Joakim Dodson suffers season-ending injury

Tennessee lost a piece of receiver depth over the weekend as Joakim Dodson suffered a torn LCL against Furman. The sophomore was in the mix in the return game for Tennessee, handling one kickoff on Saturday. Dodson went for 45 yards, but the play was called back due to a penalty. Dodson made a huge play last against Illinois in the Music City Bowl, taking a kickoff back to the house to keep Tennessee alive in that one. Dodson was listed as the backup slot receiver on Tennessee's first depth chart released on Saturday before the game. Josh Heupel confirmed the news today. "You just hate it for him," Heupel said. "He had a really good kickoff return. Unique just in how he gets tackled and the leg plants. From year one, finishing the season to January, just how he prepared, practiced, trained. Saw great strides in him as a player. Disappointing. You put all that work in, and you get one game of football. That's always hard for anybody to do that." Dodson's injury bumps true freshman Tyreek King up a spot on the depth chart. King made a little noise throughout fall camp, and now could see some action if anything were to happen to Braylon Staley. "Tyreek (King) is the first guy that needs to continue to grow," Heupel said. "He's done a good job. I mentioned that during the course of training camp. He got some action the other day. He just needs to continue to grow. We've got great trust in him. Certainly, there's urgency, if there wasn't before, he certainly recognizes that now." Dodson was a 3-star prospect in the class of 2025. The 6-0, 185 pound receiver ranked just outside of the top 600 players nationally, according to 247Sports.