Freshman receiver Josh Malone shines for Vols

photo Josh Malone

ATHENS, Ga. -- Implored by his coaches to step up, Tennessee receiver Josh Malone was able to deliver.

With the Volunteers missing wideouts Von Pearson and Josh Smith because of ankle injuries, the freshman former five-star recruit had easily the best game of his young college career with five catches for 43 yards and a 20-yard run on an end-around in Tennessee's 35-32 loss at 12th-ranked Georgia on Saturday.

"Coach Z [receivers coach Zach Azzanni] was definitely on me this week about just working on keep improving in practice and keep carrying over what I did in practice into the game," Malone said. "Really I just feel like I keep improving each week. I just felt like I still have a lot of room for improvement."

Malone's five catches paced Tennessee's receivers, while Marquez North, Pig Howard and Jason Croom caught touchdown passes from quarterback Justin Worley.

On back-to-back plays in the third quarter, the player who had Georgia among his finalists out of Station Camp High School in Gallatin, Tenn., caught a short pass and picked up a third-and-13 with a 14-yard gain and then took a double reverse for 20 yards.

"I thought he did a great job," Worley said. "He did some good things with the ball in his hands, after screens and things like that. We all need to continue to grow, though. We're all on the hunt for that victory."

Malone became the eighth true freshman to start a game for Tennessee this season.

"I feel good about overall just the way I played," he said. "I felt like conditioning-wise, I did an excellent job with that because I was in for most of the game and just going hard every play. Getting that chemistry down on that deep ball is what I really want to work on."

Third down for what?

Tennessee entered the game with the SEC's top third-down defense and held Georgia to a 1-of-10 conversion rate.

Still, the Bulldogs managed 436 yards of offense and 289 rushing yards on 53 attempts.

"That is kind of hard to believe," said Vols linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who finished with 10 tackles, 3.5 for loss and one sack. "Obviously we got some other parts of defense we've got to work on. We can't be giving up 35 points."

Freshman safety Todd Kelly and cornerback Cam Sutton intercepted passes, but Tennessee's offense was unable to cash those turnovers into points. Curt Maggitt had the Vols' other two sacks.

The Vols geared their game plan to slow Georgia's powerful rushing game, which entered the game second in the SEC with a 304-yard average.

"We knew they were going to try to come out and run the ball on us," Reeves-Maybin said. "They've got good backs. They're deep with their backs, and we knew that was the game plan all week. We knew we had to get some bodies in there and hit some of those guys."

Tennessee contained Georgia star tailback Todd Gurley to 75 yards on 12 carries in the first half, but he turned 16 carries after halftime into 133 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

"He broke loose and scored a big one," Kelly said, "and that cost us."

Croom's comeback

After having a potential touchdown go through his hands for a costly interception and finishing without a catch against Oklahoma two weeks ago, Croom bounced back with a four-catch, 60-yard performance that included a 23-yard touchdown just before halftime and a 25-yard reception on Tennessee's final scoring drive.

"Jason always works hard," Vols coach Butch Jones said. "They're kids. He brings it every week. I'm very, very proud of his performance today."

The redshirt sophomore had been battling a left wrist injury coming into the game.

"I actually had a cast on my hand," Croom said. "Just being able to have that off, I was able to catch the ball better. As soon as that game was over, it's a snap-and-clear mindset and going on to the next game."

Decision debrief

Jones said Tennessee considered kicking the ball deep after scoring to cut Georgia's lead to 35-32 with 2:14 left in the game before deciding to try an onside kick that the Bulldogs recovered.

"There's a lot of scenarios playing in your mind," he explained, "but we thought as a coaching staff and I felt, 'Let's go win the football game right now and try to get the ball back.'"

The Vols had all three timeouts remaining, but Gurley's fourth-down run allowed the Bulldogs to run out the clock.

"Every time we go out there, we're trying to get a three-and-out, every time," Reeves-Maybin said. "It doesn't matter what time in the game it is. That was definitely tough."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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