Tennessee defensive tackle Jaxson Moi is seemingly out for the Vols’ Music City Bowl matchup against Illinois. Moi is on the field pregame with a sling on his left arm and will miss the final game of his collegiate career.
Moi suffered the injury on Vanderbilt’s opening drive in the Vols’ regular-season finale loss against the Commodores last month in Knoxville. He started eight games for Tennessee in the regular season and was one of Tennessee’s top interior defensive linemen.
The senior defensive tackle recorded 11 tackles and one sack in 237 total plays during the regular season. Moi earned a 62.3 PFF grade for his play over the course of the regular season.
Tennessee has some experience playing without Moi this season. He suffered an upper-body injury during the Vols’ season-opening win over Syracuse and missed the ensuing three games before returning to the field against Mississippi State in early October.
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With Moi sidelined, Bryson Eason and Daevin Hobbs will likely start for Tennessee at defensive tackle. Behind Eason and Hobbs, redshirt sophomore Nathan Robinson and freshmen Ethan Utley and Isaiah Campbell will step into bigger roles.
Tennessee football went 8-4 (4-4 SEC) in the regular season. The Vols took care of business against struggling SEC teams including Florida and Arkansas, but failed to get any quality wins. Tennessee lost to all four teams they faced that finished the season ranked.
The Fighting Illini entered the season with high expectations after going 10-3 with a bowl win over South Carolina a season ago. They disappointed a bit this year, posting an 8-4 (5-4 Big 10) record. Illinois lost by 53 points against Indiana and also lost to Ohio State, Washington and Wisconsin. Its best win came against USC back in late September.
Kickoff between Tennessee and Illinois is at 5:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday evening at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. ESPN is broadcasting the matchup.
