Travis Smith Jr. Injury Status Update for Tennessee vs Arkansas

The Wednesday injury report for the Tennessee Volunteers and the Arkansas Razorbacks has officially released. This is one of the most important parts of the week during an SEC football conference game.

The Vols had extra time to recover for the conference matchup against the Razorbacks, but the receiver depth for the game could still potentially take a hit if true freshman Travis Smith Jr. is unable to play on Saturday.

According to the SEC Student-Athlete Availability Report, the status of Smith is listed as “DOUBTFUL.”

The wideout has three receptions for 29 yards to this point of the season. While his three receptions might not seem like a lot, he is still fifth among receivers on the team in catches, just one behind fellow freshman Radarious Jackson, who has already been labeled as “OUT” for this week’s game, taking away a significant amount of depth in the position room for Kelsey Pope to work with.

This game will be an opportunity to avenge their upset loss from last season with the advantage this year of playing at home in front of a packed out Neyland Stadium.

The Tennessee offense under head coach Josh Heupel has hummed along just fine with already limited receiver depth as starting quarterback Joey Aguilar has been able to hit a plethora of different weapons from a variety of positions over the course of the season.

However, losing a talented body that offers more size and length to the room will always sting when battling through the grind of conference play in the Southeastern Conference.

With potentially both Smith and Jackson out, the pressure will be on the rest of the room to step forward to get physically and mentally prepared to enter the football game and provide reliable play and valuable depth.

The next wideout to step up would in theory be another true freshman with former in-state standout Joakim Dodson, who has recorded two catches for 38 yards in his debut season.

Other options at the positions include Alabama transfer Amari Jefferson as well as walk-ons Tommy Winton III, Braylon Harmon, Trey Weary.

Following the battle at home against Arkansas, the Volunteers will be tasked with going on the road to play Alabama, so this situation could be one to monitor as the team gets into the meat of conference play against a high-quality caliber of opponent every single week.

The team will hope to get both of the talented true freshman back in the mix over the remainder of the season.