‘I would play him…he’s good as heck’ – Syracuse coach thinks Vols should play a player that almost certainly won’t play in opener

Syracuse Orange coach Fran Brown thinks the Tennessee Vols should play a player in the season-opener on Saturday that almost certainly won’t be playing. Brown met with reporters on Monday to preview Syracuse’s game against Tennessee on Saturday. The second-year coach said that he would play Vols cornerback Jermod McCoy. “They got one of the […]

Zach Ragan — Tennessee Volunteers News Writer
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Syracuse Orange coach Fran Brown thinks the Tennessee Vols should play a player in the season-opener on Saturday that almost certainly won’t be playing.

Brown met with reporters on Monday to preview Syracuse’s game against Tennessee on Saturday. The second-year coach said that he would play Vols cornerback Jermod McCoy.

“They got one of the best corners in the country in No. 3 (McCoy),” said Brown. “Just watching him play…I hear they don’t know if he’ll play. But I would play him if I was them — he’s good as heck, he can play football.”

McCoy suffered a torn ACL shortly after the 2024 season wrapped up. The former Oregon State cornerback has aggressively attacked his rehab, and he’s been practicing in a limited role, but it seems unlikely that he’ll play against Syracuse on Saturday.

The general feeling with McCoy is that the earliest he’ll see action for the Vols is in Week 3 against the Georgia Bulldogs — and even that may be too soon for the dynamic cornerback to return.

If Tennessee is going to make a run in the postseason, they’ll need McCoy on the field. That’s why the expectation is that the Vols will take things slow with him to start the season — the last thing they want is for the Texas native to suffer a setback because he returned too soon.

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