Tennessee's football team reacted to the news of All-SEC defensive tackle Justin Harrell and starting cornerback Inky Johnson's season-ending injuries with heavy hearts.

The challenge when No. 7 Florida comes to Neyland Stadium for an 8 o'clock kickoff Saturday night is to keep that concern for their teammates from following them onto the field.

Harrell, who will undergo surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his left biceps, watched the Vols' practice from the sideline Monday afternoon.

Johnson remains hospitalized after already having surgery to repair damage to blood vessels in his upper-right extremity. He also will have an operation to repair nerve damage as a result of a collision late in the fourth quarter of Tennessee's 31-30 victory over Air Force.

Several players have visited Johnson at UT Medical Center. UT coach Phillip Fulmer stopped by Sunday night.

"I told him everyone was praying for him," Fulmer said. "He said, 'I'm blessed. I'm very blessed.' He's an amazing young man from that standpoint."

Still, the injuries came as a blow to the team.

"It's tough, as a football player, yeah," quarterback Erik Ainge said. "But as a person, you don't get any finer people than Inky Johnson. I don't even know what the extent of his injury is. It's sad, it's terrible. Whether it's our team, their team, any team ... you hate anytime that happens to somebody.

Fulmer said that starting free safety Jonathan Hefney will take Johnson's place at cornerback, while defensive end Turk McBride, who began the season at tackle, will occupy Harrell's place inside.

Still, the Vols will notice the 6-foot-4, 300-pound Harrell's absence.

"You just lose his presence of knocking back the offensive guards and busting up plays in the backfield," linebacker Ryan Karl said. "Without him, it's going to be a different type ballgame, but we have J.T. (Mapu) and Matt McGlothlin that can step up big-time for us."

Xavier Mitchell, who made a huge stop Saturday on Air Force's two-point conversion try, will start in McBride's spot at left end.

In addition to Mapu, Fulmer said that sophomore Demonte' Bolden and freshman Dan Williams, who missed Saturday's game with an ankle injury, must continue to improve.

Fulmer said Bolden has shown consistent improvement in the Vols' first two games.

Sophomore Walter Fisher will be available Saturday at end. The juco transfer was cleared for contact last week after suffering an offseason shoulder injury.

In the secondary, Demetrice Morley will step into Hefney's spot.

"Athletically, we really don't drop off very much, it's just the depth now is thinner than it was," Fulmer said of the secondary moves. "Jason Allen went down last year and Inky Johnson played outstanding for us. Looking for the same thing to happen for us again."

The Vols have plenty of candidates, including reserve safeties Jarod Parrish, Antonio Wardlow and reserve cornerbacks Ricardo Kemp and Antonio Gaines.

Any of those players could be used in a five- or six-defensive back set, which the Vols will likely have to use to combat a deep Florida receiving corps.

"There's not a shortage of talent or anything like, just a little bit of experience," he said. "We'll come up with the right combination of people to play in the game. We're still very much not to that point where we can't put six DBs out there if we choose to."

What the Vols can't afford to do is let the absence of Harrell and Johnson be a distraction.

"I love both those guys," receiver Jayson Swain said. "But we can't think about that when go on the practice field or in between the lines.

"They want a ring on their finger at the end of the season, and that's what we're trying to do. We got to get that for them and get that for ourselves. I think we're down at the moment, but come practice time we got to put that behind us and make the best of this team."