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Tennessee Football: Vols Plagued by Injuries at Key Spots

By Caleb Calhoun

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In a 31-24 overtime loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, the Tennessee football team was hit with critical injuries and suspensions. Can the Volunteers recover?

This is not to absolve Butch Jones and Co. from their late collapse. There is no excuse for blowing a 17-0 lead.

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But if you had asked Jones in this game which players the Vols could least afford to lose, Curt Maggitt and Jashon Robertson would be at the top of his list.

And both players were knocked out.

From the start of the season, we had named Maggitt as the player the Vols could least afford to lose throughout the year. He has struggled with injuries in the past, but him and Derek Barnett were supposed to be deadly pass rushers that make things easier on the young linebackers and defensive tackles.

He was going to be that much more crucial in this game, as pressure from the edge is one way to stop a high-powered passing attack in an air raid offense.

So when Maggitt went down in the first half on a special teams play, one half of the Vols’ elite pass rush was neutralized. They played as great as they could after that, but he was clearly missing in the fourth quarter, as the Vols missed plenty of sack opportunities with Mayfield’s ability to roll out of the pocket.

Meanwhile, on the offensive side of the ball, the biggest issue last year against the Oklahoma Sooners was the left side of the offensive line. The unit as a whole got destroyed by Oklahoma’s complex front seven, especially Eric Striker. So this game, his adjustment was to move Jashon Robertson, his best lineman, and Kyler Kerbyson, his best tackle, to the left side.

And while the line struggled, it did the best it could…until Robertson went out.

Once Robertson began to battle an injury of his own, the Vols got hit with multiple plays that went for a significant loss of yardage, twice when they were deep in Oklahoma territory. That was the one position the Vols did not want to have to lose anybody in, and they lost their best lineman.

To add to all of this, on top of Danny O’Brien’s suspension at defensive tackle, Kendall Vickers also got hurt, forcing Kahlil McKenzie and Shy Tuttle to jump into the game. And let’s be fair…they were not ready.

And finally, in the first overtime, Todd Kelly Jr. went out, leaving the Vols without a true strong safety for the second straight week. And like clockwork, Malik Foreman had no help when he slipped on the next touchdown that Oklahoma scored.

Injuries are never an excuse, and everybody suffers from them.

But the biggest problem for the Vols right now is that they are still extremely young, so injuries to their starters force lots of freshmen to be thrust into the game.

And on Saturday, they lost the two players they could least afford to lose. That helped cause an epic late-game collapse.

Next: Tennessee vs. Oklahoma: Grading the Vols

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