The Vols lost their second offensive lineman of fall camp, Butch Jones confirmed on Thursday evening.
“Austin Sanders, we lost him the other day, he’ll be out for the entire year,” Jones said in his post-practice comments. “It’s the same injury that Marcus Jackson had, it’s the bicep tendon, it just happened with body position, he extended his arm, and his bicep tendon went, so he’s scheduled to have surgery here very shortly, we’ll monitor his academics. We love Austin, and know he’ll do a great job in recovery.”
The 6-foot-5, 318-pound offensive lineman from Cleveland, Tenn., worked primarily at guard this camp, and seen some work with the second and third units. After redshirting in 2013, Sanders appeared in five games, including the TaxSlayer Bowl win over Iowa in 2015.
The loss of Sanders, who didn’t appear to be in serious contention for significant playing time, isn’t an immediate hit to the offensive line, but does hurt depth, especially after the loss of Marcus Jackson earlier in camp.
It drops the Vols to 13 active scholarship linemen, and a few of those, Brett Kendrick, Jack Jones and Jashon Robertson have all missed time this camp, though Butch Jones confirmed that they were back on the practice field Thursday night.
