It was obvious Tennessee football would be without Rickey Gibson III against the Georgia Bulldogs after Josh Heupel said last week he would be out for an extended period of time. Gibson injured himself in the Vols’ 45-26 season-opening win over the Syracuse Orange. However, the hope was that Jermod McCoy would be back.
Well, it doesn’t look like that will be the case either. Pete Thamel reported Monday that both Gibson and McCoy would be out against the Dawgs. McCoy, who tore his ACL in January, was expected to be out the first two games, but the hope was that Heupel was saving him for UGA. He’s not.
However, even with those two players out, Tennessee football still has the injury edge over the Dawgs this weekend. Sure, the Vols are more certain to have players out, but they are players at the one position where they can afford injuries right now.
UT has found two more gems at the position in Colorado Buffaloes transfer Colton Hood and true freshman Ty Redmond. Hood looks like he could be another McCoy, and Redmond has the highest PFF grade of any true freshman cornerback in the nation.
Add in Jalen McMurray’s veteran leadership and Boo Carter getting his groove back, and this unit is still solid. It’s also facing a Georgia team that looks awful offensively behind Gunner Stockton. As a result, while not having McCoy and Gibson will hamper UT’s ability to have a huge advantage, the Vols could be deadly here.
Meanwhile, in the trenches, the Vols all of a sudden are closer to Georgia than they’ve ever been. The Dawgs have been without key offensive linemen Juan Gaston and Earnest Greene. That Gaston is a true freshman suggests they don’t have the depth they want there, and it showed in their 28-6 win over the Austin Peay Governors.
Sure, the Vols are also thin on the defensive line with Daevin Hobbs and Jaxson Moi hurt, but all signs point to Moi returning this week. UT having the injury edge on the trenches is actually more important because that truly does neutralize the advantage Kirby Smart has always had over Heupel.
Vegas agrees. One reason to believe Gaston and Greene are truly hurt is to look at how the line has moved from Georgia -7 when it opened Saturday night to Georgia -3.5 on Monday. It moved after Thamel’s report, which is even weirder. Oddsmakers aren’t supposed to have that type of intel, but they usually do.
As a result, it’s clear that despite what is being reported, Georgia’s offensive line issues are a bigger concern than Tennessee football being without its two starting quarterbacks. We still don’t know how well Hood and Redmond will perform under the lights, but they are off to a good start.
