Redshirt sophomore J.J. Peterson is not currently with Tennessee’s football program, Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt revealed to the media on Wednesday following practice.
“J.J. is taking a couple weeks away from the team,” Pruitt told reporters over Zoom. “He’s not been with us for a couple of weeks.”
Pruitt responded “we’ll see” when asked whether or not Peterson would be back with the team at some point. He did not want to dive into specifics in regards to his conversation with Peterson.
“It’s something that J.J. wanted to do, and me and him talked and had a really good talk about it,” Pruitt said. “That’ll be between me and him.”
Peterson has not played in a game this season after moving from inside linebacker to outside linebacker over the offseason. He traveled to South Carolina for the season-opener, but was replaced by true freshman Bryson Eason this past weekend when the Vols traveled to Athens to take on No. 3 Georgia.
Peterson was the highest-ranked recruit Pruitt signed in his inaugural 2018 recruiting class. According to the 247Sports composite rankings, Peterson was ranked as the No. 48 overall player in the country, the No. 3 outside linebacker and the No. 7 overall player in the state of Georgia.
Tennessee plays Kentucky inside of Neyland Stadium this Saturday at 12 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
