Following the bye, Tennessee football is going to be back in action this week. Come Saturday, Neyland Stadium is going to have more than 100,000 people on hand to watch the Vols look to take down Arkansas. However, it looks like one key playmaker won't be back on the field as expected.
Plenty of eyes have been on All-American cornerback Jermod McCoy, who has been off the field as he keeps working his way back from a torn ACL. McCoy, when healthy, is no question one of the top cornerbacks in the country and plenty of scouts agree.
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In some disappointing news for head man Josh Heupel, however, McCoy is now not expected to take the field against the Razorbacks. On Monday, Pete Nakos reported that it's 'unlikely' that the talented CB will be available. So, why the setback? Because he's yet to be medically cleared:
Tennessee's Josh Heupel said Monday that cornerback Jermod McCoy “continues to do a great job in his rehab” but did not offer up a timeline for his return.
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) October 6, 2025
Sources tell @clowfb and I for @On3sports that McCoy is unlikely to play against Arkansas.https://t.co/HvIUaTgOCO pic.twitter.com/Angv4XvDNF
Jermod McCoy is now not expected to play for Tennessee vs. Arkansas
This is not the news that the Tennessee faithful were hoping for. Yes, Arkansas is reeling a bit and the program decided to part ways with Sam Pittman. Bobby Petrino has since taken over as the interim coach and the Vols are major favorites for this one.
However, in a perfect world, McCoy was going to play this weekend and have one game under his belt leading up to the massive showdown next week on the road against Alabama. That's a night game for the third Saturday in October and the Vols need to be at full strength for that one.
This obviously includes having McCoy at close to 100 percent. With Tennessee on a bye last week, the hope was that the talented CB would benefit from the time off and be good to go against Arkansas. That's now likely not going to happen, which has everyone wondering just exactly when he'll be able to return. It won't be in Week 7, but what about Week 8? It's unknown if that will happen or not.