Jourdan Thomas lost for season with knee injury
Tennessee defensive back Jourdan Thomas will miss the 2024 season sources tell Volquest. He suffered a knee injury on Saturday at practice which will require surgery.
Thomas, an Alabama native, was thought to be the odds on favorite to start at nickel for Tennessee this fall. He is one of the key leaders in the secondary according to Josh Heupel last week.
“We have good leadership inside of that room,” Heupel said. “Andre Turrentine is a guy who does a dynamic job in a leadership role. Will Brooks has been around for a long time. He does a nice job. Jourdan Thomas, those are all guys who are on our leadership council as well. The young guys that are in that room, or the new guys, are really mature in who they are and how they compete every day. It’s a group that feeds off of each other.”
He saw action in 12 games with one start as a sophomore while logging 18 tackles, two tackles for loss and one blocked punt. He played 219 total defensive snaps on the season.
In the season finale against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, he tallied three tackles and a tackle for loss in the win. He made his first career start at STAR against No. 1 Georgia posted one tackle before exiting the game due to injury.
Thomas has battled the injury bug
He garnered a career-high 74 defensive snaps at No. 14 Missouri and finished the game with a career-high seven tackles.
As a freshman he played in all 13 games, mostly on special teams and as a reserve at safety. He saw significant action vs. UT Martin and registered one tackle. He would gather a season-high four tackles in impressive defensive performance vs. No. 19 Kentucky.
A former high school quarterback from Montgomery, Alabama, who enrolled at UT in June 2022, Thomas was rated a consensus three-star recruit by all major recruiting services.
The injury to Thomas opens the door for Boo Carter.
