The Thursday night availability report for Tennessee football’s matchup at Alabama is here. With the Vols dealing with some injury, it’s a lot of familiar names involved.
Tennessee’s game against the Tide will be the fifth time Josh Heupel has coached against Alabama. He is 2-2 overall, 0-2 on the road and 1-0 against Kalen DeBoer. Kickoff on Saturday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET and will air on ABC.
Here’s the list for both teams and what you need to know.
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OUT – CB Rickey Gibson III
Rickey Gibson, after suffering an injury early in the season opener against Syracuse, will miss Saturday’s game against Alabama. When asked the Monday following the win over the Orange, Josh Heupel gave some discouraging news.
“Rickey will be out for an extended period here,” Heupel said. “How long, I don’t have the exact timeline on. But he’ll be out for an extended time.”
Gibson entered his junior year as a second-year starter with high expectations. He was named a Preseason All-SEC Third-Team member by Athlon. As a sophomore, he produced 32 tackles, two tackles for loss, five passes defended and a forced fumble.
OUT – CB Jermod McCoy
Jermod McCoy, a preseason All-American and projected first-round draft pick, also remains inactive. He suffered an offseason ACL injury and returned to practice in a limited form this fall.
There is no clear timeline for his return at this point. Heupel commented on the chance he could be back sooner than later last Monday.
“Jermod continues to do a great job in his rehab with our medical staff, our strength staff,” Heupel said. “Somebody told me there was a report out there of a certain ball game that he’s focused in on as far as returning. I think that’s unfair. Whoever put that out there, I don’t think truly understands Jermod and the situation. He’s done a really good job.
“He’s got more to go. I think it’s all about him being prepared to go play. There’s a lot of things that go into that. You look at the position he plays, all the reactionary work that you have to have in so your always balancing his ability to be prepared and short-term, long-term health as well.”
In his first year with UT, McCoy managed 44 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss. He came up with four interceptions, as well, including a one-handed snag against Ryan Williams of Alabama and a circus catch in the end zone at Vanderbilt.
OUT – WR Radarious Jackson
After playing reserve snaps as an outside receiver in the first three games of the year, freshman Radarious Jackson was ruled out for the Vols’ game against UAB due to a hit he suffered in the loss to Georgia. He would go on to miss both Mississippi State and Arkansas, as well.
Jackson has played a limited role to this point before his injury. He did not record a catch against Syracuse in the opener, but notched three receptions for 35 yards in the dominant win over ETSU. Against Georgia, he caught one pass for five yards.
OUT – WR Travis Smith Jr.
Freshman wide receiver Travis Smith Jr. didn’t appear on the report until Friday night of last week. He made his debut as doubtful. On game day, he was downgraded to inactive. He has been one of the first receivers off the bench, but has only played sparingly in SEC games. He’ll be forced to sit out another week with the lower-body injury, as well.
QUESTIONABLE – TE Ethan Davis
Ethan Davis was a late addition to the report heading into Mississippi State, but was ultimately ruled out. He also missed the game against UAB the week before. Without him, it was primarily Miles Kitselman who played tight end, but Jack Van Dorselaer also got some run. On game day against Arkansas, Davis was downgraded to inactive. Now, he’s back to questionable.
PROBABLE – RB DeSean Bishop
DeSean Bishop has been the feature back for Tennessee this season after the departure of Dylan Sampson. However, late in the game vs. Arkansas, Bishop went down with an injury and did not return to the game. However, he stayed on the sideline and was walking around without any noticeable limp.
On Monday, Heupel gave this update.
“I feel like DeSean will be ready to go in this one, but we trust all those guys,” Heupel said. “Peyton had a great game the other night, finished it off in four minutes really, really good way. Couple goal line situations. Star’s played really well throughout the course of the year, and the young guys are ready to go play too.”
Other Tennessee players
- OUT (FIRST HALF ONLY) – LB Edwin Spillman
- AVAILABLE – WR Braylon Staley
Alabama
- OUT – LB Qua Russaw
- OUT – LB Jah-Marien Latham
- OUT – LB Cayden Jones
- OUT – WR Derek Meadows
- OUT – DL Jeremiah Beaman
- QUESTIONABLE – TE Danny Lewis Jr.
- PROBABLE – WR Jaylen Mbakwe
- PROBABLE – RB Jam Miller
