No. 13 Tennessee heads into Saturday night’s showdown with No. 6 Kentucky in good shape, at least on the injury front.
The Vols and Wildcats are set for a 6:20 p.m. ET kickoff at Neyland Stadium, with Tennessee carrying plenty of history into the matchup. The Vols own the all-time series edge at 86 wins, 26 losses and 9 ties, and they’ve beaten Kentucky five straight times.
For Josh Heupel’s team, the bigger storyline this week has been availability - and Tennessee appears to have dodged the kind of late-season injury trouble that can wreck a November run. In the week’s reports, the Vols didn’t add any new names and are expected to have everyone available.
Heupel was asked earlier in the week about what changes when a team gets into November and whether his group is built for that stretch.
“I think you’re constantly trying to improve," Heupel said. "You’ve heard me say it, good teams continue to get better every part of the season.
Every week’s its own season, too. And so you’ve got to be great in your preparation, how you practice, put yourself in a position to play smart football.
Certainly as you go through the year, injuries, where you’re at, all those things, you have to manage it really week by week. Tends to be more towards the end of the season.
But for us this year, we had a bunch of injuries early in the year.”
Kentucky’s final report, meanwhile, included four players out on Friday night: inside linebacker Antwan Smith, inside linebacker Justyn Hartley, defensive back Jaden Smith, and defensive back Grant Grayton. Antwan Smith, Jaden Smith, and Grant Grayton have been sidelined for a while.
The Wildcats did get a positive update on two players who had been trending in the right direction. Outside linebacker Sam Greene and defensive back Isaiah McMillian were listed as probable, and McMillian had moved up after being questionable on Wednesday night. Both were removed from Saturday’s report and are available.
The SEC released the final availability report 90 minutes before kickoff.
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Arion Carter Just Sent Tennessees Defense A Bigger Message
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The bigger takeaway for the Volunteers is that this was not an isolated flash. Tennessees defense has already shut down other top-ranked teams this season, and Carters latest statement only adds to the sense that this unit is built for the biggest stages. The next test comes against Texas A&M, where the Volunteers will find out whether that same edge can travel into another SEC spotlight. [Read more 🡒]