Due to injury, Tennessee football was without two key pieces on its defensive front against Georgia. The Vols missed defensive tackles Daevin Hobbs and Jaxson Moi in the game, and the presence was felt in UT’s attempts to stop the Bulldogs’ rush attack. In the case of Hobbs, it was a preseason injury that has held him out multiple weeks. For Moi, he went down early in the opening win over Syracuse.
On Monday, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with the media and gave what may be a positive update on both. For Moi, he’s day-to-day. For Hobbs, he’s progressing, although there isn’t much of a timeline, still.
“Moi, day to day. Hobbs continues to do a really good job in his rehab,” Heupel said. “So, how fast that progresses here, I can’t give you an answer today. But he’s done a really good job. Hopefully, we’ll have him back soon, too.”
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Tennessee likely won’t need either tackle this Saturday, though. The Vols are hosting UAB, which is projected to be a relatively simple win for UT barring a total disaster. This means that even if either lineman is good to go, Tennessee may still opt to hold them out in preparation for another SEC bout the following week.
After the matchup with the Blazers, the Vols head to Starkville to face Mississippi State. The Bulldogs sit just outside the top 25 at the moment and have another weaker opponent on the schedule before hosting UT. This means the battle could be between a pair of ranked teams on the road.
For Tennessee to win that game, getting the tackles back could go a long way. Without either of them, Tennessee has started veterans Bryson Eason and Dominic Bailey on the interior. For Bailey, it’s a complete position change, with him spending his career at defensive end prior to the injuries. Behind those two, it’s been rotations of first-year contributors Nathan Robinson, Ethan Utley and Jamal Wallace.
