Tennessee star Jalen Reeves-Maybin will miss the rest of spring practice with a shoulder injury, multiple program sources confirmed to GoVols247 on Tuesday.

Tennessee senior-to-be outside linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin

Reeves-Maybin, who recently opted to return to Knoxville for his senior season rather than enter the NFL Draft, is arguably the centerpiece of what’s expected to be one of the nation’s top defenses in 2016.

The senior-to-be from Nashville-area Clarksville emerged as one of the SEC’s best special teams players as a true freshman in 2013 before becoming a solid first-year starter in 2014 and an elite player as a junior in 2015, starting in September with his 21-tackle, three-tackle-for-loss performance in the Vols’ thrilling overtime loss to eventual College Football Playoff participant Oklahoma.

Reeves-Maybin, who’s also one of the team’s biggest leaders in the locker room. will enter his senior season with 220 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, eight sacks, two forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, four pass breakups, four quarterback hurries and one interception.

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Losing Reeves-Maybin for the rest of the spring certainly is a blow for the Vols, but the bigger priority obviously is having him ready for the start of the 2016 season.

If there’s bright side to a tough situation, it’s this: A group of players including junior-to-be Cortez McDowell, sophomore-to-be Dillon Bates, redshirt-freshman-to-be Quart'e Sapp and junior-to-be Elliott Berry will get more reps this spring as a result of Reeves-Maybin’s injury.

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Contact Wes Rucker by email at wesrucker247@gmail.com, or ON TWITTER or ON FACEBOOK