Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee Football: Vols Secondary to Face Their Toughest Match-up of the Season in Texas A&M

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

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Tennessee football faces a great Aggies team in a big time match-up Saturday. Here’s why the Volunteers’ secondary will face their toughest challenge yet.

It’s the combined highest-ranked game of the weekend and one of the most anticipated games of the season. And it’s another huge game for Tennessee football.

The No. 9 Tennessee Vols travel to College Station, Texas to take on the No. 8 Texas A&M Aggies.

This game will be the toughest challenge for Tennessee football thus far. It also might be the most prolific offense that they will have to defend all year.

The Aggies currently have the No. 1 offense in the SEC and, to many people’s surprise, the No. 2 rush offense. Add that to A&M’s third best passing attack, and it’s clear that the Aggies have become a more balanced attack under first-year offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone.

The Vols will have their hands full stopping running backs Traveyon Williams and Keith Ford. Add in quarterback Trevor Knight’s mobility, and this is a very tough match-up. However, the outcome could depend on how a depleted Tennessee secondary performs against the best receiver rotation in the SEC.

Knight will have multiple weapons to choose from when he passes. Here are the names on the A&M receiving corps that Tennessee fans need to know about for tomorrow’s showdown.

Tennessee is still without their best cornerback in Cam Sutton. Meanwhile, backup Justin Martin is still recovering from an ankle injury. So it will be up to Moseley and true freshman Baylen Buchanan to carry the main workload of covering A&M’s receivers. Rashaan Gaulden and Malik Foreman have to help out as well.

While Buchanan has been solid after stepping in due to Sutton’s injury, he still has little experience. Moseley is solid but has a history of getting beaten in coverage at times. Foreman has done well so far, including getting an amazing sideline interception against Georgia. However, as we all know, he almost became infamous after giving up what should have the game-winning touchdown one possession later. Positively, Gaulden is playing the best football of his career right now after an excellent performance last week.

For the Tennessee football safeties, you know what you’re going to get as far as the starters go. Todd Kelly, Jr. seems to have found his groove again after a great game against Florida two weeks ago. And Micah Abernathy has stepped up in a big way since the start of the year. However, both struggled at times last week due to great designed plays from Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney. This was due to the safeties having to play closer to the line of scrimmage to help defend the run.

The Tennessee football secondary will have its work cut out tomorrow. If they can have a solid showing against an elite Texas A&M passing game—especially when missing Sutton—it will bode well for the Vols defense moving forward into Alabama and beyond.

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