Keenan Pili to miss 'a couple weeks' with injury, per Josh Heupel
Tennessee logged a big win over non-conference foe Virginia on opening weekend, but it didn’t come completely without cost. A Keenan Pili injury will cost the linebacker some playing time.
Coach Josh Heupel estimated about how long Pili might be out on Wednesday during an SEC teleconference call.
“We weren’t sure early in the week, the severity of the injury,” Heupel said. “He will not be available this week. He’ll miss a couple weeks here.”
Pili transferred to Tennessee from BYU this offseason, offering some instant veteran leadership and production. In the season opener he logged four tackles, reportedly receiving a game ball from Heupel after the game.
The good news is the Volunteers can expect Keenan Pili back at some point.
“I don’t believe it is season-ending at this point,” Heupel said. “We’ll see how he continues to heal up here in the coming days and weeks.”
Tennessee gets Nico Iamaleava some action
One of the real highlights from Saturday’s game against Virginia for the Volunteers was that they were able to get star freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava his first action.
While veteran Joe Milton has a stranglehold on the starting job, getting Iamaleava up to speed as the backup will be key.
Heupel continued to see positive progress in that regard.
“Same things that we’ve seen. Really calm, cool. Good demeanor. Able to communicate, handle all the pre-snap stuff the right way, get his eyes in the right place,” Heupel said. “I thought [he] showed some athleticism. I love the feel in the pocket, being able to step up and get out of it and go make a play with his feet. He’s athletic enough to be used in the run game and escape the pocket.
“And I thought some of the run-pass stuff he did a good job and made an athletic throw, didn’t complete it, but throwing across his body on a little slant route that ended up not being completed. But all-in-all, really solid performance from him.”
Tennessee will be back in action this weekend against Austin Peay.