Josh Heupel breaks down the play of Tennessee's offensive line through five games
When Cooper Mays made his long-awaited return against South Carolina on Saturday night, Tennessee shifted Ollie Lane to guard, with Texas transfer Andrej Karic sidelined. Jeremiah Crawford was also out at right guard, where Gerald Mincey got the start.
The new-look front five — Mays at center, with Lane and Javontez Spraggins at guard, and John Campbell at left tackle opposite of Mincey — might be Tennessee’s best looking front five.
In the 41-20 win, Tennessee rushed 40 times for 238 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. South Carolina’s defense managed just one sack on Joe Milton III’s 32 pass attempts, too.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel was asked on Wednesday to assess his team’s offensive line play through the first five games. The answer was good, but not good enough.
“There are things that we gotta continue to get better at,” Heupel said during his weekly appearance on the SEC Telenconference. “There’s still more efficiency and we can do better in the run game and the pass protection. But all in all they’ve performed really well.”
Tennessee OL vs. South Carolina had season-high 81.9 pass-blocking grade from PFF
According to grades from Pro Football Focus, Tennessee’s pass blocking against South Carolina was the best it’s been all season. And it’s not particularly close.
The Vols had an 81.9 pass-blocking grade against the Gamecocks. The previous high was 70.3 in the season-opening win against Virginia. It was 48.4 against Austin Peay, 53.8 at Florida and 52.8 in the home win over UTSA.
The run-blocking grade from PFF was up, too, at 65.9. Tennessee had a 57.0 run-blocking grade against UTSA and a 39.7 grade at Florida. It was 68.9 against Austin Peay, after setting a season high at 75.9 against Virginia.
The return of Mays — he missed the first four games of the season after undergoing hernia surgery on August 9 — could help Tennessee find some much needed continuity on the offensive line.
Lane started at center while Mays was out, with Karic at guard. Crawford was the starting right tackle, but shared snaps with Mincey at the position for three of the first four games.
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“We’ve had a lot of moving pieces up front because of a few different injuries that have happened,” Heupel said. “At the end of the day, I feel like they’ve handled it extremely well. You look at the other night (against South Carolina) and Ollie bumps out the guard, JJ is not available and (Mincey) goes out and plays extremely well.
“There’s some young guys that on the back half of the season are gonna have to step up and play for us. And those guys are continuing to compete the right way.”
No. 22 Tennessee vs. Texas A&M, October 14, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS
A big test awaits on the other side of the bye week.
No. 22 Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) hosts Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0) on October 14 at Neyland Stadium, a 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time kickoff on CBS. The Aggies are third in the SEC in rush defense, giving up just 96.2 yards per game.
The Vols have the SEC’s best run game by a considerable distance, leading the league in rushing at 231.2 yards per game. Auburn is second at 202.0 yards per game.
A&M is second in the league in sacks at 20.0 through five games, trailing only Tennessee (22.0). The Vols are third in the conference is sacks allowed, giving up just six through five games.
“We’re one of the top teams rushing the football, been pretty sound in in our pass protections,” Heupel said. “So I like what they’re doing, but we gotta continue to grow, man.
“Each week is a new week. They gotta come out with the same competitive mindset and same physicality every single Saturday.”
