ATLANTA, Ga. — Tennessee football dealt with a number of injuries in the Vols’ 45-28 season-opening victory over Syracuse. But perhaps the most important injury note for Tennessee came before the game with freshman offensive tackle David Sanders not dressing out.
Sanders won Tennessee’s starting right tackle job and had a strong first collegiate offseason, adding 40 pounds to his thin and athletic frame. There were no signs of Sanders being injured during fall camp and no reports of him being questionable ahead of the game.
“Just late in practice on Wednesday kind of got nicked up,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said. “Anticipated him being able to play. This morning, our medical staff just felt like it probably wasn’t the right thing to do. We are always going to be mindful of our guys and their health. If they get cleared they’re ready to roll and we’ll go play with them.
“It was hard for David when he got that news. He anticipated being ready to play. There’s a lot of work he’s put into it. I thought he handled it extremely well. Great teammate today and I anticipate him being back as we get going next week.”
Tennessee has its easiest game of the season next week when they host FCS foe ETSU to Neyland Stadium. Sanders missing that game would not be significant. However, Sanders making his first career start against Georgia in two weeks would be an incredibly difficult task.
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Brian Grant is Sanders’ backup but Tennessee instead decided to shuffle the deck moving Jesse Perry from right guard to right tackle, Wendell Moe from left guard to right guard and sliding backup Sham Umarov into the starting left guard spot.
The group performed extremely well. Tennessee rushed for 246 yards on 40 carries, totaling three rushes over 20 yards including a 47-yard DeSean Bishop run. Just as importantly, Tennessee protected quarterback Joey Aguilar well.
Syracuse didn’t record a single sack and rarely pressure Aguilar as the Tennessee quarterback completed 16-of-28 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns.
The strong offensive line play across the board was a good sign even if Syracuse’s defensive line projects as one of the worst Tennessee will face this season. Still, Tennessee coming out the gates fast and dominating up front was a good sign.
