Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee Football Smokey Points: Top 5 Vols Who Performed vs Texas A&M Aggies

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Oct 8, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) catches a touchdown pass against the Texas A&M Aggies during the first quarter at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Tennessee football suffered a 45-38 overtime loss to Texas A&M, but plenty of players played their hearts out. These five Volunteers earned helmet stickers.

You’re just not going to win too many games when you turn the ball over six times. That was the case for Tennessee football on Saturday in their heartbreaking loss in College Station.

For Vols fans, the loss provided mixed emotions. Texas A&M was a loss everybody was willing to accept at the beginning of the year, but the way they lost made it hurt.

Still, there are plenty of Vols who deserve credit for how they played against the Aggies on Saturday. They put together a historic offensive performance and made enough big plays to win the game.

As a result, we have to recognize the players who deserve credit for their game. Ironically, it’s very hard to trim that number down to five players.

In the process of giving out our Smokey Points this week, we wanted to recognize about eight players, and that’s in a loss.

However, as always, we could only name five. And these guys definitely stood out for Tennessee football on Saturday.

So we have no reservations about naming them. Thanks to these guys, this loss was actually encouraging. It gives many fans in Vol Nation confidence as they get set to host the Alabama Crimson Tide.

That’s another good reason to name them.

Here are the helmet sticker for the Tennessee football players who earned Smokey Points in their loss to the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday.

Oct 8, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones yells at the referees during the second quarter of the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Todd Kelly Jr.

Safety, Junior

He deserves some blame for allowing a couple of big plays in the game, but for the most part Todd Kelly Jr. had a very solid game. And he had a very difficult task.

Kelly helped to set the tone early for Tennessee football with an interception on the second play of the game. And although Trevor Knight had a solid day throwing the football, he helped keep him from going off in that high-powered offense.

He nearly had another interception in the second half, but the ball barely hit the ground.

With seven tackles and that interception, Kelly made sure to stay in proper position all day. Knight’s passing numbers of 17 for 34 for 239 yards is exactly what you want to force him to do. Now the 110 yards rushing and three touchdowns by him were obviously an issue.

And Kelly does deserve some blame for that.

However, it’s extremely hard to defend Knight in Kevin Sumlin’s offense. So as a playmaker who helped keep Texas A&M from scoring most of the time they had the ball, Kelly belongs on this list. He is finally emerging as a Tennessee football star.

That’s especially true in the second half. And part of Kelly’s success was due to help from another over-achiever. We are going to name him next.

Oct 8, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; A general view of the stadium as fans gather before the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Tennessee Volunteers at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Colton Jumper

Linebacker, Junior

It seems like Colton Jumper is proving me more and more wrong every week. After bashing him all last year and writing an article insisting that he shouldn’t see the field for the Vols this year, Jumper filled in admirably for Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Darrin Kirkland Jr.

He struggled last week against the Georgia Bulldogs, and all signs pointed to him struggling worse on Saturday against a high-powered offense run by a mobile quarterback like Trevor Knight and a dominant running back in Trayveon Williams.

However, he proved the world wrong on Saturday. Jumper finished with 10 tackles, a tackle for a loss, and an interception. It’s hard to put him on this list when the Vols gave up nearly 600 yards of offense and over 353 yards on the ground.

But Jumper helped contain the Aggies’ offense for much of the game. And given the difficulty of his task, he belongs on this list. He played his heart out and did everything he possibly could to help the Vols in this game.

Don’t forget, as Tennessee continued to cough up the football in the second half, Jumper led a defense that kept its head cool the whole time until the offense found its rhythm.

And like Kelly had help from Jumper, Jumper had help from another Tennessee football defender.

Oct 8, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive end Derek Barnett (9) rushes past Texas A&M Aggies offensive lineman Avery Gennesy (65) during the second half at Kyle Field. The Aggies defeat the Volunteers 45-38 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Derek Barnett

Defensive End, Junior

Derek Barnett vs Myles Garrett was the hyped up match-up of the game. And both made a ton of big plays.

Barnett had an incredibly difficult task going up against a high-powered Texas A&M offense and a mobile quarterback in Trevor Knight. However, he was his usual self, coming up huge in a variety of ways.

In the first half, Barnett had a key sack on Knight that caused a nine-yard loss. Throughout the game, he also broke up a pass and registered two quarterback hurries. Barnett finished the game with six tackles.

It may seem odd to give so much credit to Tennessee football defensive players after Texas A&M’s offense nearly gained 600 yards on the ground. However, the unit only allowed 17 points in regulation on drives that didn’t come after turnovers.

Barnett helped with that by getting pressure on Knight all day. That pressure also forced bad throws from Knight throughout the day. For that, he deserves to be on this list.

It’s hard to say who won the Barnett vs Garrett match-up since both guys made key plays, but we can say that Barnett did his job.

Going into the game, he had expectations to perform. It’s safe to say that he met them.

Oct 8, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) rolls out to pass against the Texas A&M Aggies during the second half at Kyle Field. The Aggies defeated the Volunteers 45-38 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Joshua Dobbs

Quarterback, Senior

Yes, he threw two interceptions, including the one to lose the game, he also had a fumble, and he did not dive on two fumbles that could’ve saved the Vols.

However, Joshua Dobbs was an amazing playmaker at the same time. One of those interceptions was not his fault, and neither was the fumble. Now to the good stuff.

Dobbs finished 28 of 47 for an incredible 398 yards and a touchdown. He also ran the ball 17 times for 57 yards. And off a great play call by Mike DeBord, he had a four-yard touchdown reception as well.

But Dobbs’s biggest attribute, once again, was his leadership. Even in a loss, and even after the six turnovers in regulation, he kept his teammates poised. Dobbs made sure to focus the offense and showed incredible leadership intangibles by not quitting.

In the process, he once again led his team back to tie the game with a very quick drive late. You couldn’t ask for more from your senior.

Now he didn’t get the job done in overtime, but he did everything else right. As a result, Dobbs was once again a gamer and showed himself to be a great Tennessee football quarterback. But this time, he had a lot of help from by far the best player in this game.

Oct 8, 2016; College Station, TX, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Alvin Kamara (6) runs for a first down against the Texas A&M Aggies during the second half at Kyle Field. The Aggies defeat the Volunteers 45-38 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Alvin Kamara

Running Back, Junior

Going into this weekend, Tennessee football was faced with a slew of injuries. The biggest bombshell was the news that Jalen Hurd would be out this weekend. That put a heck of a lot of pressure on Alvin Kamara and John Kelly.

Kelly ran hard for 89 yards, but he caused two fumbles, so he had to be left off the list. Kamara, however, had to be the huge playmaker for the Vols. And he was just that.

Early on, Kamara made two mistakes by taking a bad angle on a short-yardage play and also fumbling the ball after a 55-yard screen pass while trying to do too much.

However, he finished the game with 18 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns, and he added eight receptions for 161 yards and a touchdown.

Kamara nearly had 300 total yards from scrimmage and had three touchdowns overall. Once you add in his return yards, he did go over 300 total yards.

He already showed himself to be a dangerous and elite playmaker. And on Saturday, he put all of that on display.

However, Kamara also showed he could shoulder the load late in games and wear down defenses. Even though Kelly played a good bit, Kamara willingly took lots of punishment as the feature back in this game and didn’t let it slow him down.

Those things made him the player of the game for the Vols with his performance.