Tennessee
Tennessee's Defensive Stats Lead to Former National Champions Comparison | Rocky Top Insider
Tennessee’s defense has been the backbone of the Volunteers’ team this season.
With the offense struggling at times this season, Tennessee hasn’t been out of a game all year because of the way its defense has kept them in contention.
According to CBS Sports HQ’s Todd Fuhrman on Tuesday, Tennessee is the only FBS team to give up less than 20 points in every game this season. While teams like Oklahoma and NC State have proven to be offensively hindered this season, the Vols held Arkansas, Florida, and Alabama to sub-20 points despite talented quarterbacks such as Taylen Green, DJ Lagway, Graham Mertz, and Jalen Milroe leading the opposing charge.
Fuhrman also presented Tennessee with a National Champion comparison with his stat on Tuesday. According to Fuhrman, Tennessee is the fifth SEC team since 2000 to hold each of its first seven opponents to under 20 points.
The previous four all won the National Championship: 2003 LSU, 2011 Alabama, 2012 Alabama, and 2021 Georgia.
There’s a bevy of additional factors that go into contention for the national championship but as the saying goes, defense wins championships. And while the Vols’ offense certainly has room to improve, Tennessee’s defense is playing at a championship-level – both in the eye-test and in historical comparisons.
Tennessee is the only FBS team to allow under 20 pts in every game this season.
They’re the 5th SEC team since 2000 to hold each of its 1st 7 opponents under 20.
The previous 4? They all won the National Title (2003 LSU, 2011 Bama, 2012 Bama, 2021 UGA) @3HL1045 @TheRonSlay
— Todd Fuhrman (@ToddFuhrman) October 29, 2024
More from RTI: A Deep Dive Tennessee Football’s Path To The College Football Playoff
There’s another stat that came out on Tuesday that highlights just how good Tennessee has been but in a slightly different direction from just the scoring aspect.
According to ESPN, stop rate is “a basic measurement of success: the percentage of a defense’s drives that end in punts, turnovers, or a turnover on downs.”
Entering Week 10 of the college football season, Tennessee leads the country in stop rate at 81.3 percent and 0.90 points per drive, both the highest in the country.
Tennessee tops out Texas in the top spot, as the Longhorns post an 80.2 percent stop rate and also allow 0.90 points per drive.
“Tennessee moved into the No. 1 spot in the stop rate standings ahead of Texas and Ohio State after the latter two had close wins Saturday,” ESPN’s Max Olsen wrote on Tuesday. “The Vols are coming off their bye week and have a stop rate of 81.3% on the year. They’re the only defense in FBS that has held every opponent under 20 points. Last season, Tennessee finished No. 28 in stop rate at 68.6%.”
Need another National Champion comparison?
Last year’s Michigan squad finished No. 1 in stop rate at 81.6 percent in its games against FBS opponents.
“The top 25 teams in the final 2023 stop rate standings won a total of 249 games, with seven earning conference titles,” Olsen wrote. “Great teams find a way to get stops in critical situations.”
Tennessee’s defense is playing at a championship level. It’ll be up to them to continue building on their first seven performances while the offense continues to grease the gears in hopes of getting the offensive engine to run in overdrive in the final stretch of the season.
It all starts on Saturday, though.
No. 7 Tennessee will host SEC rival Kentucky at 7:45 p.m. ET on Saturday night in Neyland Stadium. The Wildcats defense currently ranks No. 50 in stop rate at 65.8 percent and 1.77 points per drive, according to ESPN.
ESPN projects Tennessee basketball’s Felix Okpara and Ja’Kobi Gillespie to be picked back to back in the second round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night. ESPN’s updated mock draft has Okpara at No. 41 overall to the Miami Heat and Gillespie at No. 42 to the San Antonio Spurs.
Nate Ament was the No. 13 overall pick in the first round to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. Tennessee, which has now had players picked in six straight NBA Drafts, could have three players drafted for just the second time in the modern era of the draft, since it went to two rounds in 1989.
Grant Williams was a first-round pick in 2019, ahead of Admiral Schofield and Jordan Bone being picked in the second round.
Where ESPN ranks Felix Okpara, Ja’Kobi Gillespie in NBA Draft
Entering the second round, ESPN has Okpara ranked as the 12th-best player available in the draft. Gillespie is ranked No. 14.
Duke guard Isaiah Evans is ESPN’s No. 1 prospect to start the second round, ahead of North Carolina center Henri Veesaar, Arkansas guard Meleek Thomas, Cincinnati forward Baba Miller, Louisville guard Ryan Conwell and German guard Jack Kayil.
Also ranked ahead of Okpara is BYU guard Richie Saunders, Houston guard Emanuel Sharp, Purdue guard Braden Smith, St. John’s forward Dillon Mitchell and Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile. Ranked between Okpara and Gillespie is Arizona guard Jaden Bradley.
Felix Okpara ‘played his way into the two-way contract mix’
Okpara averaged 8.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 26.9 minutes per game this season, starting 34 of 35 games. He shot 59.7% from the field, 61.1% on 2-point shots and 63.5% at the foul line.
He played two seasons at Ohio State before transferring to Tennessee and anchoring the Vols on defense, serving as the rim protector defensively and a rim runner on offense.
Okpara had the fourth-highest standing reach at the NBA Draft Combine in May at 9-foot-4. He was measured at 6-foot-10 without shoes, weighed 237.4 pounds and had a 7-2 wingspan.
“Okpara had a good predraft process,” ESPN wrote, “and played his way into the two-way contract mix as a dependable big man who chips in a little bit of value on both ends.”
Ja’Kobi Gillespie ‘profiles as a potential bench option’ in NBA
Gillespie averaged 18.4 points, 5.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 34.8 minutes per game while starting all 37 games in his one and only season at Tennessee.
The Greeneville, Tenn., native started his career with two seasons at Belmont, then transferred to Maryland before his homecoming with the Vols as a senior last season.
“After starting his college career at Belmont,” ESPN wrote on Wednesday, “Gillespie had good years at Maryland and Tennessee while playing his way into the NBA picture. He profiles as a potential bench option if his scoring ability can outweigh his size concerns.”
Nate Ament on Tuesday night became Tennessee basketball’s highest NBA Draft pick since Marcus Haislip in 2002 when Ament, the former one-and-done five-star freshman wing for the Vols, was the No. 13 overall pick in the first round when he was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Haislip also was taken No. 13 by the Bucks.
Ament is the 13th first-round pick in Tennessee program history and the fifth under Rick Barnes. Dalton Knecht was the No. 17 overall pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2024, Grant Williams was the No. 22 overall pick to the Boston Celtics in 2019 and both Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer were first-round picks in 2021, with Johnson at No. 21 to the Los Angeles Clippers and Springer at No. 28 to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Vols have had three players in program history picked in the top 10, but none since 1983.
Tennessee in the NBA Draft’s 1st Round
| Pick | Player | Draft Year | Team |
| No. 4 | Tom Boerwinkle | 1968 | Chicago Bulls |
| No. 7 | Bernard King | 1977 | New York Nets |
| No. 9 | Dale Ellis | 1983 | Dallas Mavericks |
| No. 11 | Ernie Grunfeld | 1977 | Milwaukee Bucks |
| No. 11 | Allan Houston | 1993 | Detroit Pistons |
| No. 13 | Marcus Haislip | 2002 | Milwaukee Bucks |
| No. 15 | Reggie Johnson | 1980 | San Antonio Spurs |
| No. 17 | Dalton Knecht | 2024 | LA Lakers |
| No. 19 | Tobias Harris | 2011 | Milwaukee Bucks |
| No. 21 | Keon Johnson | 2021 | LA Clippers |
| No. 22 | Grant Williams | 2019 | Boston Celtics |
| No. 28 | Jaden Springer | 2021 | Philadelphia 76ers |
Nate Ament was ranked as a top-10 prospect in the NBA Draft
Ament entered draft week ranked as both a top-10 prospect in the draft and a projected top-10 pick.
He moved up one spot in ESPN’s final NBA mock draft on Monday, going from No. 10 to the Milwaukee Bucks to No. 9 to the Dallas Mavericks. He was No. 9 overall on ESPN’s ranking of the best players available entering the draft.
“The Nets at No. 6 are seen as the high end,” Woo wrote, “but scenarios are also in play in which he falls into the second half of the lottery. Teams say he has been selective about scheduling workouts, declining to visit multiple teams in the top 10.
“The Mavericks and Bucks are two possible landing spots. If those teams go a different direction, he could slide.”
Nate Ament’s one-and-done season at Tennessee
Ament averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 35 games during his lone season with the Vols. He started in all 35 games he played and averaged 29.7 minutes per game while shooting 39.9% from the field and 33.3% from the 3-point line.
He was the No. 3 overall player in the 2025 class in the On3 recruiting rankings and was the No. 2 small forward in the country and the No. 1 overall player in the state of Virginia.
Ament is the highest-ranked prospect that Rick Barnes has added during his tenure at Tennessee and is believed to one of the highest-ranked recruits to sign with the Vols, alongside Tobias Harris and Allan Houston.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Chattanooga baseball fans got a different kind of scouting report during a recent night at AT&T Field, where the Tennessee Aquarium teamed up with the Chattanooga Lookouts to connect sports with conservation.
The partnership, billed as Conservation Night, brought the Aquarium’s “Animal Athletes” program to the ballpark to teach fans about wildlife and the importance of keeping trash out of waterways.
The event included live animals, interactive games and hands-on activities that highlighted how animals use specialized skills in nature.
“We know that they are here and they are passionate about sports, so let’s get them passionate about nature as well,” said Shawn Brim, community program supervisor at the Tennessee Aquarium.
Visitors learned about animals including tiger salamanders and leopard geckos, while also taking part in challenges inspired by animal behavior.
Brim said the goal was to make conservation approachable by meeting people where they are.
“The primary goal of this event is to connect people with nature, plain and simple. Here we are connecting the sports world to the animal world, highlighting those animal athletes and those special skills in nature.”
Aquarium leaders say they hope a fun experience at a game can lead to lasting conservation habits.
“We’re looking to just spark that curiosity to hopefully spark that change down the road,” Brim said.
Brim said that change matters as environmental challenges continue to affect the Tennessee Valley, with pollution and microplastics among the major concerns for local waterways and wildlife.
“As plastics enter water streams, they end up in tiny pieces, and they do end up in the stomachs of freshwater animals like catfish and sturgeons,” Brim said.
Organizers emphasized that protecting rivers and ecosystems benefits more than wildlife, supporting cleaner water, healthier communities and a stronger quality of life across the region. They also said conservation efforts can start small.
“Figure out where you can have the most impact and where you can have a consistent impact from where you are,” Brim said.
Aquarium staff say they hope fans left with more than memories of the game, taking home a deeper appreciation for the animals and ecosystems that call Tennessee home.
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