Tennessee defensive tackle Jaxson Moi is off the injury report and is ready to roll as the Vols head on the road to face Mississippi State Saturday afternoon. The Vols listed Moi as “probable” on the availability report both Wednesday through Friday night before removing him on Saturday afternoon.
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.
But after missing three straight games, there was positivity early this week that the starting defensive tackle would return against the Bulldogs. Moi posted a positive message on his Instagram story Tuesday night which indicated he could return to the field against Mississippi State.
“God, thank you is truly all I can say,” Moi wrote. “Let’s ride!”
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.
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But Moi was preparing to step into a bigger role this season before suffering the injury against Syracuse. 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 has yet to return to the field this season. Hobbs is out against Mississippi State this week but could return against Arkansas following the open date.
Tennessee is a 7.5-point favorites against Mississippi State as of Friday. 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.
