Vols' LB Keenan Pili to miss 'a couple of weeks' with injury

Tennessee seemingly emerged from its season opener against Virginia relatively healthy but a report Wednesday indicates a key piece of the Vols' defense will miss some time.

According to head coach Josh Heupel, linebacker Keenan Pili is expected to miss multiple weeks after suffering an injury vs. Virginia.

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"We weren't sure early in the week the severity of the injury," Heupel said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. "He will not be available this week. He'll miss a couple of weeks here."

Heupel said that he doesn't believe the injury is season ending "at this point," and that the coaching staff will monitor his health in the coming weeks.

Pili was a two-time captain at BYU before transferring to Tennessee last December. He was expected to make an immediate impact in a deep linebacking corps alongside Aaron Beasley after recording 62 tackles and a sack last season.

In his Tennessee debut last Saturday, Pili totaled four tackles and assisted on two more. He earned a game ball according to Heupel.

"Just everything that (Pili) brought to practice since he has been here," defensive coordinator Tim Banks said. "Just great leadership, communication...Just having the ability to command the defense. Just making sure the front is where it needs to be, communicating with (Aaron) Beasley, making sure that everybody is where they need to be at all time is the No. 1 thing...We're very pleased with what he brought."

As it stands, the Week 2 depth chart for the Vols' home opener against Austin Peay on Saturday lists sophomore Elijah Herring and freshman Jeremiah Telander as the No. 2 and No. 3 Mike linebackers behind Pili.

Herring appeared in 13 games last season, splitting time between linebacker and special teams. He finished with five tackles in 24 defensive snaps against Virginia while Telander played seven snaps.

"As far as Elijah goes, he obviously played some football for us last year," Banks said. "Just to see his growth and his maturity on display, we're really pleased with what (the young linebackers) did Saturday."

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