Pro Football Focus grades, snap counts for Tennessee's 35-0 win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl
The Pro Football Focus grades for Tennessee’s offense and defense after the 35-0 win over Iowa on Monday in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando:
Offense
| Player | Overall Grade | Snap Count | Pass | Pass Block | Run | Run Block |
| QB Nico Iamaleava | 82.9 | 68 | 82.4 | – | 66.7 | 60.0 |
| RG Jackson Lampley | 69.6 | 68 | – | 83.8 | – | 67.0 |
| RB Khalifa Keith | 69.1 | 9 | 56.8 | – | 69.3 | 60.0 |
| RB Dylan Sampson | 68.7 | 49 | 33.0 | 30.3 | 74.8 | 59.5 |
| RT Shamurad Umarov | 68.5 | 13 | – | 77.5 | – | 66.2 |
| TE Hunter Salmon | 68.0 | 5 | 59.7 | – | – | 71.2 |
| TE McCallan Castles | 67.6 | 37 | 75.1 | 68.4 | – | 54.2 |
| WR Kaleb Webb | 67.5 | 25 | 63.7 | – | – | 76.3 |
| C Parker Ball | 67.1 | 9 | – | 74.2 | – | 65.8 |
| LT Gerald Mincey | 64.1 | 68 | – | 84.6 | – | 56.8 |
| C Ollie Lane | 63.8 | 68 | – | 52.7 | – | 64.6 |
| RB Cameron Seldon | 63.2 | 19 | 57.2 | – | 63.3 | 60.0 |
| C Cooper Mays | 62.6 | 68 | – | 51.4 | – | 66.8 |
| WR Squirrel White | 62.2 | 64 | 61.6 | – | – | 62.1 |
| WR Ramel Keyton | 61.3 | 64 | 60.6 | – | – | 62.8 |
| RT Dayne Davis | 61.3 | 63 | 59.7 | 57.7 | – | 61.3 |
| C Vysen Lang | 60.4 | 9 | – | 75.7 | – | 58.9 |
| RG Masai Reddick | 58.3 | 9 | – | 75.7 | – | 56.8 |
| WR Trey Weary | 56.2 | 9 | 56.5 | – | – | 60.6 |
| WR Michael Bittner | 55.9 | 9 | 56.3 | – | – | 60.4 |
| WR Dayton Sneed | 55.4 | 8 | 56.1 | – | – | 59.8 |
| WR Chas Nimrod | 55.3 | 39 | 54.9 | – | – | 62.3 |
| TE Ethan Davis | 55.1 | 9 | 55.0 | – | – | 56.4 |
| LT Jeremiah Crawford | 54.1 | 5 | – | 73.8 | – | 51.7 |
| TE Jacob Warren | 52.6 | 35 | 54.6 | 75.2 | – | 43.4 |
| RT Larry Johnson | 44.8 | 9 | – | 0.0 | – | 57.4 |
| QB Gaston Moore | 42.7 | 9 | 46.1 | – | 54.5 | 60.0 |
Five-star freshman Nico Iamaleava in his first career start finished with 178 total yards and four total touchdowns. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 151 yards and ran 15 times for 27 net yards and had three rushing touchdowns.
“Nico played really well,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said during his postgame press conference. “First-time starter. There was nothing that was too big for him. Never got rattled. Very composed, in control, communication, controlling the run game, just did an unbelievable job, decision-making, and then made plays with his feet as well.”
Iamaleava had touchdown runs of 2, 3 and 19 yards. He threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to McCallan Castles in the fourth quarter. He was sacked six times.
“I believe he is going to be a great, dynamic playmaker,” Heupel said. “I thought he handled himself composed all day long. Subtle things of breaking the huddle, communication inside of the huddle, controlling the run game, his eyes were in the right place. Great to see a young guy go out and perform in that way in his first career start.”
Tennessee ran 54 times as a team for 232 yards and three touchdowns. Sampson had 20 carries for 133 yards, with a long of 31 and an average of 6.7 yards per carry. Seldon had 13 carries for 55 yards, with a long of 13 and an average of 4.2 yards per attempt.
Keyton and White had three catches each, with Keyton going for 51 yards and White with 39 yards. Keyton had a team-high six targets. Webb had two catches for 18 yards and Nimrod had two catches fro 16 yards.
The 18-yard touchdown catch for Castles was his only reception and target of the game. Warren caught one pass for nine yards on one target.
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Defense
| Player | Overall Grade | Snap Count | Run Defense | Tackle | Pass Rush | Coverage |
| OLB James Pearce | 95.4 | 37 | 77.5 | 60.3 | 75.6 | 95.7 |
| FS Andre Turrentine | 88.0 | 57 | 64.1 | 76.2 | – | 89.2 |
| LB Jalen Smith | 80.3 | 7 | 65.8 | 76.5 | – | 72.3 |
| SS Jaylen McCollough | 79.0 | 57 | 72.1 | 81.8 | 60.0 | 77.2 |
| RT Omari Thomas | 77.0 | 29 | 75.2 | 75.0 | 66.9 | – |
| LB Aaron Beasley | 75.5 | 41 | 79.3 | 76.4 | 64.7 | 64.5 |
| DT Elijah Simmons | 75.3 | 17 | 62.1 | – | 76.5 | – |
| DE Tyre West | 73.7 | 22 | 67.0 | 76.9 | 70.7 | – |
| CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally | 72.8 | 52 | 75.5 | 81.6 | – | 69.3 |
| DE Dominic Bailey | 72.1 | 30 | 76.6 | 74.8 | 58.5 | – |
| DT Bryson Eason | 72.0 | 23 | 70.8 | – | 64.4 | – |
| LB Elijah Herring | 71.9 | 37 | 67.9 | 57.8 | 91.0 | 48.1 |
| CB Christian Harrison | 67.8 | 15 | 60.0 | 77.3 | – | 67.4 |
| CB Rickey Gibson III | 64.5 | 51 | 63.5 | 73.5 | – | 63.8 |
| SS Will Brooks | 63.0 | 4 | 60.0 | – | – | 61.4 |
| CB Jordan Matthews | 62.5 | 4 | 60.0 | – | – | 61.0 |
| DE Joshua Josephs | 62.2 | 14 | 66.5 | 71.1 | 55.2 | 60.0 |
| CB Jourdan Thomas | 61.7 | 45 | 65.7 | 78.9 | 56.9 | 60.7 |
| LB Jeremiah Telander | 60.8 | 25 | 69.0 | 42.7 | 64.3 | 51.6 |
| DT Kurott Garland | 60.7 | 19 | 61.7 | – | 57.5 | – |
| LB Ben Bolton | 60.6 | 4 | 60.0 | – | 59.4 | 60.0 |
| DT Austin Lewis | 60.4 | 4 | 60.0 | – | 59.4 | – |
| OLB Caleb Herring | 59.8 | 4 | 60.1 | – | 58.7 | – |
| DE Jayson Jenkins | 58.6 | 13 | 61.5 | – | 56.0 | – |
| DE Roman Harrison | 58.6 | 14 | 55.0 | 28.2 | 62.9 | 60.0 |
| LB Kalib Perry | 57.9 | 24 | 44.8 | 55.3 | 66.9 | 65.8 |
| FS John Slaughter | 55.7 | 4 | 60.0 | 27.9 | – | 60.9 |
| DE Daevin Hobbs | 44.9 | 18 | 44.5 | – | 56.9 | – |
Jeudy-Lally and Telander led Tennessee’s defense with five tackles each. Tennessee finished the game with five sacks and eight tackles for loss, two interceptions, five passes broken up, a quarterback hit and a forced fumble.
The shutout in the bowl game was the first for a Tennessee defense since the 1957 Gator Bowl, when the Vols beat Texas A&M 3-0 in Bear Bryant’s final game as the head coach of the Aggies.
Pearce starred with his interception returned 52 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. He finished with three tackles and had a sack, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit and a forced fumble.
“James has a great football future in front of him,” Heupel said. “He is a great player right now, but really believe he has a chance to be extremely special. Just for him, continuing to grow and his understanding and football IQ as we continue to move him around and put him in positions to win is going to be extremely important as we go through this off-season.”
Pearce finished his breakout sophomore season by leading Tennessee in sacks (9.5), tackles for loss (14.5) and quarterback hits (16).
“He is dynamic,” Heupel said. “He has multiple moves to affect the quarterback, but there is still growth in some of those fundamentals, and can continue to grow in how he defends the run. He is doing that well, but there is still some growth there. I say all of that. He is a dynamic playmaker for us, but he has a really rare and bright future in front of him.”
