Lady Vols basketball coach Kim Caldwell expects Kaylene Smikle, Jada Eads and Aaliyah Moore to be cleared before the 2026-27 season begins in November.
Eads is coming off a torn ACL in January, while Smikle underwent season-ending knee surgery seven games into the season. Moore missed the entire 2025-26 season due to a knee surgery.
"I think they'll – knock on wood, (athletic trainer) Casi (Dailey) might kill me – I think they'll all be ready to go," Caldwell said of the trio in her first media availability of the summer Aug. 3. "Really, we're just holding them back right now. They do some things, but it's not worth it – especially once you see one player go down, then you kind of kick yourself as a coach of, this is summer. What is this for?
And so, no point of rushing them back right now."
"They do look good. They're in some drills or out of some drills, all of them have done a little bit live, which has been good. But we're just going to try to ramp them back up, because the goal is first game, not July."
Junior guard Avery Mills, who transferred in from Liberty, suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in her right knee June 30. She announced July 23 that she underwent surgery.
Eads and Smikle also met with the media for the first time Aug. 3, and Eads said her knee was feeling "great" and rehab was going really well. The 5-foot-7 junior played in 16 games last season after tearing the ACL in her right knee on Jan. 17. Eads averaged 10.6 points on 35.8% shooting, 5.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and two steals in 26.5 minutes per game.
"I have a good group of staff here that's willing to get me back and get me right to 100%, so I'm happy to be here to work under them and play under coach Kim. I'm excited to get this process going," Eads said. "There's some limitations, I can't really do a lot, but I'm doing what I can."
Smikle said she was "ahead of schedule" in her rehab, which has been going really well. Smikle said she was currently limited at practice after going through surgery in December to repair a knee injury she had played through the first month of the 2025-26 season at Maryland.
Smikle was averaging 13.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists before the injury. The 6-foot guard led Maryland in scoring as a junior, averaging 17.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
"Staying consistent and doing rehab almost every day has definitely helped during my process," Smikle said. "I think just learning patience. Everyone's journey starts off different, they end different, so just trusting in the process, trusting in God and what he has planned for me is the best thing I could have done."
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Kim Caldwell expects three Lady Vols coming off injuries to be cleared before season
