Tennessee football’s 45-14 win over UTSA presented opportunities for lesser used Vols to play as Josh Heupel and his staff attempt to build more depth.
Playing a multitude of players in a blowout win is always a good thing, but a handful of Tennessee players got early playing time for bad reasons. Multiple Tennessee players exited the Vols’ victory with an injury and did not return.
Receiver Bru McCoy and running back Jaylen Wright suffered injuries in the first half and did not return. Defensive end Dominic Bailey and receiver Ramel Keyton each suffered injuries in the third quarter and didn’t return. The SEC Network broadcast announced that Wright and Bailey wouldn’t return but didn’t say anything about Keyton nor McCoy though neither returned.
Whether the players could have returned in a more competitive game in unclear but it didn’t make sense for any of them to test their limits in a lopsided affair.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel provided a blanket statement regarding all four injuries after the game.
“We had multiple guys… feel like we should have most of those guys back here next week,” Heupel said. “I’ll know more here tomorrow when I come back into the building.”
Keyton’s injury was the only one where something apparent happened. After hauling in his third touchdown of the season in the first half, Keyton’s face slammed into the ground as he failed to haul in a Joe Milton III deep ball in the second half.
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Keyton was slow getting up and went straight to the injury tent after making it to the sideline.
Tennessee has had modest injury luck this season. Starting linebacker Keenan Pili is out for an extended amount of time with an injury he suffered in the Virginia game, backup defensive tackle Elijah Simmons has yet to make his season debut after sustaining a lower body injury in fall practice and center Cooper Mays has also yet to make his season debut.
Mays’ absence is the most puzzling. The Preseason All-SEC center underwent a “minor procedure” during fall camp with head coach Josh Heupel expressing optimism that he’d return for the season opener.
But after practicing and dressing out each of the last two weeks, Mays has yet to make his season debut.
“We’ll see next week,” Heupel said of Mays postgame. “At the end of the day, he didn’t feel like he was ready for this one. Hopefully we will have him back.”
Tennessee returns to the field next week in a critical SEC East matchup against South Carolina. Kickoff from Neyland Stadium is at 7:30 p.m. ET. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
