Jermod McCoy makes surprise Tennessee practice return with Syracuse 3 weeks out

Talk about a nice little surprise to get your weekend going. Throughout fall camp, a major topic of conversation has been the uncertainty surrounding standout Tennessee football cornerback and All-American Jermod McCoy. As you all know, he's working his way back from a torn ACL.

McCoy wasn't able to get on the field previously this summer, but things changed on Friday, with him being a limited participant during practice. What's that? Oh, it's hope that he's going to be ready to play in the regular season sooner than many of us anticipated. Too early to start thinking about him playing in Week 1?

Tennessee CB Jermod McCoy practiced for the 1st time after tearing his ACL

As best reporter Adam Sparks noted in his post above, there's still a LONG way back for McCoy. He wasn't a full participant during Friday's session, more focusing on individual drills and shaking off some rust. Still, him being suited up with a helmet on had to be a special feeling for the playmaker.

A projected first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, McCoy was in Texas this past winter and he suffered his serious knee injury while working out back home. It was terrible luck for him and the fear was that he could potentially miss the first month of the new season.

Now, though, there's new-found optimism that maybe, just maybe he can be out there either in late August or early September. McCoy still isn't close to game shape and Josh Heupel has said multiple times that the Vols aren't going to rush him back too soon.

Depending on when he's able to fully practice with the rest of the defense, it will give us all more of a realistic timeline for when he'll be good to go for full contact. Might the best move be to have him sit for the first two weeks and then make an impact vs. Georgia in Week 3? That's on Heupel, but the good news is that McCoy is working his way back and looking strong too.