KNOXVILLE – With three receivers taking in Friday morning’s practice on the sidelines, Derek Dooley pulled the orange defensive jerseys off cornerbacks Anthony Anderson and Naz Oliver in favor of white offensive jerseys.
The University of Tennessee football coach had several reasons to go through with the change.
“We’re not deep as it is [at receiver],” Dooley said. “We’ve got injuries with Zach [Rogers], injuries with DeAnthony [Arnett], nothing major but little stuff. We’ve got a lot of guys in the secondary and so naturally when you’re short in an area, you say who on that board has the skill sets to help us that we can afford to help us.
“Anthony, in particular, has a lot of good athleticism, he played it in high school, but he also brings a nice senior presence into that room. We’ve got a young room in there. Our oldest guy is Zach, and he doesn’t talk. The next-oldest guys are true sophomores. We’ve got a lot of youth in there. I think Anthony will help us.”
Rogers is battling a deep bruise on triceps, the freshman Arnett is dealing with soreness and fatigue in his hamstring and Matt Milton reaggravated an abdominal injury after taking a hit in practice on Thursday.