Tennessee Suffers another Injury Setback, DB Rashaan Gaulden Out of the Season

Written by Ryan Wright

The daily practice updates from Tennessee head coach Butch Jones have been filled with more bad news than happy news with the loss of players for the year due to injury. The latest upsetting injury news from Knoxville hits the starting unit of the Volunteers’ secondary.

On Saturday Jones announced sophomore defensive back Rashaan Gaulden could miss the entire 2015 season due to a foot injury. Jones spoke about the loss of Gaulden stating, “Rashaan meant so much for us not just from a DB standpoint but from special teams as well. Last year as a true freshman, that’s where he made his impact. Not only on defense do we have to replace him, but we have to replace the productivity on special teams as well.”

Gaulden was a 3-star recruit out of Spring Hill, Tenn. playing in 11 games as a true freshman in 2014. He received some early playing time totaling seven tackles primarily as a special teams’ gunner. With the loss of senior cornerback Justin Coleman to graduation, Cameron Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley, and junior college transfer Justin Martin were expected to contend for the starting corner positions with Gaulden starting as a nickel/dime cover corner.

The Vols have gone through a heavy dose of on the field injuries losing starting left guard Marcus Jackson and key offensive guard backup Austin Sanders for the year. Other nagging injuries have slowed cornerback Justin Martin, defensive end LaTroy Lewis, and receiver Marquez North.

Photo credit: knoxnews.com; No. 7 Rashaan Gaulden stretches out for a ball in practice.