Vols lose freshman Kyle Phillips to season-ending injury

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 10/3/15. UT's Kyle Phillips (5) is injured while playing Arkansas during the second quarter of play on October 3, 2015. The Volunteers played the Razorbacks at home in Neyland Stadium late Saturday evening.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 10/3/15. UT's Kyle Phillips (5) is injured while playing Arkansas during the second quarter of play on October 3, 2015. The Volunteers played the Razorbacks at home in Neyland Stadium late Saturday evening.
photo Tennessee freshman defensive end Kyle Phillips stretches before the Vols' practice at Haslam Field on Aug. 11, 2015.

KNOXVILLE -- Tennessee freshman Kyle Phillips is out for the season after re-aggravating a shoulder injury against South Carolina last week.

The defensive end sat out two games after getting hurt against Arkansas last month, but he played both at Kentucky and last week against the Gamecocks.

The former five-star recruit from Nashville will undergo surgery on his shoulder.

"He was starting to play very, very well," Volunteers head coach Butch Jones said Wednesday, "but we need to get that corrected so we can move forward and get him back."

In six games this season Phillips made eight tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack.

"He's worked really hard," fellow defensive end Derek Barnett said. "He was giving us good push up the middle, especially in some of our packages. He's going to get healthy and come back next year.

"Kyle's really talented. I feel like a bunch of people haven't even seen how talented he is yet. But I know next year he'll be ready to go."

Phillips enrolled at Tennessee in January, but he sat out spring practice after undergoing shoulder surgery. He drew rave reviews for his play during preseason training camp, but he was hampered at the start of the season with an ankle injury.

By midseason he'd carved out a role as a pass-rushing specialist in a couple of Tennessee's third-down defensive packages. In one, he lined up over the center with two other defensive ends. Against South Carolina he was part of a four-end lineup that was effective.

"He's got a chance," Jones said, "to be a special player."

Tennessee lost freshman defensive tackle Shy Tuttle to a season-ending leg/ankle injury against Georgia last month and has been without star defensive end/linebacker Curt Maggitt since the second quarter of the Oklahoma game the second week of the season.

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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