Shy Tuttle's Season-Ending Injury Causes Tennessee D-Line Dilemma

Promising Tennessee freshman defensive tackle Shy Tuttle's season is over, and the lingering effects of his loss will cause ripples throughout the Volunteers depth chart for the remainder of the year.

The 6'2", 311-pound first-year tackle from Midway, North Carolina, burst onto the scene this spring with a breakout arrival on the practice field and has been firmly entrenched in the two-deep since the start of the season, providing valuable snaps.

It all came to an end when Georgia center Brandon Kublanow held Tuttle briefly on a third-quarter play. As Tuttle tried to free himself to chase after Sony Michel rushing around the left end, Kublanow dove at his ankle on what appeared to be a dirty play.

Tuttle landed awkwardly, breaking his fibula and tearing an ankle ligament in the process of the play.

"That is a big, big blow to our football team," UT coach Butch Jones told the media on Tuesday, according to quotes released by UTSports.com.

Now, the Vols are forced to endure without Tuttle in the rotation just as new life is breathed into the season. Following a resounding 38-31 win over the Bulldogs, UT is now 3-3 with a bye week before facing Alabama.

Tennessee closes the season with winnable games against Kentucky, South Carolina, North Texas, Missouri and Vanderbilt. But the Vols will have to go through that stretch with a depth chart that, right now, is only four defensive tackles deep.

Senior Owen Williams, junior Danny O'Brien, sophomore Kendal Vickers and true freshman Kahlil McKenzie currently make up the rotation. McKenzie especially is coming on, as he is beginning to live up to his former 5-star status with a strong second half against Georgia. The game is slowing down for him.

That's good news for the Vols, who simply can't suffer any more injuries on the interior. 

Along with the secondary, defensive tackle is one of those spots where UT still hasn't caught up from a sheer numbers standpoint in recruiting. That could become very visible in the coming weeks.

In order to make up for the loss of Tuttle, the Vols may wind up pulling a probable redshirt off freshman Quay Picou, according to Jones: 

"

That'll be ongoing to see who can step up in that fifth spot. Again, we are very, very limited in regards to our health there so our development is going to be critical. We're going to play the guys that have played, but we'll continue to work through that throughout this course this week at practice, throughout the course the week.

Quay could be an individual that gets more valuable repetitions, so this week is very very big for Quay and see how he can develop. But again, that's an area in recruitment that we got to continue to grow and develop. That's what we talked at the beginning of the year, you know, we still don't have that competitive depth across the board at all nine positions groups. The only way you address those situations is to continue to develop and recruit and that's a situation where all our players are developing there we just need to continue to recruit numbers as well because, like we know, this is a line of scrimmage league.

"

Jones also may have to get creative. It's something that may benefit Tennessee in every game but the next one against the big, physical Crimson Tide.

While it's difficult to imagine subtracting a 300-plus-pound space-eater such as Tuttle would be a good thing against UA, the rest of the Vols' opponents aren't power-running programs. That stretch of the season already has been played against Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas and Georgia.

So, something defensive coordinator John Jancek already has experimented with could see more action. That entails lining up defensive ends Kyle Phillips and Dimarya Mixon on the interior in what would amount to a rabbit package. 

With UT struggling to generate a strong pass rush for much of the season, getting more athleticism inside could be a positive. Mixon, after all, played some defensive tackle as a true freshman a season ago before dropping some weight to play end.

Mixon's reps have diminished playing at a deep position, so he may wind up getting more action as a tackle. 

Tennessee also could elect to deploy a three-man front and get an extra linebacker on the field in Cortez McDowell, Kenny Bynum or Colton Jumper.

Tuttle had 10 tackles, a quarterback hurry, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick this season, but his value wasn't evidenced by those numbers. He was improving every game, and he worked his way to being on the field more often than he was on the sideline.

It's tough to watch how Tuttle's year ended without questioning how easily it could have been avoided.

Now, he'll be watching in street clothes alongside senior leader Curt Maggitt, who Jones noted on Tuesday may be out until "possibly the last game of the year." Those two losses are major hits for a Vols defense that has taken its fair share of them in 2015.

The Vols are struggling to keep teams from scoring points, and it's only going to get harder now with another man down. UT is going to have to get creative, and talented players of Tuttle's size aren't just created in factories.

He's going to be a major loss UT must deal with the rest of the year.

All stats gathered from UTSports.com unless otherwise noted. All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.