Tennessee Vols will have a significant problem with the Missouri loss settled for Georgia.
In a 36-7 loss against the Missouri Tigers on Saturday, the Tennessee Volunteers struggled on all sides of the ball. Tennessee struggled to shut down the Tigers’ offense, particularly RB Cody Schrader, who ran up a staggering 321 yards from scrimmage.
It didn’t help that Tennessee STAR Tamarion McDonald suffered an injury on the Tigers’ first drive of the game. As it turns out, McDonald plays a critical role on the Vols’ defense.
McDonald, as Tennessee secondary coach Willie Martinez stated on Vol Calls this week, is effectively the defense’s quarterback since he makes play calls for the defense.
Clearly, when McDonald exited on the first drive of the game, the Vols lost an experienced player who plays a very essential role every down for Tennessee’s defense. McDonald is fourth on the squad with 40 total tackles and second in passes defended with four.
Fortunately, it appears that they will not have to worry about that deficit in the Vols’ most important game of the year, this Saturday against the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. According to VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs on Friday morning’s Ramon, Kayla, and Will show on Nashville’s 104.5 The Zone, McDonald will play on Saturday, but not at full strength, and his role in pre-snap circumstances for the Vols’ defense is critical.
It goes without saying that the Vols must be near-perfect defensively in order to pull off the upset against Georgia this weekend. Tennessee simply lacks the explosiveness in the passing game to pull off a high-scoring shootout like they did last season when they defeated Alabama 52-49.
As a result, making the appropriate decisions and being in the right position before the snap is critical for Tennessee on Saturday. Fortunately, it appears that one of the most essential players on the field will return to help them try to give Vol fans one last chance at a spectacular moment during the 2023 season.
