Tennessee Vols lose starter for the season, and it thrusts a promising young player into a crucial role
The Vols’ offense suffered a tough loss in Tennessee’s win at Georgia Tech.
Tennessee went into Atlanta and walked out with a big 45-24 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday night.
It was a game that saw a number of players on both teams get banged up to varying degrees. As such, Josh Heupel was asked on Monday during his press conference about an update on players who got dinged up in the game.
Heupel responded with a blockbuster: starting tight end Ethan Davis suffered an ACL injury that will end his season.
Tennessee loses starting TE Ethan Davis for the season with an ACL injury
“Obviously, Ethan Davis, ACL injury, will be gone for the remainder of the year,” Heupel said.
Davis made a very quick impact against Georgia Tech. On the game’s third play, Davis took a pass from Faizon Brandon and rumbled to the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown on the Vols’ first drive.
Davis had one more catch and finished with two catches for 26 yards and the score. Although not definitive, it looks like Davis suffered the injury in the fourth quarter with Tennessee up 31-17. A Georgia Tech player appeared to fall on the back of Davis’ legs, and Davis got up, motioned to the sideline and headed off the field.
It’s just a brutal, brutal loss for Tennessee’s offense because Davis showed the ability to exploit the middle of the field and add another element beyond the Vols’ bruising running game and explosive receiving group.
TE DaSaahn Brame set to take on an expanded role
Now, as with all injuries, it’s next man up for Tennessee, and that next man is sophomore DaSaahn Brame. Brame has had moments, but still has yet to show the consistency from week to week.
Brame has shown himself to be a willing and capable blocker (holding penalty on Saturday night notwithstanding), and that’s something that Tennessee will need to continue to be the case in their 12 personnel packages.
Can he develop this year into more of a pass catching threat? He has had flashes, but very limited production in two years so far, with just 7 catches for 70 yards across two seasons.
Tennessee also has South Alabama transfer Trent Thomas and Luca Wolf in the mix. But if the Vols are going to get the most out of the rest of the tight end room behind Davis, a big leap forward from Brame in this expanded opportunity needs to happen.
