Tennessee Football: 5 Injured Vols We'll Miss Watching in Saturday's Spring Game
The old cliche says teams with bad luck are snake-bit, but that's seemingly about the only injury the Tennessee football team hasn't suffered since last season.
For the second spring in a row, multiple Volunteers have fallen victim to the injury bugaboo, and when head coach Butch Jones' team heads onto the field at Neyland Stadium on Saturday for the annual Orange and White Game, it's going to be a veritable skeleton crew dressed out.
Nearly 20 players either didn't participate in spring drills or have been lost since the start of them nearly a month ago. Though, thankfully for the Vols, none of the setbacks are expected to last into the season, they'll be a hindrance to a program seeking big things in 2016.
The biggest (and most bizarre) injury has been a rash of bum shoulders, some of which have led to surgeries.
According to VolQuest's Brent Hubbs and John Brice:
"The Vols entered spring camp with a bevy of players held out, largely due to offseason shoulder surgeries such as Derek Barnett, Josh Malone, Kendal Vickers, Chance Hall, Jashon Robertson and others. Since spring camp opened, Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Austin Smith also suffered shoulder injuries after the onset of practice while Perry, Jennings and Stephen Griffin (hand/wrist that required surgery) also have endured spring-ending injuries.
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That's a who's who among UT star players. About the only big-time players on Tennessee's roster who haven't dealt with their share of setbacks are quarterback Joshua Dobbs, running backs Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, and cornerback Cameron Sutton.
Numerous hurt players means the Vols won't be able to do a full-fledged, all-out scrimmage Saturday in front of the Neyland crowd and thousands more watching at home on the SEC Network. Instead, they'll do some of the classic format, followed by individual drills and skills competitions.
The challenge will be to get out of that game unscathed and get to fall camp with enough players to make a championship run.
There are a bunch of players out, but let's take a look at the five Vols we'd most like to watch perform on Saturday who'll instead be standing on the sideline.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Senior Outside Linebacker
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The unequivocal leader and biggest playmaker on the defense won't be out there for the Vols this weekend.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin—the Clarksville, Tennessee, native and tackle-gobbler who eschewed the NFL to return to the Vols and try to make a championship run—was lost early in camp to a shoulder injury. Though he's expected back some time in June, that'll be long after the spring finale.
The rising senior star has nothing left to prove on the field. He's been a two-year starter and stalwart who is one of the most intuitive linebackers in the SEC and has a legitimate chance at all-conference and All-American honors this year.
So, his injury just enabled the Vols to give extended looks to some of the younger guys.
But that's not the reason why it's a bummer we won't get to watch him roam sideline to sideline, burst into the offensive backfield and make plays Saturday.
With new defensive coordinator Bob Shoop taking over in Knoxville, he brings with him an aggressive, attacking style that should be ideal for the personnel UT has on its roster. Nobody personifies that type of play more than JRM.
He's arguably the best sheer football player to play for Tennessee since Eric Berry. He's a heat-seeking missile who sacrifices his body every single play, never takes a snap off and has been an iron man who rarely comes off the field. It will become routine watching him blitz off the edge in '16.
While Shoop's scheme likely will be somewhat vanilla on Saturday so not to show the interested future opponents much, watching JRM let loose would have been a treat.
Instead, that'll have to wait until fall when the pads go on for real. By then, Reeves-Maybin should be all healed up and ready to terrorize opposing quarterbacks for one final season. But we'll miss him this weekend.
Shy Tuttle, Sophomore Defensive Tackle
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A dirty hit by Georgia center Brandon Kublanow last year led to Tennessee's talented freshman defensive tackle missing the remainder of the season due to a broken fibula and torn ankle ligaments.
Shy Tuttle isn't back yet, either.
Hopefully for the Vols, the aftereffects of the cheap shot won't linger for a player who has all the ability in the world to be one of the best defensive linemen in the entire SEC. That isn't hyperbole, either.
Right when Tuttle got hurt last year, he was beginning to show out. At times against Arkansas and Georgia, he was unblockable. Though he began to show those flashes of talent right away after enrolling mid-term in Knoxville, Tuttle got better and better as he learned the scheme.
The 6'2", 311-pound interior lineman from Midway, North Carolina, expects to put his long road to recovery behind him and return full strength some time this summer. Yes, he'll have some rust to knock off once fall drills start, but the Vols need to have him back and healthy once the big games start.
A good target for Tuttle's full return would be the Battle at Bristol against Virginia Tech. That's when the real games begin, and UT is desperately going to need one of its top defensive tackles at a position that is extremely thin on depth.
That's the reason why it would be great to see Tuttle healthy and ready to contribute this spring. Not only would he help the Vols from a depth standpoint, but he's missed some key developmental time that would have benefited him with reps toward the end of last season.
Instead, he watched from the sideline on crutches after surgery.
He's still watching. Meanwhile, players such as Kahlil McKenzie, Quay Picou and Danny O'Brien are having to carry the load with Tuttle and Kendal Vickers out. That has led to some huge challenges, according to defensive line coach Steve Stripling.
"Last spring was tough, but this one's almost a little bit more to be honest with you," Stripling said, according to SEC Country's Dave Hooker.
The Vols can't afford to have that linger into the season.
Derek Barnett, Junior Defensive End
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Texas A&M's Myles Garrett gets all the headlines, and they're deserved considering the Aggies' rising junior is a freak of nature. But Tennessee defensive end Derek Barnett's career has been equally impressive thus far.
He may not get all the hype, but everybody around the SEC knows they've got to game-plan for Barnett off the edge.
The 6'3", 257-pound Brentwood, Tennessee, native burst onto the scene as a true freshman with 72 tackles, 10 sacks and a whopping 20.5 tackles for a loss. Though some thought he didn't quite measure up a year ago, the numbers actually aren't too far off.
In 2015, Barnett wound up with 69 tackles, 10 sacks and 12.5 tackles for a loss. He didn't get as much help as he had two seasons ago because of the season-ending injury to bookend mate Curt Maggitt against Oklahoma, but once Corey Vereen emerged late in the year, Barnett was his old, dominant self.
That's been missed this spring.
Vols quarterbacks are probably happy they don't have Barnett's paw prints all over their no-contact jerseys, because a player with a mean streak such as Barnett's doesn't seem to have a whole lot of "hold back" in him. He could have gotten carried away and taken Dobbs' head off accidentally this spring.
He's that kind of player.
Unfortunately for UT, this will probably be Barnett's final season in orange. He's good enough and thought of highly enough by NFL brass to skip his final season in Knoxville and enter the draft a year early. Players like him don't hang around for four years.
So, his offseason shoulder surgery perhaps robbed us of one final opportunity to see him in a spring-game environment. Much like Reeves-Maybin, Barnett has little to prove. But that doesn't mean you want him taking it easy, kicked back on the sideline.
Spring games are showcases for stars. When they don't get to play, those glorified scrimmages aren't as fun. But with Barnett not out there, this Saturday may be a whole lot safer for UT offensive players.
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Josh Malone, Junior Wide Receiver
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Another player, another shoulder injury.
This time, it's rising junior wide receiver Josh Malone, who missed spring because he too was recovering from a shoulder surgery. That's a key loss for the Vols, especially considering Malone was beginning to blossom into the talented player his recruitment promised he'd be.
At 6'3", 197 pounds, silky smooth and with a gifted skill set, Malone has all the ability to be a great receiver. He showed flashes in '15 by leading the Vols with 31 grabs for 405 yards and two scores. While those numbers may seem pretty pedestrian, they led the team.
Even so, there were still times Malone was timid with the ball in the air and failed to be consistently aggressive. Also, much like he did as a freshman and like players such as Marquez North did before him, Malone simply disappeared for large swaths of time during the year.
With the Vols desperately needing a go-to playmaker at receiver, they can't afford for that to keep happening.
This spring belonged to Malone's receiving mate, sophomore Preston Williams, who everybody has been talking about since the beginning of camp. Watching him team with Malone would have been fun. Also, it would have been helpful for Dobbs to have some game reps with the duo that figures to feature the starters in September.
Instead, Williams will have to go solo. He won't even have help from Jauan Jennings and Vincent Perry, whom Jones announced this week would miss the remainder of spring.
The absences haven't helped the passing game at all.
"There's obviously a lot of different things that went into Saturday," Dobbs told Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Patrick Brown after a shaky practice. "We were down a couple of receivers and some different guys. The defense was doing different stuff. We were doing different stuff and it was all scripted situations, so you've got to make the most of them."
With all the ups and downs of the Vols' vertical attack this spring, they needed all their weapons so Dobbs could build a rapport with them. Instead, UT now has to hope that's cultivated in an offseason passing regimen and in shell drills away from the watchful eye of coaches.
Once fall camp starts, the Vols are going to need some viable pass-catchers to excel. Malone could have taken a big step forward this spring. Instead, surgery held him back.
Chance Hall, Sophomore Right Tackle
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One of the fiercest battles to take place when fall camp begins will be for that all-important right tackle spot.
Heading into spring practice, there was little doubt that incumbent Chance Hall was the favorite to win the job, especially after he entered for the injured Brett Kendrick prior to the Georgia game a season ago and was sterling for the remainder of the year.
But Hall missed this spring recovering from a (guess what?) shoulder injury, which left the door open for Kendrick. The redshirt junior seized that opportunity and became one of the most dependable players on the offensive front this spring.
"The other individual (aside from Dylan Wiesman) who's really, really having a very good spring right now is Brett Kendrick," Jones told GoVols247's Wes Rucker. "I've been very, very pleased with Brett. He's really, I think, benefiting from the volume of repetitions. I've been very pleased with Brett and his progress."
UT offensive line coach Don Mahoney told Rucker that Kendrick was playing at a "different level."
So, it certainly isn't bad news that Hall missed this spring. The Vols found another dependable player, and that's vital to the program's future, especially considering it's at such an important position where quality depth is coveted.
But Hall is a special talent. The 6'4", 318-pound Roanoke, Virginia, native looked like a future NFL draft pick in half the season as a true freshman. Where most players have a huge learning curve at a position as difficult to play in right away as offensive tackle, Hall caught on fairly quickly.
Players such as Drew Richmond and Jack Jones may have received higher ratings than Hall out of high school, but the big man grasped the system fairly quickly, showed his immense ability and showed little ill effects from a torn Achilles tendon that caused him to miss his senior season of high school.
Hall missing this spring set him back a little. Sure, it was good to get Kendrick some key reps, but you never want a starting lineman to miss an entire spring.
All quotes and information gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information gathered from 247Sports unless otherwise noted. All stats gathered at UTSports.com unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
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