Tennessee is already dealing with the injury bug this season, and a key position took another hit on Saturday. Rickey Gibson, who was Tennessee’s top cornerback in the absence of Jermod McCoy, left the game on Saturday after playing just 19 snaps. Josh Heupel announced on Monday that he would miss a decent amount of time as he works back to full health.
“Rickey will be out for an extended period here,” Heupel said in his Monday press conference. “How long? I don’t have the exact timeline on. But he’ll
be out for an extended time.”
Tennessee started Gibson alongside of Colton Hood and Jalen McMurray on Saturday. True freshman Ty Redmond was forced in to action after a really strong fall camp over the last several weeks and made plays all over the field. Redmond was officially credited with two pass breakups on the day and certainly looked every bit of the part of an SEC corner.
Hood earned his first start as a Volunteer and was credited with three pass breakups. He also recovered a fumble and took it back for six to give Tennessee an early 17-0 lead. McMurray got the start over Boo Carter at STAR following Carter’s bumpy offseason.
McCoy was spotted in street clothes and his jersey during pregame warmups. The standout cornerback has been going through non-contact drills with the team as he works back from a torn ACL suffered in January.
Tennessee will move forward and try to further build out that secondary depth on Saturday against ETSU. What was once viewed as a fairly deep cornerback room will now be put to the test, especially with Georgia coming to town in just under two weeks.
