Tennessee dropped its second game of the season on Saturday to South Carolina. Although the loss hurt, it does not mean that every player struggled. In fact, some players' stock rose despite the loss. On the other hand, some players' stock fell after disappointing performances.
So, here are three Vols players whose stock rose and three whose stock fell after the South Carolina game.
Stock Up: Ty Redmond
Ty Redmond’s stock continues to rise as the season goes on, and he certainly helped with that against South Carolina. The Sophomore corner has broken out this season, becoming Tennessee’s top corner. He played 69 snaps against South Carolina and had a PFF grade of 64.9. This is a relatively low grade for someone who performed as well as Redmond did against the Gamecocks. He had three pass deflections and six tackles while playing well in coverage throughout the game.
Stock Up: TJ Metcalf
TJ Metcalf picked off LaNorris Sellers in the second quarter of the game and finished with seven tackles. He looked solid in coverage and was arguably Tennessee’s best defensive player throughout the game. He finished with Tennessee’s second-highest PFF grade in the contest. The Michigan transfer is also a leader amongst the defense, which is crucial in a defensive back room that has a lot of young players.
Stock Up: Javin Gordon
Despite only playing 14 snaps, Javin Gordon received six carries and caught a pass. He didn’t do anything with this opportunity; in fact, he had 41 rushing yards (which is an average of 6.8 yards per game, three yards per carry more than DeSean Bishop). DeSean Bishop had 32 carries against South Carolina, and while he put up impressive numbers, this is a ton of pressure on Bishop. This is why Gordon's production is key. If he keeps putting up numbers like this, Gordon will likely continue to receive more and more carries.
Stock Down: Radarious Jackson
One of the biggest question marks coming into the season was who was going to be Tennessee’s WR3 behind Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews. Jackson was in the running to be that WR3, and at times has been, but he struggles to be consistent. He did not have much of an impact against South Carolina, only having one catch despite playing 33 snaps. He also had the lowest PFF grade of any offensive player for Tennessee, and with players like TK Keys behind him, his leash is not that much longer.
Stock Down: Daune Morris
Tulane transfer Javin Gordon missed four games with an injury and did not receive any carries against Alabama. During that time, Morris stepped up as RB2 and had over 100 rushing yards against Kennesaw State. Unfortunately for him, he has only received seven carries over the last two games, with only three carries for five yards on Saturday. Gordon had six carries and seems to be RB2 again. We will have to wait and see if he gets back to being a bigger part of the offense, but right now things are not looking as good for Morris.
Stock Down: Tevis Metcalf
Similar to Morris, Metcalf being “stock down” is not to say that he played poorly, but rather that he is seemingly not receiving as many reps. He worked his way up throughout the season and really stood out against Auburn, grabbing the game-winning interception. Despite all of this, Metcalf only played seven snaps against South Carolina, even though it seemed he might receive more action. Jim Knowles has built one of the best defenses in the country, but a side effect of that is that there is only so much playing time everyone can get, and right now it seems like Metcalf might be on the outskirts of the rotation.
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