The Tennessee football team is playing well and is firmly in the College Football Playoff conversation. Tennessee defeated Florida in Week 7 to move to 5-1 on the year with the lone loss coming against Arkansas in a stunner. 

However, after a win against Florida, the Volunteers have now been dealt a brutal injury blow to starting linebacker and captain Keenan Pili, who is out for the year due to a knee injury, per Patrick Brown of Vols 247.

‘Tennessee will have to play the rest of the 2024 season without one of its top defensive players and team captains. Linebacker Keenan Pili suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first half of Saturday night’s overtime win against Florida, head coach Josh Heupel announced on Monday.'

The Tennessee-Florida game had a few injuries, as it was also announced Monday that Gators QB Graham Mertz will miss the season due to a torn ACL.

As for Tennessee, Pili is a big loss to the defense. The senior was in his seventh year and this becomes his third season-ending injury of his career in a heartbreaking turn of events. Pili transferred from Tennessee to BYU in 2023, and now he will see his college season come to an end.

Another injury for Keenan Pili 

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After transferring from BYU to Tennessee, Pili suffered a triceps injury in the opener and ended up missing the remainder of the season. Now, after just six games in 2024, Pili is out once again in an unfortunate turn of events for the 26-year-old.

After the win over Florida on Saturday, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel spoke about what Pili means to the team, per Patrick Brown.

“I’m not sure there’s a better representative of what a Volunteer is than Keenan Pili,” Heupel said. “You talk about a selfless guy that cares about the people around him way more than he cares about himself, that’s an elite competitor, great leader, tough as nails, athletic, explosive – everything that you want. Just … he’s a dude, man. Special dude.”

Pili also entered the Florida clash as the Vols top tackler, so this is a crucial loss to the defense in a number of ways.

Tennessee has a tough home game against Alabama in Week 8 before a Week 9 bye, but the loss of Pili is a tough pill to swallow for the Tennessee football program.