Injury Notes: No. 10 Tennessee playing shorthanded at Vanderbilt
NASHVILLE — No. 10 Tennessee will be playing shorthanded in Saturday night’s game at Vanderbilt. The inactive list for the Vols includes wide receiver Cedric Tillman, offensive tackle Gerald Miney and defensive backs Trevon Flowers, Doneiko Slaughter, Brandon Turnage and De’Shawn Rucker.
Tennessee expected to start Kamal Hadden and Christian Charles at the cornerback positions while Wesley Walker replaces Flowers at safety, according to Volquest’s Austin Price. Wide receiver Bru McCoy is expected to be a game-time decision.
Senior linebacker Jeremy Banks made the trip and is expected to play after not traveling with the Vols for the 63-38 loss at South Carolina last week.
Tennessee (9-2, 5-2 SEC) and Vanderbilt (5-6, 2-5) are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time kickoff at FirstBank Stadium. The game will be televised by SEC Network.
Flowers is second on the team with 57.0 tackles, trailing on Aaron Beasley’s 58.0. Flowers has two interceptions on the season, two forced fumbles and a pass break up.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel during his weekly press conference on Monday did not expand on the situation that left Banks off the travel roster and out of the South Carolina game.
“We anticipate Jeremy being with us here this week,” Heupel said. “As far as what transpired and those type of things, at the end of the day, he wasn’t available on Saturday.”
Jeremy Banks ‘just wasn’t available’ for Tennessee-South Carolina game
Heupel on Monday did not get into details behind the Banks absence after Tennessee’s loss Saturday night.
“Just wasn’t available for this one,” Heupel said during his postgame press conference. “Anticipating and hopeful for next week.”
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South Carolina finished the game with 606 total yards while putting 63 points on the board, the most points given up by Tennessee in the modern era. Quarterback Spencer Rattler completed 30 of 37 passes for 438 yards and six touchdowns, after entering the game with just eight passing touchdowns on the season. The Gamecocks ran 38 times for 153 yards and three more touchdowns on the ground.
Tennessee had nine tackles for loss but just one sack on Rattler and only two quarterback hits.
“I mean, we’ll go back and look at the linebacker play,” Heupel said when asked about the impact of Banks’ absence on the defense. “But obviously, structurally, defensively, we did not play as well as we’re capable of tonight.”
Jeremy Banks had played in all 10 games this season before his absence Saturday night, with 46 total tackles — 29 solo, 17 assists — to go with 4.0 tackles for loss a forced fumble and fumble recovery. He has eight quarterback hits.
Up Next: Tennessee at Vanderbilt, 7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, SEC Network
Jeremy Banks is third for the Vols in tackles, trailing only Flowers and Beasley. The Vols entered the game as a three-touchdown favorite but found themselves down 18 points late in the second quarter.
Tennessee got the deficit down to four, at 35-31, with 9:53 left in the third quarter, but couldn’t get enough stops to get any closer.
“I mean, we’ll go back and look at the linebacker play,” Heupel said Saturday night when asked about the impact of Jeremy Banks’ absence on the defense. “But obviously, structurally, defensively, we did not play as well as we’re capable of tonight.”
