Tennessee tackle Lance Heard out vs Oklahoma: Injury report

Adam Sparks, Knoxville News Sentinel

NORMAN, Okla. - Tennessee football left tackle Lance Heard is out for the Oklahoma game, according to the SEC student-athlete availability report.

Heard was downgraded from questionable to out on the updated availability report on Friday night. He will miss a second straight game due to injury.

No. 7 Tennessee (3-0) plays No. 13 Oklahoma (3-0) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC). It will be Oklahoma’s first SEC game in program history.

Last week, Heard did not play in the Vols’ 71-0 win over Kent State, but coach Josh Heupel suggested that he was sidelined for precautionary reasons.

“We held a couple of guys tonight that could have gone," Heupel said. "Just for the longevity of this season, we held them out tonight.”

Nevertheless, UT will play its SEC opener on the road without its starting left tackle. That will likely keep sixth-year senior Dayne Davis in the starting lineup. He started the Kent State game in Heard's place.

Here’s the updated availability status for Tennessee and Oklahoma players.

Tennessee injury report

  • DB Jourdan Thomas (out)

  • DB John Slaughter (out)

  • OL Shamurad Umarov (out)

  • OT Lance Heard (out)

  • DB William Wright (probable)

  • OL William Satterwhite (probable)

  • LB Ben Bolton (probable)

Oklahoma injury report

  • WR Jayden Gibson (out)

  • WR Jalil Farooq (out)

  • DB Gentry Williams (out)

  • OL Geirean Hatchett (out)

  • LB Dasan McCullough (out)

  • OL Branson Hickman (questionable)

  • OL Jake Taylor (questionable)

  • TE Kade McIntyre (probable)

  • WR Nic Anderson (probable)

  • WR Andrel Anthony (probable)

  • DB Kendel Dolby (probable)

  • OL Troy Everett (probable)

How SEC availability report works

This is UT’s first appearance on the SEC student-athlete availability report, which began this season for conference games only.

The initial report is released on Wednesday night of an SEC game week with daily updates leading to a final report 90 minutes prior to kickoff of a Saturday game.

Prior to game day, players are designated by their school as available, probable, questionable, doubtful or out for the upcoming game. On game day, they are designated as available, game-time decision or out.

Here’s what those designations mean:

• Out: Will not play, 0% chance to play.

• Doubtful: Unlikely to play, 25% chance to play.

• Questionable: Uncertain to play, 50% chance to play.

• Probable: Probable to play, 75% chance to play.

Per the SEC policy, schools must accurately designate players’ participation status. If the school has knowledge that a player may not be able to participate in the upcoming game for any reason (injury, illness, suspension, ineligibility or personal matter), it must report it.

Failure to do so will subject schools to potential penalties ranging from $25,000 for a first offense to $100,000 for a third and further offenses.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lance Heard injury update: Tennessee tackle out vs Oklahoma

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