Alabama likely without Ryan Coleman-Williams at Tennessee, DeBoer says

Alabama will probably play Saturday's road game at Tennessee without Ryan Coleman-Williams. Coach Kalen DeBoer said Monday that the Crimson Tide are working through more than one injury with him.

DeBoer named two problems, according to Vols Wire. One is a knee injury Coleman-Williams has been playing through for a while. The other is what DeBoer called a head issue. Coleman-Williams left Alabama's game against Georgia twice, once in the second quarter and again in the fourth. The staff plans to deal with the head issue this week.

"Pretty good chance we wouldn't have him this weekend," DeBoer said, as quoted by Vols Wire. The third-year coach added that he expects Coleman-Williams to be week-to-week after Saturday. That makes the Tennessee game the first absence he is likely to have, and possibly not the last.

The timing makes this a big loss. No. 6 Alabama (5-1) travels to No. 14 Tennessee (5-1) for a 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff Saturday on ABC. It is one of the main SEC games of Week 7. Both teams have one loss, and the result will shape the middle of the conference standings with half the season still to play. Vols Wire listed Alabama at 3-1 in league play and Tennessee at 2-1.

Coaches don't usually give a firm answer this early in the week, so DeBoer's comments stand out. He didn't rule Coleman-Williams out. But with a knee injury that hasn't fully gone away plus a head issue that still needs to be evaluated, Alabama should be planning to play without him in Knoxville. Any update later in the week on the head issue will be the next thing to watch.

Tennessee has its own lineup question. Josh Heupel spent part of Monday answering questions about the Volunteers' quarterback plans for the game, Vols Wire reported. Both teams head into a rivalry game with uncertainty at key spots.

The early market still has Alabama as a clear choice. The Crimson Tide are favored at -317 on Novig, one of the venues listing the game. The best sportsbook price on Alabama is -325 at BetMGM. Tennessee is getting 9.5 points at home, and the total is 53.5. Those numbers were current before any official ruling on Coleman-Williams, so Alabama's injury report over the next few days is worth following. Full pricing for the matchup is on our Alabama at Tennessee odds page.

Alabama has gone 5-1 so far and needs to win road games like this one to stay in the conference race. Doing it without Coleman-Williams would make the job harder. Tennessee, at home and coming off a 5-1 start of its own, has a chance to hand the Tide a second loss.