just a couple of plays later but believe so I I like that and to kind of bounce off that a little bit it's just the idea of downfield passing right it's something that you knew was was very impactful in Tennessee success in 2022 they kind of got away from it a little bit more last year but it seems like Tennessee has the pieces we've gone this far however many minutes this is in without talking about the quarterback yeah right so so factoring in the opponent because that's obviously important to do this wasn't an SEC defense that that Nico faced but I I think it's hard not to not to really really like what you saw from him he he commanded the pocket well but his decision- making was very well his accuracy was very good he he he looked pois in the pocket he was able to be mobile at times and again I thought just some of those strikes to the outside some of the way that he was able to pick apart the sidelines or some of the ways that he was able to find the right touch to get the ball over the middle of the defense into that sort of seam area for maybe one of his tight ends or somebody else a slot receiver running that way I just I really liked his command of the off I thought he was able to do what Tennessee really needed him to do but there's no question about it that Tennessee is a superstar quarterback on their hands yeah it feels that way for sure I mean he's not going to you're not going to win the Heisman in the first game or anything like that but you he played Travis disree he tried as hard as he could on Thursday night but I mean Nico played about as good as a half as you could have asked for and uh it's a lot of what you said and it's just you saw the Big Time arm Talent you saw his ability to make plays scrip which to me again Remains the most exciting thing about him is phenomenal as hinden hooker was and while he could make a lot of plays running scrambling he didn't make a whole lot of plays scrambling out of the pocket and making throws down the field and Nico has the ability to do that we didn't see a ton of 30 yard throws down the field today but a handful of eight to 20 yard plays uh when he left the pocket and made good throws the sideline one Ethan Davis I thought it was really impressive I think on that two-minute uh two-minute drill and it's kind of deja vued Iowa game when he made a really good throw to not sure who it was on the side line Caleb web maybe yeah Keaton I think yes it was Keaton and it was a two-minute drill and he ends up taking the sack like a play or two later and it doesn't end up meaning anything but just a play where you see the flash of talent um so he did that you saw him you know not that they Tennessee used him in the design Run game I'm sure they probably won't with their dep FES your quarterback they probably won't do that uh outside of games they feel like they need to do it to win um but you still saw him scramble you saw mixing plays with his legs he didn't really put the ball In Harm's Way he seemed to have a really good internal clock um which is obviously something Joe Milton struggled with a year ago so you're right did Nico certainly didn't do anything to calm down niik Mania or or the noise or the excitement that's going to be around him and for good reason I mean I think he next week we'll learn more but he he justified a lot of the offseason hype I I actually think he might have raised it you know because people got to actually see with their own eyes and again you go back to that game from last year you saw what he's able to do but you can tell that this is just a it's an evolved player even though we're only talking about a second-year quarterback even though there's so much of the season that's left to unfold you're looking at an involved quarterback from I think the times that we've seen him before 22 of 28 passing most of those incompletions came in that last couple of minutes in the second quarter I mean it was a time where I believe he was 19 of 20 or or 19 of 21 something like that he he was really impressive through those first 20 throws ends up with 314 passing yards which is a Tennessee first half program passing record do you remember who he beat and what the number was um yes because we were told I didn't think you know it well there's a lot that's happened in these last couple hours no that's fair that's fair Tyler Bray 2012 Troy game it's an alltime funny game I believe like 60 to 50 something or whatever Tennessee didn't get stop in that game either um and 313 passing yards so got by a yard and there was a nervous moment at one point where towards the end of the game they came back and they said that his stat was actually corrected to 313 which would have tied him at that point a little bit behind the scenes we had already written that article that he had broken the the program record didn't want to go back and have to make any changes fortunately we don't that stat was recorrect back to 314 yards after the game so that is what he ends up with in his first career start from nean Stadium right here in Knoxville uh let's let's flip to the other side of the ball real quick unless there's anything else that you may want to mention I guess running backs Dylan Samson little bit limited during during fall Camp I think some of that was maybe just to save the wear and tear but man he he looked like a monster out there he looked like the player that we've known him to be but just it's he's such a fun player to watch the way that he can move the way that he can bounce around in the field the way that he can quickly change directions from going this way to going that way to going back this way and he did it in the receiving game a little bit too he only had a couple of catches but he did go for 29 yards he gave Nico a couple of outs when he needed that or whoever the quarterback was throughout the game so I really liked what he was able to do but man 124 yards on the ground and three touchdowns it's pretty good pretty good start yeah no I mean he yeah it was what you expect you know it it was the stuff we've seen from him in the past um and he was really impressive I think you know the more interesting maybe not fun to watch more interesting is what what's it going to look like behind him cam Seldon does play you know that's been a big question even the last few weeks as he's been cleared to do more and more what he play in this game he does play in this game he was Tennessee's second running back in this game I thought he played well did have like one little wrong read when they ran to kind of middle screen double pass he kind of turned the wrong twice in the first quarter yeah um but other than that he had a good game and then Deshawn Bishop who we've heard so much talk about so much because there was so much you know maybe not so much because you knew he wasn't going to have the big role but there was a lot of Buzz about him last fall camp and then he ends up I want to say he was tearing as ACL but a season ending injury before the season happened um which didn't really end up mattering and he wasn't going to be a top three running back for Tennessee any last year but in all the buzz again this camp and all the buzz back in Spring practice he looked really good I mean he was Tennessee started running back uh five carries 60 yards a touchdown he had another play in the first half when Nico was in uh what I believe was like a third and eight third and N Nico threw a check down to him um and then he I don't know how much made a man miss but took a good angle to get to the first down line and convert so he looked really good um those feel like definitively Tennessee's two second and third running backs Payton Lewis and uh Khalifa Keef both got some run in the second half it feels like they're to four and five um but to me I leave this game you know you don't never know how much you're going to learn in the game on I leave this game feeling pretty confident that we're going to see Dylan Samson P excuse me Dylan Samson cam Seldon into Shawn Bishop every game and and I feel like it was the second one on the field compared to third I don't know but I think you'll see similar snaps similar carry similar touches between Cam seld and Sean Bishop with obviously Dylan Samson leading to away in that room yeah absolutely and I said this down there on the field but I I completely agree with you that that those two guys are kind of two and three but I don't really even think it matters for for the fans or for the dep chart kind of who is two and who is three because I do think it's going to be very situational for ten my headphones dropped out I think it's going to be very situational for Tennessee and how they go about that those two guys are are different types of backs that can do different things even though they're both very skilled so I think it's just going to come down to situationally who does Tennessee want to put in for certain spots how do they want to get the most out of certain guys but I definitely think that that is sort of your three-headed uh three-headed monster of a running back room that were're that we're pretty used to seeing from a Josh H offense these days yeah for sure I mean 2021 you didn't see it as much just from Tennessee didn't have the bodies the dep yeah but I mean and and really in 22 you saw it more as the year came on and Dylan Samson got more and more accustom of things obviously he made you was got H hooker kill at LSU by missing Simon and Pat blocking but you saw him earn that trust over the course of the season and yeah I think you're right and again I think it'll be curious see because even last year I mean J Jaylen Wright D Samson was really good Jabari small we know is a good player but Jaylen Wright was clearly Tennessee's best running back most games there wasn't a huge divide in carries do we see that divide do we see that divide more in touches this year with Dylan Samson because it feels like he is once again Tennessee's best running back and I don't know if he's as good as Jaylen Wright was last year time will tell on that one but it feels like even though solid what Tennessee has behind him it doesn't feel feels like there's a little bit bigger drop off so I'm going to be really curious to see how that rotation from uh not who's where but just like how many drives how many carries how many touches each guy gets to me it's going to be really fascinating some video game type numbers from Tennessee's offense today some EA college football 25 numbers FCS Southeast the pandas oh I I guess that is right it's a big it's a big day for them they also played down at Old Miss tonight they played at North Carolina State on Thursday night wow big for big day for FCS Southeast dependas that's fantastic are you more of a runner or a passer in your in your game your style what works best uh if my L's blocking up more of a runner 311 yards on the ground for Tennessee today 414 yards to the passing game for Tennessee again 314 came in those you know came in the first half so Tennessee puts 100 yards through the air as they kind of settle things down put this game to bed throughout the final two quarters of the game Let's flip over the defense a little bit which is a little bit hard to tell as I actually flip my sheet uh there's nothing on the other side a little bit hard to tell Chattanooga did not test Tennessee secondary very much like you had alluded to I don't know if it was on this podcast or down there on the field but there were a lot of running plays they did not try to extend drives very much they did not take a lot of risk throughout the game they did start to move the ball a little bit better in the second half I believe First Drive of the third quarter they get the ball past Midfield they use a big passing play right here in front of us to get the ball down to the Red Zone um and then either come up empty no they did nail a field goal from 43 yards so it was off of the G and more interception when they had I believe first and goal at the 10 yard line right and Shad didn't really move the ball get any yards and missed a short field goal yeah and those were their only points of the game and only points of the second half obviously so it's a little bit tough to take to find very specific takeaways I I think you know us included but a lot of Tennessee fans watching this game I think they wanted to see what the secondary was going to look like we might have to wait a little bit but what we did find out is that they did rotate through their guys um uh in this game they did have some movement going on whether you're talking about the safeties in the star position Jordan Matthews and and uh certainly got some run from the cornerback position Ricky Gibson the third did not play it looked like he might have been a little banged up or injured so plenty of movement plenty of opportunities to see new guys in the secondary just maybe weren't tested that much throughout the game yeah I think you leave what we learned about the defense more about the rotations and who played where um with Ricky Gibson out I think it was a hamstring injury you saw jayen McMurray start over Jordan Matthews at that spot and all three with Jon McCoy Matthews and McMurray they all rotated uh you know three of those guys yeah no kidding all three of those guys played a lot um but it was interesting all right MC Maurice the third quter that's how they view him at least to start the season um it's star Christian Harrison got the start which I think we all expected um but at least in the first half it was alternated every single drive with Christian Harrison and bu Carter um rotation of linebacker rotation of safety about what we expected as who were the starters who were the backups um a little bit less rotating at safety at felt like in the other spots not there was none um you know I think the second Drive of the game even jacobe Thomas was out there um and maybe Christian Charles too yes that will be one again I'll be curious to see next week my my gut instinct is that we're still going to see 50 to 60 snaps from from will Brooks and Andre tantine Tennessee starters in that spot Maybe I'm Wrong U but that's just kind of the vibe I got so that was all interesting and you know it's it didn't feel like Tennessee was overwhelming defensively you know in any standpoint yeah I think only like five tackles for a loss a lot of short runs but not a lot of runs just completely blown up only to one sack one turnover no interceptions but they were very solid all day and again nothing that you leave feeling super negative about or anything like that yeah and sometimes just hard to get sacks when when the quarterback is getting the ball out quick you know or or they're handing it off in the middle and and there's just not too much to do with it except for get the ball carrier down so certainly uh um I think there's still a lot of excitement on the table not that it just was wasn't here today you just didn't get to necessarily see it but Tyree West was one of those players who I felt like made an impact on the game he had one of those big booms on their quarterback early in the game uh I can't remember was it first quarter or so he forces oh yeah it was the second first drive of the game we just talked about that because fourth play I think or third or fourth play he comes off the right Edge he he just barrels in the back field they already had him wrapped up kind of he he takes the quarterback down Joshua Joseph's picks up the fumble so Tyree West is one of those guys who who Tennessee uh sent to the media availabilities after the game and I think that Josh hpel had a fascinating quote on him Tyreek West where he said that look you know as a guy who who's been trying to find his footing in the system just trying to kind of earn his spot as a rotational piece or obviously as a starter down the road you know he's really moving into very instinctual play right he he's now kind of in uh flipping into that zone where he can just go out into the field and his instincts kind of take over instead of sitting there and thinking about all right where am I going to go on this player who's going to be here or if this guy goes here I'm going to have to go here seems like it's just coming again more instinctually to him and that's nothing but good for Tennessee because Tyreek West seems to be a dangerous player when he really gets that momentum building yeah I know he was a big time recruit too and a guy we've seen some of um been solid but just again like the defens line as a whole it's a lot of good guys how many guys that are truly Elite and uh you know I think Tyree West has that Talent he looks bigger obviously all the mental stuff is extremely important and we don't get to see a ton of that but uh all that's super important and I think you know it'll be interesting I mean Tennessee play really went four deep a good part of the day at least three deep across the entire defensive line they're going to have guys that are freshed air um so you might not necessarily see a ton of all these guys um but just a guy you leave game one feeling better about especially because it's kind of a stack performance it's a long time separated it but it felt like maybe before today his best game of his career was a scissors Bowl against Iowa in a game he played really well in so uh certainly on a defensive line that had a solid day overall he was the one that really stood out yeah maybe I I guess now that I'm thinking about it Tyree West Dante thoron two guys who who you know and I know Dante thoron got hurt but two guys who who kind of were building something last season and who seems like have really capitalized it through the off season uh I actually missed one quick thing with the secondary real quick going back bu Carter Christian Harrison star position what' you think about that one yeah I mean again kind of hard to tell um bu Carter I thought was impressive on a couple of blitzes he had the one where he had the quarterback wrapped up and the quarterback was just able to get rid of and more than anything you just kind of saw the explosiveness the athleticism stupid atic on on those blitzes that deny Blitz is a lot for not star spot and they've had some pretty solid stars in Josh H's first three seasons it's not like they've been bad there but it was just a different burst that I don't think a ton of guys have had or we haven't seen a ton so you know that stood out I know there was one completion for about 10 yards in his area um so you know not a ton Christian Harrison I thought was solid I I think he had a tackle for a loss as well a play he made on a run play into backi so um it's kind of a little bit of what we expected where I think buar is a more athletic one the higher ceiling but Chris Harrison obviously solid knows what to be knows this Tennessee defense well and and it'll be curious to see how that rotation looks next week if it stays the same they lean more on Harrison in a bigger game and just what that over the course of the Season how that all develops yeah Harrison might be a guy just we know he's got a football bloodline right might just be able to kind of pick up those spots we'll have to see but I do like what you said about Bo Carter you're right just the natural athleticism and you talk about that one play where he he really went after the quarterback there it was funny Keen Andy was asked after the game just sort of was that something that they had seen in practice was that something that they know was was coming in practice and uh Keenan peely gave a huge smile but didn't really say much with it he played very koi I think that you could tell that he knew that wrink was coming yeah but I I think this Tennessee defense knows that whether it's going to be Christian Harrison whether it's going to be bu Carter whether it's going to be rotation that bu Carter especially is one of those guys that can really attack the quarterback from that star position he he can create you know sort of illusions on the defense uh and then out of nowhere he he you know barrels downhill towards the quarterback and I think that's something that they can capitalize on and we'll see what that rotation continues to look like but um hey for for starting a guy you know for playing one guy in Christian Harrison who did not play Star during the Spring and then bu Carter who did play Star during the Spring but this was his first ever Collegiate football game I think you like what you saw from them both and again you know opponent factors in but I think you like what you see yeah for sure and I think the the blitz factor with bu Carter you know it's just it's it's simplified football in that scen area you know some of it you worry for him of true freshman understanding the defense understanding assignments you know that's simple that's a spot where you put a young player who's really really talented really really athletic in a position to have success so I thought that made a lot of sense and was was certainly encouraging one other guy that I guess is on the defensive line technically that you know didn't play a ton Jordan Ross five star freshman I was just about I missed his his special teams play yeah I guess on the drive I think when Chattanooga made that field goal in the first drive of the third quarter they had third and three Jordan Ross made a tackle for loss they ran his side uh and then obviously the the big play when he blocked the punt and returned it for a touchdown um in the last two minutes of the game so uh I don't know how big of a role he's going to have this season just because of the depth Tennessee has in front of him but you know he was really impressive he played really well today uh hard to imagine a much better first game of your career when you're defensive end and you score a touchdown yeah and just that Leo position for Tennessee is nasty yeah so so deep you look down on the field and it's of course James Pierce Jr look down on a different Play Joshua Joseph you look down on a third play it's Caleb Herring you look down on a fourth play and Jordan Ross is is scoring a touchdown in the end zone I believe he did what was that did he just catch that outright I was I was making my way down to the field they're Li in the game what happened he blocked it and then pic picked it up okay and then and then scooped and scooped and scored yeah very nice all right what else I I think we got pretty much a lot of this wrapped up so far just couple of the quick points that I think we missed along the way um Andre Carrick did start at left guard for Tennessee otherwise the offensive line was pretty much what we expected you had Lance some rotating even in rot not a ton but some Lance herd and John kampbell Jr on the outside and then of course we know where Cooper Mays and javante Spraggins is going to be um I'm trying to think of of any other just kind of small story lines ke peely was was back for Tennessee he he played played his first game in in nean Stadium today specialist yeah Max gber starts the kicker had a good day oh my God he's got a leg Yeah his leg's massive he's got a leg Yeah I mean he I don't know is this new this year that they don't have the All State Nets at Tennessee or you know they used to be or maybe they weren't even all state Nets but they I even thought about that there was no Nets today I mean he sent that 50 rows deep yeah the 35 y he sent well up and he mean even the 43 yard I think landed above the tunnel um so his and he you know he doesn't take any mustard off kicks on the extra points either I mean he he kicks the ball like violently yeah but he had a good day I love that I love it you kick the ball violently I love that um he had a he had a good day Jackson rosers had the one PT wasn't one of his best but obviously he's the known commodity in that room cam Seldon was the far guy back returning kicks pton Lewis also returning kicks um squirrel white was the first punt returner we saw jmon McCoy for one or two and we saw bu Carter a little bit at the end so a little bit of a look at the pecking order um I don't think any those things were huge surprises the most intrigued was probably a kicker of Max Gilbert Josh turbyville still did kickoffs um but a lot of turnover in Tennessee's special teams room so you didn't know how all that was going to look but but that's what the kind of breakdown was for game one yeah okay so as we kind of wrap this thing up for today game one in the books Tennessee defeats Chattanooga by 66 points in some ways it's hard to pull takeaways from this game but in other ways I think you can certainly find takeaways from this game to me I think you can absolutely tell that this is an improved team from last year for for a couple of really important different reasons not only is the quarterback play better we we touched on Nico earlier probably could have even talked about a little bit more but not only is the quarterback play better but you have more explosive weapons for that quarterback to work with I think that's really important I do think that there are uh uh deeper pieces within the secondary I think obviously you're look you're talking about one of the top defensive lines if not the top defensive line of the country this is an exciting team moving forward and yes there's going to be some some young pieces and yes there's going to be rotation along the way but I I really think that that you know maybe the sky is the limit for Tennessee but I like the I like the athleticism they have I like the explosiveness that they have this year I love the quarterback play that they've had again even though it's only been two quarters it's against Chattanooga I you can just you you have that belief of what it's going to be so I I think there's a lot of positivity from this game right now Josh hpel said that you know hey there's always going to be things to go back and improve on and Nico said the same thing uh about sort of the way he ended that first half but again I just think that you look at Big Picture Inc state next week it's going to be a big opportunity for Tennessee to kind of continue this momentum but I I think that you can absolutely tell that Tennessee could could have a good opportunity to do some special things this year yeah know for sure I mean it's it's hard to to say for sure any of that stuff but like yeah it's hard to imagine a game having gone any better for Tennessee and you feel like the especially quarterback especially the way Nico looked it he looked really really good and the receiver stuff still want to see a little bit more and obviously Nico will have to carry it over but um he hit the ground running and Ten's offense today look better than they did anytime last year and yeah sometime you might say that's a given y y playing UTC well Tennessee's offense had to resort to screen passes and running only against Austin P last year so uh certainly a really good sign and um a lot of reasons for optimism heading into to week two in Charlotte all right what do you say we go ahead and get this uh wrapped up and we get out of here still a lot more work to do we will have that all over at rockytop insider.com make sure you're following along with Rocky Insider on all different social media platforms we are at Rocky Top Insider on Facebook Twitter Instagram Tik Tok and YouTube we got a ton of stuff coming out right now you can check out the YouTube where you might be watching this already right now go back and look at the player interviews go back and look at our instant reaction from the field after the game and of course go back and check out Josh Hy's press conference as he recapped everything that he saw from this 12:45 p.m. kickoff time here in Knoxville I am happy that it's only 6:30 and we are pretty much we are making our way towards the end of this workday it is nice we got still got more football on the way uh that we can watch here week one tonight but again go ahead and check out everything on rockytop insider.com for ran chumper I'm Rick Butler thanks for watching