Tennessee coach Josh Heupel updates injury status of Jaxson Moi and Rickey Gibson III
Tennessee senior defensive tackle Jaxson Moi is out for the ETSU game on Saturday at Neyland Stadium and cornerback Rickey Gibson III will miss this week and will be out “an extended period of time.”
Heupel did not have a specific timeframe for Gibson’s return.
“Rickey will be out for an extended period here,” Heupel said during his weekly Monday press conference. “How long, I don’t have the exact time table but he’ll be out for extended time.”
He said the hope is to get Moi back “quickly” after he suffered an upper arm injury in the first quarter of Saturday’s 45-26 season opening win over Syracuse.
“Jaxson will be out this week,” Heupel said. “Hope to get him back quickly. In this game, you’ve heard me say it, the strength of a position group can’t be one guy. Everybody has to be ready and prepared to play when they get the fall. We have to continue to grow.”
Gibson left the game in the second quarter and didn’t return after suffering an injury to his left shoulder/arm. The exact extent of Gibson’s injury is unclear on Monday as he goes through more testing.
Moi played just three snaps before suffering the injury. He spent an extended period in the medical tent having his left arm wrapped. He came out of the tent and tried to warm back up but was in discomfort when he extended the arm into a players shoulder pads and couldn’t go.
Sources told Volquest that Moi was physically doing work in the complex on Monday to work to get back to the field. Tennessee only has a walk through practice on Monday’s of game weeks.
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Moi entered the season as one of the veteran leaders on the defensive line. After transferring from Stanford ahead of the 2024 season, Moi was initially going to redshirt but worked his way into the line up on the practice field and finished last season with 16 tackles, 2 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss.
Moi’s injury is a significant one because of his ability and also because Tennessee is already thin on the defensive interior as Daevin Hobbs is dealing with an injured foot and isn’t likely to return until October.
With the injuries in that room, senior Bryson Eason who played 60 snaps against Syracuse will have to carry the load and Eason will need help from inexperienced tackles like Nathan Robinson, who had a sack/fumble against Syracuse, Jamal Wallace and the two freshmen Ethan Utley and Isaiah Campbell. Campbell didn’t play any snaps in the senior opener.
Gibson played in 12 games last season recording 32 tackles and 5 pass broken up and forced a fumble. Defensive backs coach Willie Martinez said last month that Gibson was his most consistent defensive back a season ago.
“As the season was going on, he was the most consistent, to be honest with you, on the edges,” Martinez said. “I know Jermod had an unbelievable year — don’t get me wrong — and the plays he made were phenomenal. But Rickey, we leaned on Rickey a lot because, again, he’s a guy that he knows the scheme. He knows it really well. He’s been able to help Jermod last year when Jermod was learning defense. But he’s a lot smarter. He’s more aware of what the safeties are doing, and he knows how they work with each other. And great leadership, man.”
