Tennessee at Georgia: Friday injury report revealed

Eyes will turn to Athens this Saturday when Tennessee visits Georgia for a massive SEC showdown with conference title and College Football Playoff implications at stake. And the status of Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava will be closely watched entering the weekend.

Iamaleava has been dealing with a concussion that he suffered in Tennessee’s win over the weekend and has been working toward playing all week. Signs late in the week seem to indicate he’s close to be cleared, and he is off the injury report after On3’s Pete Nakos reported he was in line to start.

And on top of Iamaleava, there’s a key offensive weapon out for the hosting Bulldogs: Running back Trevor Etienne.

See the full injury reports below.

Full Friday injury reports for Georgia, Tennessee

Georgia Bulldogs

• RB Roderick Robinson II – Out
• RB Trevor Etienne – Out
• RB Branson Robinson – Out
• DL Joseph Jonah-Ajonye – Out
• WR Anthony Evans – Questionable
• RB Cash Jones – Questionable
• OL Micah Morris – Questionable

Tennessee Volunteers

• DB Jourdan Thomas – Out
• LB Keenan Pili – Out
• LB Edwin Spillman – Out
• RB DeSean Bishop – Out
• OL Vysen Lang – Out

Earlier in the week, head coach Josh Heupel shared a brief update on Iamaleava’s status.

While speaking to media members during the SEC teleconference, head coach Heupel shared an injury update on his young signal caller in practice this week

“Nico has been good here in the early part of the week,” Heupel said. “And at this point in the week I’ll refer everybody to the availability report that comes out later tonight. Everybody can wait with anticipation for that.”

And should Iamaleava not be able to play, Heupel expressed his confidence in backup quarterback Gaston Moore.

“Good to see him go operate the way that we know he can,” Heupel said. “He’s a smart decision-maker. Aggressive when it was time. Controlled everything from clock, playcalls, checks. Did a really good job.”

Moore wasn’t asked to do too much. Tennessee had a 13-point lead coming out of the half, so Heupel leaned on a healthy dose of the ground game.

Still, Moore went 5-of-8 passing for 38 yards. He played turnover free football, with the Volunteers recovering a fumble he had in the second half.

More than anything, Heupel was pleased with how the team responded to Moore.

“When the guys found out he was going in, like they were excited for him and they believe in him,” Heupel said. “So they went out and played the way they needed to to make his job easier for him too.”