Tennessee Football made no changes to its pregame availability report ahead of Saturday night’s game at Florida. Offensive lineman Wendell Moe was removed from the list Friday night and running back Peyton Lewis was ruled out.
Lewis was listed as questionable on Wednesday and Thursday, before being ruled out Friday night. Moe was also listed as questionable on the first two injury reports before being removed Friday night.
Moe was injured in the third quarter in the 42-9 win over New Mexico State last week. After a lengthy stay in the injury tent, he left for the locker room under his own power to have his knee further examined.
Tennessee (7-3, 3-3 SEC) and Florida (3-7, 2-5) are scheduled for a 7:30 Eastern Time start on ABC at Bill Hill Griffin Stadium.
Tennessee’s options on the offensive line
If Moe is available but limited, Shamurad Umarov would start at left guard and redshirt freshman Jesse Perry, who only played in an emergency role last week, would start at right guard. Perry continues to work through an ankle injury.
Head coach Josh Heupel said this week that Perry has gotten more comfortable at guard during the back half of the season, after starting at right tackle in place of the injured David Sanders Jr. during the first month of the season.
“I think, in general, Jesse feels good about playing inside,” Heupel said. “He’s felt that way. When David was gone, all of his work came out at the tackle position. I think, a week or two of work back on the inside has let him get back to the true comfort that he has there.”
Vols will go to two-man rotation at running back
Without Lewis in the backfield, Tennessee’s running backs will go down to a two-man rotation with DeSean Bishop and Star Thomas splitting reps. Freshmen Daune Morris and Justin Baker will serve as the back up tailbacks.
Tennessee announced on Wednesday in the first availability report that tight end Miles Kitselman is out. Kitselman injured his knee in the third quarter against New Mexico State and had to be helped into the Tennessee locker room for further evaluation. Kitselman was emotional as he left the sideline.
The Vols will turn to redshirt sophomore Ethan Davis and freshman Jack Van Dorselaer, who has played in every game this season. Davis who missed nearly a month of the season has been a bigger part of Tennessee’s passing game since his return against Kentucky.
“I like the development of that room,” Heupel said of his tight ends. “Ethan was gone in the middle part of the season for four weeks, I think it was. I feel good about where he’s at and our young tight ends have continued to develop. I feel good about those guys.”
“(Ethan) Playing well in the pass game, but been physical assignment sound in the run game. The other night I thought he played extremely well in the run game.”
