Earlier in the week, it was confirmed that Tennessee football cornerbacks Rickey Gibson III and Jermod McCoy would be out for Week 3 against Georgia. It was expected news. Now, though, all eyes are on Jaxson Moi and David Sanders Jr.
With the injury report coming out on Wednesday night, the bad news was that Moi and Sanders were on there. However, the good news here is that the door appears to be open for both of them to play this weekend, as they're officially listed as questionable. Will the two get healthy in time to put the pads on for the SEC opener?
Predicting the College GameDay guest picker for Tennessee football vs. Georgia
Tennessee starting defensive tackle Jaxson Moi and offensive lineman David Sanders Jr. are both questionable for the UGA game. Moi left the first quarter of the opener against Syracuse with an upper body injury. Sanders missed the first two games. pic.twitter.com/1sHiu6tEvz
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 11, 2025
Jaxson Moi and David Sanders Jr. are both questionable for Tennessee vs. Georgia
Moi, a former Stanford transfer, injured himself in the season-opening win against Stanford. It was an elbow injury for the big-bodied defensive lineman, which led to him missing the Week 2 win at Neyland against East Tennessee State.
On the offensive line, Sanders hasn't been able to play yet this year due to a shoulder injury suffered in camp. After missing Week 1 vs. Syracuse, Heupel said that he expected Sanders to be good to go for Week 2 against ETSU, but him being ruled out the Saturday morning before kickoff left countless people concerned.
Sanders, a 5-star signee from the 2025 class, is very much up in the air for the tilt with Georgia. With Sanders out of action, Jesse Perry has stepped into the starting right tackle role and he was fantastic last weekend in the 72-17 win. So much in fact, he was graded as the top RT in the country by Pro Football Focus.
Highest Graded Offensive Tackles from Week 2💪 pic.twitter.com/5QBaM4e6Hk
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 9, 2025
With Perry's emergence as a brick wall on the outside, it could lead to Heupel giving Sanders an extra week to get himself ready to get on the field. We won't know for sure until Saturday arrives what his status will be for this monster battle.
The Vols are underdogs for this one and Georgia arrives to UT with an eight-game winning streak against them. Heupel is 0-5 against Georgia too, which is brutal. The time to change the narrative surrounding the rivalry is now. Getting Moi and Sanders both back in time will surely help Tennessee's chances of potentially taking down Kirby Smart and the Dawgs.