Vols receive good news and bad news on the injury front
While Tennessee will find itself without its starting middle linebacker and an All-SEC cornerback on Saturday against Florida, Butch Jones did reveal some good news for the Vols on the offensive front on Monday.
The fourth-year head coach announced sophomore offensive tackle Chance Hall will practice Monday and has a chance to play Saturday, a boost that could help an inconsistent offensive line.
“Chance Hall will be at practice today. We fully anticipate him being ready to go,” Jones said. “I’ll know a little bit more after today. He’s worked exceptionally hard with Jason McVeigh. He’s been out practice on his own with the movements. But, as we all know, when you put the pads on, the physicality and everything, I’ll know more today and even more on Tuesday.”
Jones also anticipates starting linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin will be available on Saturday as well.
The good thing is, all it is is a muscle strain. That’s the positive thing that came out of it. If there’s a will there’s a way and Jalen was already feeling much better yesterday. We fully anticipate him being ready to play.”
But, the bad news for Sutton is that he will be out an extended period of time and backup linebacker Quarte Sapp will miss the rest of the season with an ACL tear. Jones also confirmed Kirkland Jr. is out this week as well.
“Cam Sutton has a fractured ankle,” Jones said. “As I stated, he’ll be out an extended period of time. There’s been no time frame for him to return. Quarte Sapp had an ACL injury and he’ll be lost for the season.”
But, despite losing several players during the Ohio game, the Vols will also get back Josh Smith and Justin Martin, who Jones said tried to get back before the noon kickoff on Saturday.
“Justin Martin will be back. I give Justin Martin a lot of credit,” Jones said. “Here’s an individual that tried to practice and couldn’t go and did everything he could have on Friday. He still showed up at the hotel and sat in all the meetings and gets taped up and gets ready to play and we fully anticipate him being back to 100 percent this week.”
Even with Martin back and Sutton out, Jones said freshman Baylen Buchanan will play after an impressive debut performance on defense.
“We need more corners so Baylen is going to be in there. He’s going to have valuable playing time. What I saw is a very poised and prepared individual,” Jones explained. “The situation wasn’t too big for him. They tried to attack him and go after him with vertical routes. They tried to go after him with double-move routes and he didn’t blink. That’s the exciting thing. Baylen has a very calm demeanor about himself.”