Tennessee downgraded starting defensive tackle Jaxson Moi to “doubtful” on its Friday night availability report and he is unlikely to play against No. 6 Georgia Saturday afternoon according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The Vols listed Moi as “questionable” on their Wednesday and Thursday night availability report.
Head coach Josh Heupel rarely goes into much detail when discussing injuries but had expressed optimism earlier in the week that Moi would be able to go including Thursday afternoon on the Mike Keith Show.
“Yeah, we anticipate most of those guys will be ready to go,” Heupel said on the Mike Keith Show Thursday. “We get to kick off and whoever is in the ball game has got to do a great job of winning their one-on-ones. And when you’re getting doubled, holding the point, not allowing them to scrape off and get off on their second level fitters or linebackers or safety for a single high too. But nobody different than what you’ve already seen. Anticipate those guys being ready to go.”
Moi suffered an injury three plays into the Syracuse game and did not play a week ago against ETSU as he targeted a return for the Vols’ SEC opener against Georgia.
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The 6-foot-2, 305-pound lineman played 246 snaps at defensive tackle for Tennessee a season ago after transferring in from Stanford following his sophomore season. Moi totaled eight tackles and two sacks a season ago as a rotational defensive tackle.
Moi is stepping into a bigger role this season after Tennessee lost top defensive tackles Omarr Norman-Lott, Omari Thomas and Elijah Simmons from last season’s team. Moi began the season as a starting defensive tackle beside Bryson Eason.
The California native’s injury has been all the more significant because Tennessee defensive tackle Daevin Hobbs suffered an injury in fall camp and is out for Saturday’s showdown against Georgia. With Hobbs and Moi sidelined for much of the last two games, strongside defensive end Dominic Bailey has slid over to defensive tackle while Nathan Robinson and Jamal Wallace have also played more snaps besides veteran starter Bryson Eason.
Robinson nor Wallace had played significant snaps entering this season and have had varying degrees of success so far this season. The redshirt sophomore Robinson did turn in a strong performance against Syracuse though he exited multiple times with injury.
Kickoff between Tennessee and Georgia is at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe are on the call for ABC.
