Tennessee Enters South Carolina Game With Cleanest Availability Report in the SEC
Tennessee goes into Saturday's trip to South Carolina in unusually good shape for a team playing its eighth game in as many weeks. The Vols' Friday update for the SEC availability report was the shortest of any team in the league, and for the first time this season it carried no players whose status remained uncertain heading into the weekend.
The only names on Tennessee's list are the seven players already lost for the season. Offensive lineman Wendell Moe Jr. is the most recent addition after a lower-body injury against Texas joined a group that includes tight end Ethan Davis, wide receiver Joakim Dodson, safety Dylan Lewis, safety Edrees Farooq, linebacker Jaedon Harmon and cornerback Jadais Richard. Dodson hurt his knee in the second half of the opener against Furman, Davis tore an ACL at Georgia Tech on Sept. 12, and Lewis was hurt against Kennesaw State on Sept. 19, while Farooq, Harmon and Richard were sidelined before the season even began.
South Carolina's report moved more on Friday. Defensive back Quay'Sheed Scott was downgraded to out, offensive lineman Carter Miller moved up from questionable to probable, and running back Jawarn Howell, who was added Thursday, was listed as doubtful. Howell has carried the ball 18 times through the first six weeks. Earlier in the week coach Shane Beamer had singled out Scott as the Gamecocks' lone question mark and said the other players who missed the Florida game were expected to return, a picture that shifted with Scott's downgrade. Wide receiver Jayden Sellers, linebacker Kobby Sakyi-Prah and offensive linemen Josiah Thompson and Seth Smith are also out for South Carolina.
No. 11 Tennessee, 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the SEC, kicks off against the 3-3 Gamecocks, who are 1-3 in conference play, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. A final pregame update will come 90 minutes before kickoff. For Tennessee, the value of the short report is clarity after a long uninterrupted stretch: the staff knows exactly who is available, and the healthy core that has carried the Vols through seven games remains intact for another road test.