INJURY UPDATES
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KNOXVILLE – Tennessee’s life after Cameron Sutton could include plenty of freshman Baylen Buchanan.
The Volunteers could be without their All-SEC star for most if not all of the rest of the season, which will put the onus on the other cornerbacks to step up with the teeth of the league schedule starting Saturday against Florida.
The program’s official depth chart Monday listed Justin Martin and Emmanuel Moseley as the starters, but Buchanan earned more playing time with his performance when pressed into action against Ohio.
“We need more corners, so Baylen’s going to be in there,” coach Butch Jones said. “He’s going to have valuable playing time. What I saw is a very poised and mature individual. The situation wasn’t too big for him. They tried to attack him. They tried to go after him with vertical routes. They tried to go after him with double-move routes.
“He didn’t blink, and that’s the exciting thing. Baylen has a very calm demeanor about himself, but here’s the other thing: Not only did he play very well for us at corner, but he was involved in all the special teams. He had his best special-teams performance that he’s had all year.
“You couple the increased amount of playing time from a defensive standpoint and the way he played on special teams, it was very, very encouraging.”
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Atlanta product was a three-star high school teammate of prized recruit Nigel Warrior, but three games into his career Tennessee had to count on him to contribute in a shorthanded secondary.
Martin (ankle injury) and Malik Foreman (suspension) will be back to face the Gators, but Buchanan likely will be thrown into the fire again in the coming weeks.
“He played a really good game coming there in a tough environment,” safety Micah Abernathy said. “It was a tight game, and he really grew up that game. But I wasn’t surprised. I could tell when he first stepped on campus what type of player he would be, and I wasn’t surprised by that.”
Gator girlfriend
Senior defensive end Corey Vereen is one of eight Florida natives on Tennessee’s roster, and he’s hoping for a win in his final game against his home-state program.
The native of Winter Garden, which is just outside Orlando, has a more personal reason for wanting to beat the Gators.
“The funny thing is my girlfriend actually goes to the University of Florida, so I definitely make it a priority to beat them every year,” he said. “It’s actually very interesting how that happened. It’s always a priority.”
Vereen joked that the communication between him and his love interest would be “very limited” this week, much like it was in the aftermath of Florida’s come-from-behind 28-27 win against Tennessee last season.
“It was very short, I’ll tell you that,” Vereen said. “But it’s cool. I love her, so it’s all good.”
More motivation?
Jones may take a different approach within the walls of the complex this week, but publicly the coach said he won’t emphasize to his team any of the many comments Florida’s players have made this offseason about the Vols and the Gators’ 11-year win streak in the series.
“You shouldn’t need that to motivate you,” Jones said. “If you’re a true competitor and you have that great competitive grit we talk about, these are the games you live for. These are the games you want to play in.”
Tennessee’s freshmen were 6 or 7 years old when James Wilhoit kicked a game-winning 50-yard field goal in the final seconds in 2004, the last time the Vols beat Florida.
“Half these kids have no idea about it,” Jones said. “Baylen Buchanan, he don’t need to know about 11 years. All he needs to worry about is getting better and playing a talented group of receivers and a very good offense. That’s what he needs to focus on. We can’t have any clutter and distractions. We have to work on being a better football team.”
Appleby of their eye
For the third time in four years Tennessee will face a backup Florida quarterback, but this time the Vols know going in they’ll see the reserve after then-starter Jeff Driskel was hurt in the 2013 game and benched a year later.
Tyler Murphy and Treon Harris both played key parts in the Gators extending their winning streak, and Purdue transfer Austin Appleby – and possibly either of freshmen Feleipe Franks or Kyle Trask – can join the club Saturday.
“Whoever’s in there, obviously they were recruiting to play well,” Vereen said, “and you just treat them like they were the starter.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.