Vols notebook: Jarrett Guarantano's collarbone injury believed not serious

Alabama defensive back Xavier McKinney closes in on Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano during Saturday's game at Neyland Stadium. Guarantano fumbled after McKinney's hit, and Alabama's Christian Miller recovered the ball on the Vols' 3-yard line to set up a touchdown.
Alabama defensive back Xavier McKinney closes in on Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano during Saturday's game at Neyland Stadium. Guarantano fumbled after McKinney's hit, and Alabama's Christian Miller recovered the ball on the Vols' 3-yard line to set up a touchdown.

KNOXVILLE - The injury that knocked Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano out of Saturday's game is not believed to be serious.

"No, he'll be back," coach Jeremy Pruitt said after his team's 58-21 loss to top-ranked Alabama at Neyland Stadium.

Guarantano left the field in the second quarter with a collarbone injury after being leveled by Alabama's Mack Wilson while unleashing a long completion to receiver Josh Palmer.

Backup quarterback Keller Chryst entered for Guarantano and engineered Tennessee's only offensive scores of the day with a pair of second-quarter touchdown throws.

"Jarrett got hit I don't know how many times, probably every time he threw the football," Pruitt said. "Keller came in and made some good throws, so we just stayed with Keller."

Alabama sacked Guarantano three times. Chryst avoided being sacked in his most extended playing time of the season.

"He definitely stepped in and did his part," Tennessee defensive back Baylen Buchanan said of Chryst. "That's what you're supposed to do when your number is called on. So I feel like he came in there and played well and did the best that he could."

Other injuries

Buchanan felt differently about the execution of Tennessee's defense following personnel changes. In the first half, freshman cornerback Alontae Taylor was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct and sophomore safety Shawn Shamburger left the game injured.

With senior defensive back Micah Abernathy out for a second straight game, Tennessee was forced to dip far into the secondary depth chart.

Junior cornerback Marquill Osborne made three tackles in his most extensive action of the year, while redshirt senior safety Todd Kelly Jr. made one tackle as he played on defense for the first time this season.

"We've got to be smarter," Buchanan said. "When somebody goes down and somebody else's number is called on, we've got to play better. We've got to know what to do. We've got to get with the coaches and get in the film room, and we've got to know what to do and we've got to execute. That's something we didn't do in the secondary today."

Wood-Anderson out

Junior tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson did not play Saturday after sustaining an injury during Tennessee's win at Auburn last week. Sophomore tight end Latrell Bumphus played an increased role. Junior tight end Eli Wolf made one catch.

Sophomore linebacker Will Ignont started in place of Daniel Bituli, who was forced to miss the first half after he was called for targeting in the second half against Auburn. Ignont finished with five tackles.

Highly touted freshmam J.J. Peterson made his debut and recorded a tackle. A late arrival on campus, Peterson worked with outside linebackers this past week in practice after playing inside linebacker in practices during his first several weeks on campus.

Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook.com/volsupdate.

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