Tennessee linebacker Keenan Pili is out for the season

Tennessee football will be without a senior linebacker Keenan Pili for the rest of the season. Pili was injured in the Vols' opener, a 23-17 overtime win against Florida.

Head coach Josh Heupel announced at its weekly press conference on Monday that Pili had suffered a torn ACL.

“Keenan has a cruciate ligament injury and will be out for the season,” explained Heupel. “He is a great leader who will continue to lead our building. We are heartbroken for him and his family. He's a guy who does absolutely everything right. He is a special player and also a special person. He has a great future.”

Pili entered the Florida game as Tennessee's leading tackler through the first five games of the season, with 28.0 total tackles (11 solo, 17 assists), including 1.5 tackles for loss. He also has two quarterback hits.

Last week, he had a season-high 10 tackles in Tennessee's 19-14 loss to Arkansas. Pili had five tackles at Oklahoma, three tackles against Kent State, four against North Carolina State and two in the opener against Chattanooga. He had 0.5 tackles in a loss against NC State and 1.0 against Oklahoma.

Before the knee injury, Pili entered the game at Florida with a labrum problem that stemmed from an injury he sustained at Arkansas that he wanted to play through.

“I'm not sure there's a better representative of what a volunteer is than Keenan Pili“said Heupel on Saturday evening. “You're talking about a selfless guy who cares far more about the people around him than he does about himself.

“This is an elite competitor, a great leader, tough, athletic, explosive, everything you want. He's just a dude, man. A special guy.”

Pili transferred from BYU to Tennessee before last season, but was injured in the season-opening win over Virginia at Nissan Stadium in Nashville and was out for the season.

Since Pili was injured at the end of the season, Jeremiah Telander takes on the role of starter in the middle. Telander had 18 tackles this season, including a tackle for loss of a PBU and a fumble recovery.

The challenge for Tennessee at linebacker now lies in depth. Kalib Perry will work slightly in the middle behind Telander in the middle. Jalen Smith is deep behind in both of them Arion Carter on the outside.

Tennessee was without a freshman Edwin Spillman Over the last three weeks, the space for someone deep at linebacker has suddenly become thin.