Lenneth Whitehead to miss 2022 season

Redshirt sophomore Lenneth Whitehead will miss the 2022 season after suffering an off-season upper body injury sources tell Volquest.com.

After playing in eight games and logging 32 carries for 207 yards with two touchdowns as a redshirt freshman, Whitehead was poised to play the role of bigger back in short yardage situations this fall.

Whitehead saw 63 snaps on offense but also missed time due to injury. He would return from injury and totaled 60 yards against South Alabama. In that performance he had a career-long 45-yard run and a five-yard rushing touchdown. He saw his largest action in a 10 carry for 41 yards performance against South Carolina in the middle of the season. That is where he scored his first-career touchdown with a two-yard plunge into the end zone.

The loss of Whitehead leaves Tennessee with four scholarship tailbacks on the 2022 roster. Jabari Small, Jaylen Wright are joined by true freshmen Justin Williams-Thomas and Dylan Sampson.

Whitehead suffered a foot injury during his senior year of high school that caused him to have surgery. He was also injured during the preseason of his true freshman campaign and did not see action. He returned in the spring of 2021 but was limited at running back with a new Tennessee staff.

Whitehead was a standout at Athens Academy in Athens, Georgia, where he helped lead the Spartans to an 11-1 record and state quarterfinal appearance as a senior in 2019 but did miss the back-half of the season due to injury. He was a two-way player that rushed for 1,481 yards and 25 touchdowns as a junior in 2018 while also starring at linebacker.