Brandon Turnage injury forces Tennessee safety into locker room in first quarter vs. UT-Martin

Tennessee went up 7-0 early on UT-Martin, but the Volunteers have suffered an early Brandon Turnage injury scare early in the first quarter.

After the Volunteers opened the scoring, the Skyhawks began marching right back the other way. UT-Martin connected on a 41-yard strike from quarterback Dresser Winn to Colton Dowell, quickly eating up a good deal of the field on the ensuing drive.

Reaching the red zone, UT-Martin took a shot to the end zone, with Winn firing a pass to the left corner of the end zone for receiver DeVonte Tanksley.

Turnage drifted back into coverage and helped break up the pass, but he came down on his butt near the back of the end zone and his momentum carried him into the wall just beyond the end zone, where his head slammed into the padding. Turnage briefly got up before stumbling in between a pair of teammates.

He then took a knee and was tended to by athletic trainers, who quickly escorted him into the locker room. Turnage was able to walk there on his own power.

“You guys were talking about this Tennessee team being down some of those starters in their secondary, well Brandon Turnage, who came out during that last UT-Martin offensive drive, coming out hitting the backstop, he’s questionable to return right now with an upper-body injury,” SEC Network sideline reporter Alyssa Lang said on the game broadcast. “He did go back into the locker room.”

Tennessee and UT-Martin off to fast-paced start

The Skyhawks would cap the drive following the Brandon Turnage injury with a 4-yard touchdown run from Zoe Roberts, knotting the game at 7-7 with 9:05 left to play in the first quarter.

Both teams managed to score in the first six minutes of the game.

And Tennessee went right back the other way after UT-Martin’s first score. The Volunteers quickly went back in front 14-7 with an eight-play, 56-yard drive that was capped by a 1-yard Princeton Fant touchdown run.

The Volunteers were already playing without a couple key players prior to the Brandon Turnage injury, with star receiver Cedric Tillman and safety Jaylen McCollough out for the game according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Tillman has not played in an SEC game yet to this season, suffering an injury against Akron on Sept. 17. He had developed a special chemistry with quarterback Hendon Hooker before going down, having 17 receptions for 246 yards and a touchdown in just three games.

McCollough, on the other hand, is not dealing with an injury. The veteran safety was arrested and charged with aggravated assault on Oct. 9, the day after Tennessee’s road win over LSU. McCollough has maintained ‘complete innocence’ regarding the arrest, and has not been available since.

“Jalen’s process is still going on, we’ll see where we’re at here at the end of the week,” Heupel said earlier in the week.