Report: Two Tennessee freshman out for an extended period of time

Big news this morning for Tennessee — two freshmen will be out for the year after suffering injuries over the last week. Per Austin Price of VolQuest, running back Desean Bishop and defensive lineman Tyree Weathersby will be sidelined for the entire 2023 season.

It’s reportedly a hip issue for Weathersby and an ankle injury for Bishop.

Weathersby was pushing to crack the defensive line rotation after arriving in Knoxville as a four-star prospect. Per the 247Sports Composite, Weathersby was 299th ranked player in the class of 2023. The 6-4, 251 pound freshman will now take a redshirt season and look to make an impact a year from now.

Bishop was one of the final add to the class of 2023 for Tennessee, coming in locally from Karns High School. The three-star prospect ranked outside of the top 1,000 players in the class, but turned in a nice spring after getting a big workload with Jabari Small sidelined.

It’s a blow to Tennessee’s depth, but the Volunteers still have Small, Jaylen Wright, Dylan Sampson, Cam Seldon and Khalifa Keith on the roster.

Tennessee is now just 17 days away from their opener — a date with Virginia in Nashville on September 2nd.

UPDATE: Heupel confirms Weathersby is out for the year. He says Bishop will only miss a couple of months.