KNOXVILLE -Tennessee football coach Butch Jones and his staff knew Darrin Kirkland Jr. would be unable to play Monday night when the Volunteers open the season against Georgia Tech in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
They hoped the talented middle linebacker would be back soon after.
"Unfortunately," Jones said Friday, "that's not the news that came about."
In his final meeting with local media before the Volunteers leave for Atlanta, Jones announced Kirkland will miss the 2017 season due to a meniscus injury sustained in a recent practice.
The loss of Kirkland is a blow to a defensive unit that dealt with numerous injuries to key players during last year's 9-4 season. Now the Vols are eyeing a full 2017 season without one of their top defensive performers.
"That's football," Jones said. "That's the way it is. It's all about moving forward."
Baylor School graduate Colton Jumper jumps to the top of the depth chart.
"We have a lot of individuals that have played a lot of snaps for us," Jones added. "So Colton Jumper, I believe he's started nine or 10 games for us. He'll be ready to go."
Dillon Bates was another veteran the coach mentioned, and he included freshman Will Ignont among the possibilities for playing time at middle linebacker.
"A lot of these individuals gained valuable repetitions last year, Colton being one of those," Jones said. "We'll move on from there. Again, I'm excited to see what those individuals can do starting Monday night."
Kirkland underwent surgery Wednesday and figures to use the 2017 season as a redshirt year and return in 2018 as a fourth-year junior. The Indianapolis resident was on the preseason All-Southeastern Conference teams of two publications and has 111 career tackles.
"I know Darrin is extremely disappointed," Jones said. "His family is extremely disappointed. But just like anything in life, he'll be better for it and work exceptionally hard. We look forward to getting him back."
Jumper and Bates are expected play middle linebacker against Georgia Tech's flexbone offense, but Bates could slide back to outside linebacker against more traditional offenses.
While Jumper takes on the starting role, Ignont and sophomore Daniel Bituli are likely to see their chances for playing time increased due to Kirkland's injury.
Bituli is listed on this week's depth chart as the backup strongside linebacker, which is the third linebacker in Tennessee's defense and a position that will be used less frequently against other opponents. Bituli is typically talked about by coaches as a middle linebacker.
Ignont is a four-star recruit from Huntsville, Ala., who impressed the staff during preseason camp with his athletic prowess.
"It's a body of work over time," Jones said. "As we all know, individuals grow and mature at different rates, and there may be someone that's maybe not quite ready to play right now but through practice times and repetitions, by game two, game three, game five or game six they are ready to play.
"It's a long football season, and we're going to need everyone on board."
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com.