Tennessee linebacker Keenan Pili lost for the year
Tennessee Football will be without senior linebacker Keenan Pili for the remainder of season. Pili was hurt on the opening drive for the Vols in their 23-17 overtime win over Florida.
Head coach Josh Heupel announced Monday at his weekly press conference that Pili has suffered a torn ACL.
“Keenan has an ACL injury and will be done for the season,” Heupel stated. “He’s a great leader who will continue to lead inside our building. We are heartbroken for him and his family. He’s a guy who does absolutely everything right. He’s a special player and a special person too. He has a great future.”
Pili entered the Florida game as Tennessee’s leading tackler through the first five games of the season, with 28.0 total tackles (11 solo, 17 assists), including 1.5 tackles for loss. He also has two quarterback hits.
He had a season-high 10 tackles last week in Tennessee’s 19-14 loss at Arkansas. Pili had five tackles at Oklahoma, three tackles against Kent State, four against North Carolina State and two in the opener against Chattanooga. He had 0.5 tackles for loss against NC State and 1.0 at Oklahoma.
Before the knee injury Pili entered the Florida game dealing with a labrum issue from an injury he suffered at Arkansas that he was trying to play thru.
“I’m not sure there’s a better representative of what a Volunteer is than Keenan Pili,” Heupel said Saturday night. “You talk about a selfless guy that cares about the people around him way more than he cares about himself.
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“That’s an elite competitor, great leader, tough as nails, athletic, explosive, everything that you want. Just he’s a dude, man. Special dude.”
Pili transferred to Tennessee from BYU before last season, but he was injured in the season-opening win over Virginia at Nissan Stadium in Nashville and was lost for the season.
With the season ending injury to Pili, Jeremiah Telander takes over as the starter in the middle. Telander had 18 tackles on the season with a tackle for loss a PBU, and a fumble recovery.
The challenge for Tennessee at linebacker now is depth. Kalib Perry will work some in the middle behind Telander in the middle. Jalen Smith is in the two deep behind Arion Carter on the outside.
Tennessee has been without freshman Edwin Spillman for the last three weeks and suddenly a someone deep linebacker room has gotten thin.
