Tennessee's Jaxson Moi, David Sanders removed from injury report for Mississippi State game

Tennessee Football released its final injury report update for the Mississippi State game Saturday afternoon, removing David Sanders Jr. and Jaxson Moi from the pregame report, with both players available to play against the Bulldogs.

Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC) and Mississippi State (4-0, 0-0) are scheduled for a 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network in the first true road game of the season.

Tennessee Football Injury Report: Pregame

Player	Position	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Pregame
David Sanders	OL	Questionable	Questionable	Probable	Available
Jaxson Moi	DL	Probable	Probable	Probable	Available
Jermod McCoy	CB	Out	Out	Out	Out
Rickey Gibson III	CB	Out	Out	Out	Out
Daevin Hobbs	DL	Out	Out	Out	Out
Radarious Jackson	WR	Out	Out	Out	Out
Hunter Barnes	RB	Out	Out	Out	Out
Daune Morris	RB	Questionable	Questionable	Out	Out
Ethan Davis	TE	Not Listed	Questionable	Out	Out
Mariyon Dye	DL	Not Listed	Questionable	Out	Out

Moi and fellow defensive lineman Daevin Hobbs did not play in the 56-24 win over UAB on Saturday. Also sidelined were Sanders, wide receiver Radarious Jackson and tight end Desaahn Brame.

Moi has been sidelined since suffering an upper-body injury early against Syracuse in the 45-26 season-opening win on August 30 in Atlanta.

“Jaxson has continued to get better,” Heupel said last week.

Tennessee also continues to be without cornerback Jermod McCoy, who tore his ACL during offseason training in January, and cornerback Rickey Gibson II, who is out for multiple weeks after being injured in the second quarter against Syracuse. 

Daevin Hobbs suffered a foot injury late in training camp

Heupel last Monday offered optimism that both Moi and Hobbs could return sooner rather than later. 

“Moi, day to day,” Heupel said last week. “Hobbs continues to do a really good job in his rehab. So how fast that progresses here, I can’t give you an answer today. But he’s done a really good job. Hopefully, we’ll have him back soon too.”

Hobbs was injured in the preseason and has missed the first three games of the season. He has been running on hard surfaces in cleats for the last week. Heupel announced last Wednesday that Jackson, who injured his collarbone in last week’s loss to Georgia, would miss Saturday’s game against UAB.

“He’ll be out this week,” Heupel said before the UAB game, “and we’ll see where he is the following week.”

Jackson is expected to miss multiple weeks while Brame got banged up in practice.

David Sanders Jr. missed four games with ‘unique injury’

As for Sanders, Heupel went more in-depth on his situation early last week, explaining that Sanders had been doing all he could to return while dealing with a “unique” injury. 

“It’s a unique injury that, you know, doctors are uncertain,” Heupel said. “That’s why he’s kind of been day to day for a while here and uncertain. It’s not like a sprained ankle. And I say that meaning there’s not a definitive timeline and so he’s been having to fight through that. Guy wants to be out there. It hurts him badly.”

Sanders has not been full speed at practice since he suffered the injury in practice on August 27.

“He’s not, I’m going to say, in control of it,” Heupel said. “Our medical staff is doing everything that they can. It’s a little bit of an unknown timeframe. He could wake up tomorrow and be ready to go. Obviously he’s had some time, some healing. We hope that happens before we get to Saturday.”