UT at Ole Miss Halftime Notes

Oct. 18, 2014

HALFTIME NOTES

TENNESSEE TIDBITS

At the half, Ole Miss leads Tennessee, 14-3.
The Vols lost the coin toss tonight to the Rebels, who chose to receive at kickoff. On the season, Tennessee has now lost six of their seven coin tosses.
Entering tonight's game, Ole Miss had a collective 55 points in the first quarter over their six previous games. The Vols held the Rebels to zero points in the first quarter tonight, marking the first time for Ole Miss to be shut out in the first quarter this year.

TENNESSEE CAPTAINS

#14 Justin Worley, #45 A.J. Johnson and #56 Curt Maggitt represented the Vols for the pregame coin toss.

JOHNSON FOR THE RECORD

#45 A.J. Johnson recorded eight tackles in the first half, reaching 400 career tackles with an assisted tackle (also, #50 Corey Vereen) in the second quarter. On the same play, Johnson claimed the all-time assisted tackle record for the Vols with 194, passing Andy Spiva's previous 193 number (1973-76).
Johnson is now just the fourth player in Tennessee history to record 400 career tackles.
In the second quarter, Johnson recorded a half sack on Ole Miss quarterback #14 Bo Wallace. Prior to his half-sack, Johnson only had one other sack in his 42 previous career games (2012).

FRESH BEATS AND STARTS

The Vols started five true freshmen on offense for the third week in a row: #1 Jalen Hurd (RB), #3 Josh Malone (WR), #55 Coleman Thomas (RT), #73 Jashon Robertson (RG) and #82 Ethan Wolf (TE).
#9 Von Pearson made his first start at wide receiver tonight since Sept. 6 against Arkansas State at Neyland Stadium.

OFFENSE

To end the first quarter, #14 Justin Worley completed a 24-yard pass to #8 Marquez North, putting the Vols on the Ole Miss 30-yard line.
#48 Alex Ellis made his first career catch in the second quarter, a nine yard gain for the Vols.
Worley connected with eight different receivers in the first half, completing 13 of his 19 pass attempts for 120 yards.

HOW THEY SCORED

#25 Aaron Medley made a 27-yard field goal attempt to put the Vols on the board in the second quarter. On the year, Medley is 10-of-13 in field goal attempts and has at least one field goal made in each of his seven games.

GILLIAM RETURNS TO ACTION

#65 Jacob Gilliam returned to game action in the second quarter at right tackle. The appearance marks Gilliam's first in a game since August 31 against Utah State, when he suffered a knee injury.

DEFENSIVELY SPEAKING

The Vols held the Rebels to 2-for-11 on third downs in the first half. Entering tonight's matchup in Oxford, UT led the SEC and ranked fifth in the nation for defensive third down conversions with a 26.4 percentage rate (23-for-87).
#50 Corey Vereen recorded his first sack of the year on Rebels quarterback #14 Bo Wallace with less than one minute left in the first quarter.

SPECIAL TEAMS

#43 Matt Darr punted six times in the first half, including a 55-yard punt on the Vols' first possession of the game. On the year, Darr has four inside the 10-yard line, 18 inside the 20-yard line and nine punts of 50-plus yards in the last four games.

VOLS TRENDING

The Vols were trending worldwide on Twitter with the topics: "AJ Johnson", "Corey Vereen" and "Coleman Thomas".
Nationally, the following topics were trending for the Vols: "Worley", "Corey Vereen", "AJ Johnson" and "Coleman Thomas".

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