Tennessee freshman defensive end Ben Martin will undergo arthroscopic surgery today on his injured left knee.
The full extent of the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Martin’s injury likely will be known after the surgery, UT head athletic trainer Jason McVeigh said in a statement released Monday afternoon.
Citing federal privacy laws, Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer declined comment on specifics of Martin’s injury.
Martin underwent an MRI exam Sunday and results were inclusive. Initial indications pointed to possible ligament damage.
The injury, which was not a result of direct contact, occurred when Martin landed awkwardly on his left leg during Saturday night’s scrimmage in Neyland Stadium.
Dr. Greg Mathien and Dr. Russell Betcher of Knoxville Orthopedic Clinic will perform the surgery.
With Martin’s injury, the Vols moved freshmen linebackers Chris Donald and Chris Walker to defensive end to provide more depth.
The move was to “see if we can get some young guys coming on with pass rush, particularly in light of Ben Martin’s situation,” Fulmer said.
The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Donald was a Parade All-American last year and rated the No. 1 inside linebacker prospect by Rivals.com.
Walker, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound Memphis native, was a two-time Division II All-State selection at Christian Brothers High School.
Scrimmage Set: Tennessee will hold its final full scrimmage of fall camp this afternoon, beginning at 4 p.m. in Neyland Stadium.
UT students are invited to attend, but they won’t see much of Tennessee’s first-teamers.
“It will be much like it was last year — limited work with the ones, and a whole bunch of work for the twos and threes,” Fulmer said.
Senior linebacker Ryan Karl (back) has been cleared by the medical staff and will participate in his first full-contact work of the season.
“I feel good, feel great,” Karl said Monday. “I think I’ve got fresher legs than most people out there. That’s what I want to do (today) — just use my fresh legs to my advantage and make plays.”
Plays for Karl — and the rest of the first-team Vols — will be severely limited to avoid injuries.
“We’re trying to practice very physical and scrimmage very physical, and it’s paid off for us,” Fulmer said. “We’ve been very fortunate to this point, and we don’t want push our luck with some of the guys. I dang sure don’t want them pacing themselves, either.”
Only linebacker Ellix Wilson (knee), tight end David Holbert (knee) and Martin have suffered serious injuries.
Wilson could be back soon, while Holbert will undergo season-ending surgery.
Kick Return: Tennessee worked several newcomers at kick return during the early part of Monday morning’s practice.
Among those returning kicks were: Denarius Moore, Eric Berry, Dennis Rogan, Kenny O’Neal and Marsalous Johnson.
Whatever mix Tennessee chooses for its opening game at Cal, Fulmer said it won’t include a pair of freshmen.
“Early in the season, it just depends on their maturity level,” Fulmer said. “If we went right now, it would be an older guy and a younger guy quite likely. It won’t be two young guys back there.”
Funny Foster: Starting tailback Arian Foster jumped in with a crowd of reporters interviewing Erik Ainge following practice Monday.
Holding a sweatband like a microphone, Foster drew chuckles when he asked the senior quarterback what he thought about — who else? — Arian Foster.
“Who?” Ainge deadpanned, before adding, “Montario Hardesty’s a great running back.”
Injury Report: Center Josh McNeil missed practice Monday due to illness. He played through flu-like symptoms Saturday night. Receiver Gerald Jones (hamstring) spent the early part of practice on a stationary bicycle.
Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.
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Comments » 12
thevol writes:
Tough break for Martin. Interesting that they moved Donald and Walker. I guess there is more depth at linebacker than DE. Has anyone heard anything about Wes Brown? He had PT last year but I have not heard anything about him. Ayers needs to step up. He looks the part but so far hasn't put it together. Go Big Orange!
gaVOLman writes:
Yeah I'm surprised by both being moved to DE as well. I mean we may be deeper a LB this year, but these guys don't need to gain the weight of a DE or lose speed to play LB next year.
cgbtn writes:
I think the move is simply an attempt to replace Martin's pass rushing speed. The current DEs need 10 seconds to get a sack. I would expect they will mostly play in obvious passing situations. I doubt either of them can play run against 320 pound tackles. Lining them up at DE is just another way of getting a 3-4 on the field.
utvols1 writes:
Interesting that Bill Yomans isn't doing the surgery. He has been UT's Ortho surgeon for decades. It's also bs that they aren't saying if it was an ACL or other ligaments, I know they did an MRI and it's either not as bad as it could be, or they are keeping it a secret about how bad the knee is. Either way they know. It's a good thing we can red shirt him.
thevol writes:
That is a good thought cgbtn, I didn't think of their impact with the 3-4. This way they learn to play with their hand down, rush the passer, and drop back in coverage. Silver lining? Go Big Orange!
newtonrail writes:
Yoemans retired.
hueypilot writes:
Right Youmans (Now we have three spellings of his name out here) retired last year. Nice article about him on this blog. Seems like he had been doing reconstructive surgery for over 30 years, kind of a pioneer. Seems that in the past, Parys Haralson, for one and there were others, played OS linebacker DE and you couldn't really tell the difference. Depending on the scheme. Sometimes with their hand on the ground, sometimes standing up. (remember the defense we copied from Southern Miss where the DT's and DE's all stood up and were really moving around when the ball was snapped Easy to do with Henderson and Haynesworth. Heck they could have stood on their hands and still made the play) Anyway, never played and don't know all the intracacies, but it seems all teams play some variation of the 3-4 when rush three and scheme against the pass. And isn't putting one of your young guys in their to blitz where they don't have to think about run responsibility a good thing. Let the old guys read and react. Let the young guys go to the ball.
txsvol#372416 writes:
For what it's worth, without knowing anything specific about the surgeons involved, or their favored technique: One technique of ACL reconstruction involves taking the middle third of the patella tendon, with a precisely cut portion of bone from the patella, along with the insertion of the tendon in the tibia, running it through a drill hole in the femoral notch, and through another hole through the tibial plateau, securing each end with a (Kurosaka)screw, and perhaps heavy non-absorbable sutures. Another involves taking the semitendinosus tendon, doubling it, and suturing it in place, through the bones, with non-absorbable suture. This technique has smaller scars, although both are arthroscopic procedures. You will find passionate advocated for each, but few if any studies rise to the level of evidence-based medicine. So, a lot depends upon the skill of the surgeons involved, and I would not be concerned about the new surgeons being involved with Ben Martin's surgery, rather than Dr. Youmans. (A sports medicine surgeon can really get the attention of his peers when he does something like take the opposite knee's mid-third patella tendon, put it into the ACL reconstruction of a prominent athlete, say Jerry Rice, without using 'Grafton' on the donor site, have his star return early on MNF, and catch a touchdown, falling and fracturing the OPPOSITE patella!) BTW, I'm participating in an ACL reconstruction this Friday, and I'm not staying in the Holiday Express! Go Vols! SAVol
DaveVol writes:
Seems like we have had to always deal with more than our share of knee injuries. Going back to Keith Overton we have always had stars/potential stars go down with knee injuries. Does any other program deal with this or am I so isolated in Vol land that I can't see around the trees? Also, what about Wes Brown?
utvols1 writes:
Nice insight on reconstuctive surgery Txsvol. You are correct it's now a pretty routine proceedure. I didn't know Bill had retired. He did my knee in '79. No fancy scopes back then!
Thinking about some great recoveries you'd have to include Little too. We do seem, however to get our (more than) fair share of ACL's and other severe injuries especially to some of our "key" players year over year.
utbaby#215635 writes:
Any experimentation at defensive end is a good thing. They need a smaller fast rush end if Reynolds and Mitchell can't come with pressure on passing downs. I like the idea of getting both Donald and Walker on the field sooner rather than later.
VOLnAla writes:
I believe Wes Brown will come in and make an impact this year much like last year. He looks to have his size and strength up, so I expect him to have a great year. Go VOLS!
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