'Everybody's on call' for Vols' depleted defense

Jalen Reeves-Maybin gets some attention after the game.  The Florida Gators visited the Tennessee Volunteers in a important SEC football contest at Neyland Stadium on September 24, 2016.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin gets some attention after the game. The Florida Gators visited the Tennessee Volunteers in a important SEC football contest at Neyland Stadium on September 24, 2016.

KNOXVILLE - Tennessee already was facing the tall task of trying to stop an Alabama team scoring nearly 45 points per game and averaging 490 yards of offense.

It's going to be even more difficult for a depleted defense, though the Volunteers should be accustomed to playing shorthanded by now, having done it most of the season.

"It's all hands on deck," defensive coordinator Bob Shoop said. "When you're going into an open week, we're not going to leave anything on the table, nor is the offense, nor are the special teams. We're not going to leave anything out there.

"We've got so many guys banged up that everybody's on call all the time."

Though head coach Butch Jones said earlier in the week that the status of Darrin Kirkland Jr. would be a game-time decision, the linebacker appears unlikely to play today after practicing some this week on his injured ankle.

Linebacker Cortez McDowell is also iffy, and if he's unable to go then Elliott Berry, who going into the season was at least behind Jalen Reeves-Maybin, McDowell and Quart'e Sapp on the depth chart, could draw the first start of his college career.

Tennessee will play its first game since defensive tackle Danny O'Brien's dismissal, and while there's confidence Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie can pick up the slack, Quay Picou and/or Alexis Johnson could be called into action.

Defensive line coach Steve Stripling said the Vols plan to play Johnson, the junior college transfer still working his way into shape after being suspended for all of spring practice and most of training camp.

In the secondary the Vols also are banged up with Malik Foreman's status the biggest concern, meaning Justin Martin and freshman Marquill Osborne could get action at cornerback.

The decimated Vols already lost senior captains Reeves-Maybin and Cameron Sutton to long-term injuries.

"It amazes me, and it's something that I never would have guessed or hypothesized at the beginning of the year," safety Todd Kelly Jr. said. "Problems always come your way. Trials and tribulations may happen, but at the same time you have to find ways to get around it.

"It's almost like an obstacle course. You still get to the finish line even though there's obstacles. You just have to make a plan and task it out and make it happen, and I feel like that's what this team is doing. We're having a lot of people step up and make plays for us.

"There's a lot of role players on our team, guys that fill particular roles on this team, and they're trying to execute to the utmost that they can. I feel like if they do that then we're going to be able to stick together."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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