Who Steps Up for Tennessee with Danny O'Brien Suspended vs. Oklahoma?

Tennessee's preseason hype this year was largely based on its high amount of returning experience.

Now, heading into just the second game of the season, that experience has taken a hit.

Tennessee head coach Butch Jones said Wednesday afternoon that junior defensive tackle Danny O'Brien is suspended for this Saturday's game against Oklahoma, according to Wes Rucker of GoVols247. O'Brien's suspension is for an unknown "violation of team rules."

"It’s disappointing anytime you have to do that," Jones said Wednesday, per Rucker. "It’s like disciplining your own kids. You hate to do it, but you have to do it. We have standards and expectations. … I feel for Danny. He’s done some very good things in our football program."

O'Brien is one of the leaders on Tennessee's defense. He had 23 tackles (3.5 for loss) and one sack in 12 starts last season for the Volunteers. The junior recorded a sack in Saturday's season-opener against Bowling Green.

According to Jones, there's no timetable for O'Brien's return yet.

"We’re working with him," Jones said. "We’ll see what happens down the road."

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With O'Brien out, Tennessee now has a major hole to fill on the interior of its defense.

According to Patrick Brown of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, senior Owen Williams will most likely slide into the starting lineup in place of O'Brien. Williams participated in Saturday's opener but did not record a tackle.

The bigger storyline, though, will be the use of Tennessee's highly touted freshmen in the defensive line rotation—Kahlil McKenzie and Shy Tuttle.

Tuttle got in the game during the first half against Bowling Green, while McKenzie only saw the field in the fourth quarter. Neither recorded a statistic, but they will have to step up and make plays this weekend against an offense that found its rhythm in Week 1.

Oklahoma got off to a painfully slow start on offense—five punts on the first six drives of the game against Akron—but it still managed to put up 539 yards and 41 points on overmatched Akron.

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

And while the Sooners didn't have a huge day on the ground against the Zips in the debut of offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley's Air Raid system, they still have one of the deepest backfields in the country.

Last season, Oklahoma ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-10 victory over Tennessee. Samaje Perine, who broke out later in the season and smashed the FBS all-time single-game rushing record, went for 67 of those yards on just nine carries.

As Bleacher Report's Brad Shepard notes, losing an experienced member at defensive tackle and having to replace some of his production with newcomers is daunting:

Oklahoma was fine with letting its new starting quarterback, Baker Mayfield, sling the ball all over the field against lowly Akron last weekend. Riley's offense, as its name suggests, favors the pass.

But don't expect Oklahoma to base its offense on airing it out with a quarterback making his first career start on the road with his new team—even against a Tennessee defense that allowed 433 passing yards to Bowling Green.

Oklahoma is going to hit an interior line weakened by O'Brien's suspension with the likes of Perine, Joe Mixon and Alex Ross. Expect the Sooners to get Southern with it in their trip to Tennessee and run the dang ball.

"The Sooners simply can’t abandon the running game like they did against Akron: zero rushing yards in the first quarter, 22 at halftime and 100 in all," John E. Hoover of the Tulsa World wrote. "An offense that stays on the field and generates first downs and isn’t prone to quick, three-and-out possessions has a better chance of walking out of Knoxville alive."

In addition to the former JUCO transfer Williams, Tennessee will need both McKenzie and Tuttle to step up against Oklahoma.

Tuttle is a little more ahead right now than McKenzie, who Brown said had to miss a week of preseason practice. According to Ryan Callahan of GoVols247, Tuttle "received a significant number of snaps at defensive tackle."

"His body of work, and we’ve seen it in practice (earned him those snaps)," Jones said, per Austin Bornheim of the Daily Times. "Those repetitions he received will prove to be invaluable."

Jones and the rest of Tennessee will get to see how valuable those repetitions were worth this weekend, especially as the Volunteers continue to bring along the higher-rated McKenzie into the rotation.

Tennessee still has some experience on the interior of its defensive line, but the spotlight will shine brightest on McKenzie and Tuttle.

Jones and his staff have signed a great amount of blue-chip talent in the last couple of seasons. Now it's time for two of their star signings to prove their worth early.

  

All stats courtesy of CFBStats.com. Recruit rankings courtesy of 247Sports.

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.