It’s still unclear whether Tennessee football will be without one of its top defenders during its trip to Lexington to play Kentucky this weekend. Arion Carter, one of the Vols’ starting linebackers and leaders on defense, came up on the initial availability report as ‘questionable’ on Wednesday. Now, heading into game day, he remains at this status. Carter has no prior history of injury this season.
Carter has started in each of Tennessee’s games this year as the weak-side linebacker opposite of Jeremiah Telander. On the season, Carter has produced 61 tackles, good for a team high. He’s also notched one pass deflected, one sack and forced a fumble.
If Carter is unable to go on Saturday, it’ll likely be Edwin Spillman stepping up to replace him in the starting unit. William Inge’s room will also likely deploy freshman Jadon Perlotte, who has earned increased playing time in the past two SEC games. Other options are freshman Jaedon Harmon and second-year Jordan Burns, who have seen varying degrees of playing time.
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However, one of the additional options off the bench at linebacker joins Carter on the report as questionable. Ben Bolton is listed for the first time this season and remains questionable for the contest after debuting on the list on Wednesday.
On the year, the play at linebacker has been up and down. Tackling and stepping up in the run game has been an issue at times, but the position group has also stepped up to make big plays for lost yardage. If Carter isn’t able to go, it’d be a massive blow to this effort, though.
Kickoff in Lexington is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. ET and will air on SEC Network. Players listed as out for the game on UT include cornerbacks Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson III and wide receiver Travis Smith Jr. Also listed as questionable features tight end Ethan Davis and wide receiver Radarious Jackson.
