There’s been plenty of chatter about star Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy’s return in recent days, but Josh Heupel threw some cold water on those rumors on Monday. Tennessee’s head coach admitted that there was still work to do for McCoy to return to the field, despite reports that McCoy would be ready to play against Arkansas.
“Jermod continues to do a great job in his rehab with our medical staff, our strength staff,” Heupel said. “Somebody told me there was a report out there of a certain ball
game that he’s focused in on as far as returning. I think that’s unfair. Whoever put that out there, I don’t think truly understands Jermod and the situation.”
“He’s done a really good job — he’s got more to go.”
Tennessee has also been dealing with the loss of Rickey Gibson, who has been out since the early snaps of Syracuse in the opener. Gibson is not expected to return this season, which has placed all of the responsibility in the laps of Ty Redmond, Colton Hood, Jalen McMurray and Boo Carter.
The Volunteers have struggled defensively in recent weeks, most notably against Georgia’s passing attack. Getting McCoy back ahead of the Alabama matchup on October 18th would certainly be a big boost.
“I think it’s all about him being prepared to go play,” Heupel said. “There’s a lot of things that go into that. You look at the position he plays, all the reactionary work that you have to have in so your always balancing his ability to be prepared and short-term, long-term health as well.”
McCoy was a projected first round pick all offseason long, which undoubtedly is weighing on his decision to return. In his absence Colton Hood has rocketed up draft boards and is now also a projected first round pick. It certainly feels like McCoy will return at some point this season to squash any injury concerns, but Tennessee is understandably playing this one slow.
So McCoy will likely take another week here and see where he’s at ahead of Alabama, where he could potentially return to matchup against Ryan Williams.