Tennessee WR to miss remainder of 2026 season following injury vs. Furman
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Tennessee won its season opener on Saturday afternoon by blasting Furman, 56-9, but it also lost something important as the dust settled from the Week 1 blowout at Neyland Stadium.
Wide receiver Joakim Dodson was injured on a hit near the sideline during a kickoff return and will miss the rest of the 2026 season. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel confirmed the bad news on Monday and spoke about Dodson’s injury during his session with reporters.
“You just hate it for him,” Heupel said. “He had a really good kickoff return. Unique just in how he gets tackled and the leg plants. From year one, finishing the season to January, just how he prepared, practiced, trained.
“Saw great strides in him as a player. Disappointing. You put all that work in, and you get one game of football. That’s always hard for anybody to do that.”
Dodson’s injury is being termed as a torn LCL. He handled that 1 kickoff on Saturday and took it for 45 yards, although the return was called back because of a penalty.
He wasn’t just a special teams weapon though. Dodson, a 3-star recruit in the Class of 2025, was listed as the backup slot receiver on the first depth chart of the season that was released before Saturday’s game.
The injury would likely bump true freshman Tyreek King up on the depth chart.
With Dodson out of the picture now for 2026, Tennessee will be challenged just a little bit more to win as many games as it wants to this season. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the Volunteers’ potential win total for this year:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
