The Tennessee Volunteers have been without their top-rated player from the 2018 recruiting class for a couple of weeks now, and it seems that absence will continue.

On Wednesday, coach Jeremy Pruitt revealed that former 4-star LB JJ Peterson was not in the rotation defensively and hadn’t been with the team for a couple of weeks.

Pruitt then continued by saying Peterson’s absence would continue, but that he didn’t want to comment on it (via 247Sports):

“No, he’s not (in the rotation),” Pruitt said after Wednesday’s practice. “J.J. is taking a couple of weeks away from the team. He’s not been with us for a couple of weeks.”

Pruitt declined to reveal any specifics in terms of a reason for Peterson’s absence and was unsure of the player’s future at Tennessee.

“I don’t think I want to comment on that,” Pruitt said. “It’s something that J.J. wanted to do, and me and him talked and had a really good talk about it. That’ll be between me and him.”

In 2 years, Peterson has had 12 total tackles in limited action for the Vols. Will we see him back on the field this season? That remains to be seen.