The Tennessee Vols’ offensive line was hit hard by the Texas Longhorns last Saturday in a 20-17 loss. The Vols had a very hard time keeping future first round pick Colin Simmons and the rest of his teammates off Faizon Brandon, nor could they create space in the running game for DeSean Bishop and the ground attack.

Part of that was due to the loss of guard Wendell Moe, Jr. early in the game. He stayed down after a play and was tended to before exiting the field. He had to be helped off the field, which is never a good sign.

Josh Heupel was asked about Moe’s status on Monday during his press conference, and he offered a short dismissive response alluding to the injury report on Wednesday.

Well, according to VolQuest, the wait is over, and the result is a worst case scenario. Per VolQuest, Moe is out for the rest of the season with a lower body injury.

OL Wendell Moe, Jr. out for the rest of the season, per VolQuest

Moe, a fifth-year senior, is 6-2, 330 pounds and transferred to Tennessee from Arizona following the 2024 season.

It’s obviously a tough blow for an offensive line that needed a pick me up after Saturday’s rough showing. Tennessee’s line play all the way across had problems, but the guard play was particularly tough to watch.

Sham Umarov and likely Donovan Haslam will likely be called upon to man the guard spots around Sam Pendleton moving forward, as they did against Texas, and they’ll need to find a way to be more productive than what we saw last weekend, or Tennessee’s once soaring rushing attack is going to be grounded, which will drag the offense down with it. It’s worth noting that Umarov is on the availability report this week as questionable.

We’ll find out soon enough if Tennessee can turn things around without their standout guard starting on Saturday in a crucial matchup with the Auburn Tigers in Knoxville.