If Tennessee is going to have any shot at pulling an upset this weekend in Athens, the Volunteers are going to need every player on the travel roster available when the game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.

That goes without saying but the good news is Tennessee appears on the brink of entering that game with all hands on deck.

During his Monday morning press conference, Jeremy Pruitt was asked about the status of offensive lineman Jahmir Johnson and defensive lineman Elijah Simmons, both of which were banged up for the Missouri game.

“Yeah, I think both of those guys will be available this week,” Pruitt responded.

Tennessee’s nickelback Shawn Shamburger has yet to play this season due to an undisclosed reason and Bryce Thompson’s status was unclear entering Georgia Week.

While Pruitt didn’t give an update on Shamburger’s status, here is what the Tennessee coach had to say when asked about these two defensive backs.

“We should be gaining some guys back but listen, as we all know with the testing three days a week, it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen, so we continue to continue to work a lot of different guys,” Pruitt said. “If we would have played today, Bryce probably would have been able to play the entire time. So, he should be ready to go.”

Based on that response, all signs point to Tennessee being as healthy as could be expected entering the third game of the season.

Michael Wayne Bratton

A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com