Tennessee football will be without its pair of four-star true freshman outside receivers, Travis Smith Jr. (lower-body) and Radarious Jackson (upper-body), against Alabama. The duo, who are the first two outside options off the bench, weren’t able to go against Arkansas last week, either.
While Tennessee will have its three starting receivers in Chris Brazzell, Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley, both its backups on the outside are going to miss this game. This puts Trey Weary in a position to get the snaps on the outside if either receiver needs to miss any snaps that the Vols are in 11 personnel for. Against the Razorbacks, despite Staley getting briefly shaken up, Weary did not see any action.
Tennessee is also possibly going to be without one of its tight ends, which will make going to 12 personnel much more difficult. Ethan Davis, who has missed three straight games, is listed as questionable. Without him, freshman Jack Van Dorselaer got some snaps against Mississippi State and Arkansas, along with the large load for Miles Kitselman.
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This year, Smith has caught three passes for 29 yards. He is still on the hunt for the first touchdown of his career. All of his catches have come in the games vs. ETSU and UAB, making him also still looking to get on the stat sheet in a Power Four contest.
Smith has been one of the first players off the bench at wide receiver, though. The issue is that UT has opted to go almost solely with the starters and hasn’t gone much to the bench. When they have, it’s typically been Jackson first. However, he suffered an injury vs. Georgia that has held him out since. On the year, Jackson has recorded four catches for 40 yards.
Kickoff between Tennessee and Alabama is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. The game in Tuscaloosa will air on ABC.
