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Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Tennessee Vols HC Josh Heupel won't fully commit to return of key player by the start of the 2024 season

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Zach Ragan | Last updated 5/2/24

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel provided an encouraging injury update on Wednesday during a Big Orange Caravan stop in Chattanooga, but he wouldn't fully commit to the return of a key player by the start of the 2024 season.

Heupel was asked on Wednesday about the status of sophomore running back Cam Seldon, who suffered a shoulder injury in late March that required surgery.

“Everything has gone extremely well in his rehab process,” said Heupel (via KnoxNews.com).

"He's done a good job of staying within the confines of what our medical team is asking him to do," added Heupel. "We project him continuing to get healthy throughout the course of the summer and hopefully be ready when it's time to kick off."

Some fans might see that comment from Heupel and assume that Seldon will be good to go by the start of the 2024 season.

But we've heard Heupel say similar things about injured players in the past only for those players to miss the start of the regular season.

For example, last August when Heupel announced that center Cooper Mays was going to miss some time after undergoing a medical procedure, he initially suggested that the offensive lineman would be ready to go by the start of the 2023 season.

And that turned out to not be the case.

Vols center Cooper Mays had a minor procedure. Heupel said it will take a couple of weeks but should be ready for kickoff.
— Karthik Venkataraman (@KarthikV_) August 10, 2023

Mays ended up missing the first four games of the 2023 season, not returning until Tennessee's win against South Carolina in late September.

Seldon might be ready to go by the time the Vols kick off the 2024 season against Chattanooga on August 31, but his status for that matchup is still very much up in the air.

Getting Seldon back will be important for Tennessee. The former four-star recruit is viewed as a dynamic player that can be dangerous out of the backfield thanks to his rushing ability and his skills as a receiver.

There's also the fact that Tennessee doesn't have much proven running back depth beyond starter Dylan Sampson.

Seldon received 25 carries as a true freshman in 2023, which is second-most (behind Sampson) of any of the Vols' returning running backs.

Tennessee hasn't been aggressively looking for a running back from the transfer portal which means they're probably confident that Seldon won't miss much (if any) time during the regular season. But still, after watching the way the Mays injury saga unfolded last fall, it wouldn't be wise to count on Seldon being ready for the start of the regular season until you see him taking snaps against Chattanooga.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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