PFF Grades: Tennessee vs. Iowa | Rocky Top Insider

QB Nico Iamaleava — 82.9 (68 plays)

RG Jackson Lampley — 69.6 (68 plays)

RB Dylan Sampson — 68.7 (49 plays)

TE McCallan Castles — 67.6 (37 plays)

WR Kaleb Webb — 67.5 (25 plays)

LT Gerald Mincey — 64.1 (68 plays)

LG Ollie Lane — 63.8 (68 plays)

RB Cameron Seldon — 63.2 (19 plays)

C Cooper Mays — 62.6 (68 plays)

WR Squirrel White — 62.2 (64 plays)

WR Ramel Keyton — 61.3 (64 plays)

RT Dayne Davis — 61.3 (63 plays)

WR Chas Nimrod — 55.3 (39 plays)

TE Jacob Warren — 52.6 (35 plays)

It was of little surprise that Nico Iamaleava graded out as Tennessee’s best offensive player. He was better than his modest stat line. The Vols’ offense ran into a number of the same problems they had with Joe Milton III— that pass protection and struggled and Tennessee’s receivers were far from special. As we look ahead to the offseason, Tennessee must improve in those two areas.

One of the big stories of the game was how Tennessee ran the ball with its top two rushers opting out. Dylan Sampson and Cameron Seldon were both very solid while stepping into bigger roles. Sampson was bad in pass protection and in the receiving game but was fantastic on the ground. Seldon showed how effective he can be as a short yardage back too.

Credit to Jackson Lampley. He’s started very little in his college career and he turned in a strong performance filling in for the injured Javontez Spraggins at right guard.

More From RTI: James Pearce Dominates In Citrus Bowl

Defensive Grades (minimum of 15 plays — 25% of defensive plays)

LEO James Pearce Jr. — 95.4 (37 plays)

S Andre Turrentine — 88.0 (57 plays)

S Jaylen McCollough — 79.0 (57 plays)

DT Omari Thomas — 77.0 (29 plays)

LB Aaron Beasley — 75.5 (41 plays)

DT Elijah Simmons — 75.3 (17 plays)

DE Tyre West — 73.7 (22 plays)

CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally — 72.8 (52 plays)

DE Dominic Bailey — 72.1 (30 plays)

DT Bryson Eason — 72.0 (23 plays)

LB Elijah Herring — 71.9 (37 plays)

CB Christian Harrison — 67.8 (15 plays)

CB Rickey Gibson III — 64.5 (51 plays)

DE Josh Josephs — 62.2 (14 plays)

STAR Jourdan Thomas — 61.7 (45 plays)

LB Jeremiah Telander — 60.8 (25 plays)

DT Kurott Garland — 60.7 (19 plays)

LEO Roman Harrison — 58.6 (14 plays)

LB Kalib Perry — 57.9 (24 plays)

DT Daevin Hobbs — 44.9 (18 plays)

James Pearce Jr. was absolutely brilliant. The Citrus Bowl capped off my third season doing PFF grades after every game. I believe Pearce’s grade is the best I’ve seen in that time frame.

Tennessee’s safeties have been much maligned this season but Turrentine and McCollough both earned strong grades in the season finale. It wasn’t a shock for McCollough who had a really strong season but was a surprise from Turrentine who graded out very poorly in the two games he played major snaps before this one.

We pondered about the secondary rotation before the game and there really wasn’t much of one after the starters that we predicted. Sophomore Christian Harrison was the third corner over freshmen Jordan Matthews and Cristian Conyer. But it was almost exclusively Jourdan Thomas at STAR and McCollough and Turrentine at safety.