Tennessee's Austin Sanders to miss season with torn biceps

Tennessee is running out of healthy offensive linemen.

With offensive guard Marcus Jackson already done for the year with a torn biceps, fellow guard Austin Sanders recently suffered the same fate, head coach Butch Jones told Ryan Callahan of 247Sports on Thursday.

"He’ll be out for the entire year, and it’s really the same injury that Marcus Jackson had," Jones said. "It’s a bicep tendon, and it just happened with body position. He extended his arm. He was in a contact phase of a block and extended his arm, and his tendon went. He’s scheduled to have surgery here very shortly."

Jackson was slated to be a starter this season, but Sanders was expected to fill a backup role. Jones added that freshmen Chance Hall and Jack Jones will have an opportunity to step up.

"Again, you never recover, but that is a position where we have built some depth there, and it's next man in," the coach said. "It's another person's opportunity, and I think you see around the country – not just the college ranks, but in the professional ranks – injuries occurring every day, and it's very, very unfortunate. But it's a part of the game, as well."