Snap Counts: Breaking down playing time in Tennessee's 49-13 win over Virginia
Volquest takes a look back at the snap counts for No. 12 Tennessee in its season-opening win over Virginia on Saturday afternoon in front of a record crowd of 69,507 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
The snap counts, via Pro Football Focus, are listed on the left. The number in parenthesis is where each Tennessee football player ranked in snap counts on their respective side of the ball.
Tennessee Offense
Quarterback
| Snaps | Player (Snap Count Rank) |
| 74 | Joe Milton III (1) |
| 10 | Nico Iamaleava (23) |
| 2 | Gaston Moore (30) |
Milton completed 21 of 30 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns, with a long of 41 to Ramel Keyton. He ran nine times for 33 yards and two more scores on the ground. Iamaleava took over with 12:46 left in the fourth quarter, with the Vols leading 42-10. He completed 2 of 3 passes for 11 yards and ran once for eight yards.
Running Back
| Snaps | Player (Snap Count Rank) |
| 28 | Jaylen Wright (14) |
| 27 | Dylan Sampson (15) |
| 26 | Jabari Small (17) |
| 3 | Cameron Seldon (29) |
| 2 | Khalifa Keith (30) |
Tennessee rushed 52 times as a team for 287 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 5.5 yards per attempt. Wright led the way with 115 yards on 12 carries. Small had 67 yards on 12 attempts and Sampson had 52 yards on 13 rushes. Sampson scored three rushing touchdowns and caught a nine-yard touchdown pass. Keith ran two times for eight yards and Seldon had two attempts for four yards.
Wide Receiver
| Snaps | Player (Snap Count Rank) |
| 73 | Ramel Keyton (3) |
| 58 | Bru McCoy (6) |
| 44 | Dont’e Thornton Jr. (10) |
| 39 | Squirrel White (11) |
| 22 | Chas Nimrod (18) |
| 10 | Kaleb Webb (23) |
| 5 | Jack Jancek (22) |
| 2 | Dayton Sneed (30 |
| 2 | Michael Bittner (30) |
White led the team with six catches on seven targets for 45 yards, including 29 yards after catch. Keyton was targeted five times and had three catches for 66 yards. Small caught three passes for 13 yards, McCoy caught two passes for 21 yards and Thornton caught two passes for 12 yards. Webb had 11 yards on two receptions, both from Iamaleava.
Tight End
| Snaps | Player (Snap Count Rank) |
| 45 | McCallan Castles (9) |
| 36 | Jacob Warren (13) |
| 5 | Ethan Davis (25) |
| 1 | Tyre West (34) |
Castles was targeted twice, catching one pass for 16 yards and Warren caught one pass, an 11-yard touchdown in the second half. Warren was on the field for 25 run plays and 11 pass plays. Castles was on the field for 20 runs and 25 passes, including six snaps as a blocker on pass plays. West lined up in the backfield on a 1-yard Milton touchdown run.
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Offensive Line
| Snaps | Player (Snap Count Rank) |
| 74 | Javontez Spraggins (1) |
| 60 | Andrej Karic (4) |
| 59 | John Campbell Jr. (5) |
| 57 | Jeremiah Crawford (7) |
| 48 | Ollie Lane (8) |
| 39 | Gerald Mincey (11) |
| 27 | Dayne Davis (15) |
| 22 | Jackson Lampley (18) |
| 12 | Addison Nichols (20) |
| 12 | Brian Grant (20) |
| 12 | Parker Ball (20) |
| 5 | Larry Johnson (25) |
| 5 | Mo Clipper Jr. (25) |
Without injured starting center Cooper Mays, it was Ollie Lane who got the start on the ball. Spraggins and Karic started at guard while Campbell was at left tackle and Crawford started at right tackle. Eight offensive linemen played 20 or more snaps while Tennessee rotated on multiple positions within the offensive front five.
Tennessee Defense
Defensive Line
| Snaps | Player (Snap Count Rank) |
| 32 | Roman Harrison (4) |
| 26 | Tyler Baron (10) |
| 25 | Omari Thomas (13) |
| 24 | Daevin Hobbs (14) |
| 24 | James Pearce Jr. (14) |
| 21 | Omarr Norman-Lott (17) |
| 19 | Kurott Garland (20) |
| 16 | Dominic Bailey (22) |
| 15 | Tyre West (23) |
| 12 | Joshua Josephs (25) |
| 12 | Bryson Eason (25) |
| 10 | Jayson Jenkins (27) |
| 9 | Austin Lewis (31) |
| 2 | Nathan Robinson (35) |
The starting defensive line was Thomas, Harrison, Bailey and Garland. Pearce and Baron led Tennessee with two sacks each. Baron was credited with 2.5 tackles for loss and Pearce had two quarterback hits. Eason and West had a half sack each.
Linebacker
| Snaps | Player (Snap Count Rank) |
| 43 | Aaron Beasley (3) |
| 29 | Keenan Pili (5) |
| 24 | Elijah Herring (14) |
| 18 | Arion Carter (18) |
| 13 | Caleb Herring (24) |
| 7 | Jeremiah Telander (32) |
| 5 | Kalib Perry (33) |
| 3 | Ben Bolton (34) |
Beasley and Pili started at linebacker, with the Vols starting the game with five defensive backs on the field. Herring led the team with five total tackles, two solo and three assists. Five different Vols had four tackles. Beasley also recored two pass breakups.
Defensive Backs
| Snaps | Player (Snap Count Rank) |
| 45 | Wesley Walker (1) |
| 44 | Jaylen McCollough (2) |
| 29 | Kamal Hadden (5) |
| 29 | Doneiko Slaughter (5) |
| 29 | Tamarion McDonald (5) |
| 27 | Brandon Turnage (9) |
| 26 | Warren Burrell (10) |
| 26 | Gabe Jeudy-Lally (10) |
| 20 | Andre Turrentine (18) |
| 20 | Will Brooks (18) |
| 10 | Rickey Gibson III (27) |
| 10 | Jourdan Thomas (27) |
| 10 | Christian Harrison (27) |
The starting secondary was Slaughter, Hadden, Walker, McCollough and McDonald. Walker had four tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss. McCollugh was credited with one pass broken up.
