Josh Heupel confirms injury news for key Tennessee Vols player
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel confirmed on Wednesday during the weekly SEC coaches teleconference that linebacker Keenan Pili will miss time with an injury that he suffered during UT's season-opening win against the Virginia Cavaliers. VolQuest first reported Pili's injury news. According to Heupel, Pili is out for the Austin Peay game on Saturday […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel confirmed on Wednesday during the weekly SEC coaches teleconference that linebacker Keenan Pili will miss time with an injury that he suffered during UT's season-opening win against the Virginia Cavaliers.
VolQuest first reported Pili's injury news.
According to Heupel, Pili is out for the Austin Peay game on Saturday and he's expected to miss "a couple of weeks", which puts his availability for the Florida game on September 16 in serious doubt.
(Heupel added that he doesn't expect this to be a long-term injury for Pili.)
Pili, who transferred to Tennessee from BYU earlier this year, played well in Tennessee's 49-13 win against Virginia. Pili totaled four tackles against the Cavaliers and received a game ball after the game according to Heupel.
With Pili sidelined, sophomore linebacker Elijah Herring should be in line for more playing time. Herring led Tennessee in tackles with five against Virginia (UT rotated a lot at linebacker which is why the tackle numbers weren't larger).
Herring is an extremely talented player who has star potential in the SEC. True freshman linebacker Arion Carter will likely also see more snaps with Pili out.
There shouldn't be a ton of drop off in play, if any, but the loss of Pili for the next couple of weeks will certainly hurt Tennessee's depth, which has been an early strength for the Vols. It's an unfortunate development with a key game against Florida coming up in less than two weeks.
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Featured image via Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
