Tennessee football’s defense has been very injured early in the 2025 season, missing a number of starters due to injury. The Vols are poised to get one of those starters back Saturday as they travel to Starkville to face Mississippi State.
Starting defensive tackle Jaxson Moi is expected to return to the field and play against Mississippi State Saturday afternoon barring any setbacks, according to On3’s Pete Nakos and Chris Low.
Josh Heupel expressed optimism that Moi would return to the field Saturday during his Monday press conference while also pointing the media to the Wednesday night SEC Availability Report. Moi posted on a positive message on his instagram story Tuesday night, indicating that he could return to the field against the Bulldogs.
“God, thank you is truly all I can say,” Moi wrote. “Let’s ride!”
Moi suffered an injury on just the third play of Tennessee football’s season-opening win over Syracuse. He missed the ETSU game due to injury and pushed to try and return against Georgia. Tennessee listed Moi as questionable to begin Georgia week before downgrading him to doubtful Friday and then to officially out on Saturday.
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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. Hbegan 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 has yet to return to the field this season. It’s uncertain whether Hobbs will make his season debut against Mississippi State.
Tennessee is a touchdown favorites against Mississippi State as of Wednesday afternoon. The Vols are looking for their first SEC win after falling to Georgia in their conference opener two weeks prior. Mississippi State is off to a 4-0 start with a quartet of non conference wins.
Kickoff between Tennessee and Mississippi State is at 4:15 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. Dave Neal, Fozzy Whittaker and Morgan Uber are on the call for the SEC Network.
