Tennessee avoided a major injury bug under Jeremy Pruitt in his first year as head coach. And while it’s still far too early to claim that’s happening to the Vols this fall, UT is dealing with another injury to a defender early in fall camp.
Redshirt junior outside linebacker Jordan Allen posted to his Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon that he had to have surgery to repair a torn hip flexor. Allen gave thanks to Dr. William Meyers for performing the surgery and to his mother for “always being there for me.” Allen added that he will “be back.”
Thank you to Dr. Meyers ( @CoreMDs ) for repairing me ! Thank you to my mom for always being there for me. When i first tore my hip flexor my first thought was “ So what, Now What? “ It’s not about what life throws at you, it’s how you choose to react! I’ll be back… TMC ?? pic.twitter.com/WtzKV6Am22
— Jordan Allen ✝️? (@dontsleeponj) August 13, 2019
Allen made headlines this past winter when he put his name into the NCAA transfer portal only to pull it back out and decide to stay with the team. Then in early January, Allen’s mother posted on social media that she was a big reason why Allen decided to remain at Tennessee.
“When he told me he wanted to be closer (transfer) in the spring (NOW) I had to say HELL NO,” she wrote on her Facebook post at the time. “You have to compete, go harder, get stronger, this will prepare you for all the competition at the next level.”
Allen was in line to compete for playing time as a pass rusher for the Vols in 2019, but it’s unclear how long he will be held out after his surgery. The 6-foot-4, 238-pound linebacker from Fairfield, California won’t likely participate in the rest of fall camp.
Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt confirmed the injury to Allen after practice on Tuesday, but said the Vol linebacker isn’t out for the season. Pruitt added that “we will figure it out” when it comes to a timetable.
Tennessee added Allen as a junior college transfer as part of their 2018 signing class. Allen was a four-star JUCO product from City College of San Francisco. In his lone JUCO season, he totaled 27 tackles, eight tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and two pass breakups. He played at Armijo High School and was used primarily as a defensive back and wide receiver there. Allen enrolled at UC Davis for college and redshirted his first season in 2016. He then transferred to City College of San Francisco for the 2017 season.
In his lone season with the Vols, Allen appeared in nine games and totaled six tackles and a pass defended.
Allen’s injury is the second major injury to a defensive player this fall for the Vols. Defensive lineman Emmit Gooden suffered a season-ending torn ACL last week during practice.
