KNOXVILLE — Brian Randolph has thought about what might have been.
And it only makes the Tennessee safety happier and more relieved that he was in the right spot at the right time on the final play of last week’s game against Georgia.
Randolph made up for cornerback Cameron Sutton tripping by batting Greyson Lambert’s desperation pass for Malcolm Mitchell out of bounds to preserve the 38-31 win for the Volunteers.
Tennessee defensive back Brian Randolph, right, breaks up a pass to Georgia split end Malcolm Mitchell in the end zone to seal the Vols’ SEC football victory over the Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015, in Knoxville. Tennessee won 38-31.“It could have been a totally different story here,” Randolph said Tuesday. “I also thought how they probably would have went for two after that (touchdown), so it would have been crunch time. I was blessed, and I thank God I was able to make that play.”
Randolph has made more mistakes and missed more tackles this season than he would have liked, but he didn’t hesitate to call Saturday’s game-saving play one of the highlights and proudest moments of his Tennessee career.
Not only did it save a big win for the Vols, but it came against Georgia, the home-state program that didn’t recruit Randolph and had won the past five meetings with Tennessee.
He joked he would wear some extra orange when he goes home to Marietta this weekend with the Vols on an open date.
“Ain’t no shame,” Randolph said, “in going home and being proud of who you play for.”
Knowing Georgia needed to throw to the end zone with six seconds left, Tennessee played man-to-man coverage against a five-receiver set and put two safeties over the top on each side of the field. Randolph was on the side where Mitchell, Georgia’s top receiver, was lined up, so he knew there was a pretty good chance the ball would be going there.
What he didn’t account for was Sutton, who played the route perfectly by forcing Mitchell to the sideline but slipped as the ball spun toward its target.
“I didn’t even notice, but he got tangled up with the (receiver’s) legs a little and fell down,” Randolph said. “I was able to come over the top and knock it down. He forced (Mitchell) to the sideline and messed up the timing on the route. He pretty much did his job. I just finished it.
“I was going up to pick it. I kind of jumped a little early, and I felt myself coming down. I just said forget it and hit it.”
As you’d expect, Randolph said he’s gone back and watched the replay and looked at photos of his game-sealing play “a lot” on Twitter and other social media outlets since Saturday.
He admitted trying to avoid those during Tennessee’s disappointing 2-3 start.
“I try not to let it affect me too much, but definitely I pay attention to the good more than the bad,” he said. “When times are bad, I delete my Twitter a lot and don’t be looking at it.
“But this is a good week to get on Twitter and read what people are saying.”
Tennessee coach Butch Jones praised the fifth-year senior for becoming more of a leader on defense in the absence of defensive end/linebacker Curt Maggitt, the heart and soul of the team who remains sidelined by a hip injury.
“He’s stepped up into a leadership role,” Jones said. “He’s being very vocal. He’s making others around him accountable, and he’s really welcomed that title of leader.
“I’ve seen a complete change in him in terms of just being more vocal and being more outspoken, and that’s been great to see. Our players have fed off that.”
The Vols also will feed off Saturday’s win and head into their open date and the ensuing trip to Alabama with some positive momentum after knocking off Georgia.
“We know we could play with anybody,” Randolph said. “The question was could we finish, and we finally did that this week. That’s a good thing to get off our chest. It’s good to experience a big win like that to see how it feels so we can get there again.
“We finally got the monkey off our back. It’s definitely a better atmosphere around here. It’s both (joy and relief). We know we’ve been working hard for this. We know we deserved it. We couldn’t come through these past couple of weeks, but it’s a bunch of joy that we finally did.”
It’s an important open date for Tennessee’s defense as the Vols try to repair some of the mistakes that have plagued them this season, namely poor tackling, allowing too many big plays, the lack of a pass rush and struggles in the secondary.
At the least, they go into that work off a victory, thanks to Randolph’s good timing.
“We’ve got a lot of football left to play,” he said, “and we can’t hang our hat on this one for too long.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.