For Tennessee to pull off the win against Georgia, the Vols have to correct this aspect of their game.
Four drops against ETSU and two against Syracuse.
Compound that with the passes that fall incomplete despite receivers getting hands on the ball, it could be an area that gets exploited on Saturday.
Tennessee quarterback, Joey Aguilar and the receivers have to figure out how to get on the same page.
Some of it will come with time.
Which may be why Chris Brazzell Jr. said after the ETSU win that he likes that they haven’t been rotating the receiver room, because he gets more time to grow his connection with Aguilar.
That time seems to have paid off for Mike Matthews who caught all 6 of his targets against ETSU.
It was a tough outing for running back DeSean Bishop on Saturday, he was responsible for two of the drops.
One of the drops did come on a pass where Aguilar had some velocity on it and as a result it popped right out of his hands. Tennessee will need Bishop to be a viable option in the receiving game in Week Three.
So, there’s no question there’s been an emphasis on ball security this week in practice.
“That comes in the form of the guy with the ball in his hands, as far as our skill players securing it,” said head coach Josh Heupel.
Additionally, there were a handful of times when Aguilar’s passes would fall incomplete despite it being within the catch radius.
Seemingly every time that happened, is when they the ball was slightly too high.
It happened to redshirt freshman, Braylon Staley a couple of times in the game against ETSU..
One on the second drive on a 2nd and 6, Aguilar threaded the needle over the middle of the field but it was too high and went right through the hands of Staley.
Later in the game, on a 1st and goal situation another pass fell incomplete to Staley. Again, it was a little high. Vols wanted a defensive pass interference flag as it looked like Staley’s hips were grabbed.
However, Aguilar did not use his legs in this game. In that situation, he could’ve scrambled for a couple of yards.
It may have been by design to keep Aguilar in the pocket and work on details like slowing down, getting through progression, and not being overly anxious to get the ball out, leading to high throws.
“It’s the quarterback taking care of it in the pass game, being decisive and reading things the right way,” said Heupel.
Those drops and incompletions can be drive killers.
There may not be many games like ETSU where Tennessee has 15 possessions and dominates the time of possession.
The last three meetings with the Bulldogs, Tennessee’s averaged 10. 6 possessions.
They also have not won the time of possession.
For Tennessee, almost half of their possessions the last three meetings ended in punts.
Last season it was because of incompletions on late downs or penalties.
During the last meeting at home in 2023, Georgia was effective on third downs, converting on 9 of 13 tries. On the flip side, Tennessee struggled only converting 2 of their 11 attempts.
So when there are opportunities to make a tough catch, Tennessee has to be able to do that.
As impressive as Aguilar was in his ability to deliver in tight windows versus ETSU, that could be a common trend against Georgia.
So both parties have to do a good job of elevating each other, and part of that job is executing on blocks.
“We could always finish our blocks better,” said Matthews after the ETSU game. “I know me, personally, I missed a block and I hated myself for it. Just little plays like that, and once we get into conference play, those plays make a difference. It’s all in the margins. So, just got to hone in on those and go back in the film room.”
