Tennessee football has had relatively good injury luck so far this season. Losing defensive back Jourdan Thomas for the season is the only serious long term injury that Tennessee has suffered.
But a combination of injuries proved critical in the Vols’ SEC opening win over Oklahoma. Starting left tackle Lance Heard missed the game with a foot injury. Then John Campbell exited the game in the second quarter with an injury, forcing Tennessee to play a pair of backup offensive tackles the rest of the way.
Depth along the offensive line is one of the biggest questions on Tennessee’s roster and it’s all the more true at offensive tackle. That’s what makes those two injuries so significant. But Heupel expressed optimism during his Wednesday press conference that the dup will be available against Arkansas.
“I feel like we’ll have both those guys when we get to Fayetteville,” Heupel said of Campbell and Heard.
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Dayne Davis started in place of Heard at left tackle against Oklahoma while Larry Johnson came in to play left tackle with Davis sliding to the right side when Campbell left the game in the second quarter.
Davis struggled against the Sooners’ strong pass rush including giving up a strip sack in the second quarter which set Oklahoma up deep in Tennessee territory. Johnson turned in a strong performance against the Sooners though Tennessee called a conservative game after he entered.
“There’s a lot of good things that both of those guys did,” Heupel said of the duo. “There’s some things that we can be cleaner in. Some of that is communication that gets to them. Some of it is them. Structural change that we saw during the course of the football game, too. Those guys being a little bit better adjusting at it. All in all, a lot of really good things. Helped us get a win. So got to continue to improve. That’s them and all of us.”
Tennessee has an open date this week before heading to Fayetteville to face Arkansas on Oct. 5 at Donald W Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
