Tennessee football’s Wednesday night availability report is out ahead of its Saturday night showdown against rival Florida at Neyland Stadium.
The most noteworthy part of the availability report was that status of a trio of Tennessee receivers who all suffered injuries in the second half of the Vols’ loss at Arkansas.
Tennessee listed starting receivers Bru McCoy and Squirrel White as probable while listing key backup Dont’e Thornton as questionable. While Thornton is technically Chris Brazzell’s backup, he’s actually been Tennessee’s top receiver through five games and leads the Vols both in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
McCoy suffered an injury on the second play of the second half when he caught a short pass and was down after the play. The super senior receiver returned to the game sporadically in the second half but was not in the game for either of Tennessee’s two final drives of the game.
The super senior receiver is Nico Iamaleava’s safety blanket and ranks second on Tennessee’s team in both receptions (14) and receiving yards (209).
More From RTI: See The Complete Tennessee-Florida Wednesday Night Injury Report
Thornton got injured just two plays after McCoy did while blocking on a screen pass completed to White. The play happened on the Tennessee sideline so Thornton didn’t go down but did limp off the field and only returned briefly following the play.
White, went down with an injury after he was unable to corral a low Iamaleava pass on the second to last drive of the game. White did not return to the game and was wearing a sling following the game’s conclusion. It’s been a disappointing start for White in his junior season at Tennessee. The slot receiver’s caught just 15 passes for 159 yards through the first five games of the season after totaling 803 yards as a sophomore a season ago.
Tennessee has plenty of depth at receiver and a number of players could step up into bigger roles if any of the trip can’t go. If Thornton doesn’t play, Tulane transfer Chris Brazzell will play more snaps. If either McCoy or White end up missing the game, Chas Nimrod and five-star Mike Matthews will get more playing time.
Florida’s initial injury report for the game also provided positive injury news at receiver. Star Eugene Wilson III was not on the availability report after missing the Gators’ last three games.
Kickoff at Neyland Stadium is at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick and Kris Budden are on the call for ESPN.
