The Tennessee Volunteers got their first bit of really bad injury news this afternoon when they learned that starting center Brandon Kennedy suffered what is expected to be a season-ending knee injury in yesterday’s practice, as reported by VolQuest.
First of all, best wishes for a speedy recovery to Kennedy. This is his second season-ending injury, the first a broken leg in 2017 while playing for Alabama before transferring to Tennessee.
But this is a blow to the team as well. When we looked at the offensive players for whom it was most important to stay injury-free back in early August, we identified Kennedy and the other offensive linemen not named Trey Smith as third-most important, behind Jajuan Jennings and Smith.
Just as Pruitt was stressing the importance of continuity along the offensive line, Kennedy’s injury will likely result in Ryan Johnson moving to center. That will leave open a spot at guard that could be filled by Chance Hall, Jerome Carvin, or K’Rojhn Calbert.