Tennessee's depth at safety has taken another hit.

Freshman Cheyenne Labruzza, moved from cornerback a few weeks ago in wake of the injuries to Todd Kelly Jr. and Evan Berry, will undergo knee surgery next week and will miss the remainder of the season, head coach Butch Jones announced at his press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Days after Labruzza was ruled out of Saturday's loss to South Carolina for an unspecified injury, Jones announced the diagnosis and later specified it was a knee injury.

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Cheyenne Labruzza

The 6-foot, 188-pounder out of Louisiana had played in four games this season primarily on special teams and had yet to record the first tackle of his career. He was listed as a reserve cornerback and then as a backup safety on Tennessee's official depth chart in recent weeks. The former three-star prospect stuck with his long-time commitment to the Vols after LSU made a late charge at him in January.

It's unclear if Labruzza will be eligible for a medical redshirt. Even if Tennessee plays in a bowl game, him playing in four games constitutes him playing in more than 30 percent of the season. However, linebackers Dillon Bates and Quart'e Sapp both received a medical redshirts when they played in four games, Bates in 2014 and Sapp in 2015.

For a couple of weeks Tennessee was operating with just freshmen Labruzza and Theo Jackson as the backups to starting safeties Nigel Warrior and Micah Abernathy, the second- and sixth-leading tacklers on the team.

Berry hasn't played since the first half of the season opener against Georgia game, but has returned to practice this week.

Jones said he is questionable for Saturday's game at No. 1 Alabama.

"As soon as we get Evan back," he said, "and like I said he also worked at the safety position yesterday, so it was great to have him back on the field. But again, we have to be patient as well that we don't give him too much from that standpoint."

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Jackson, who came off the bench for a couple of plays at safety against South Carolina after Abernathy briefly left the game after being shaken up following a play, remains next in the pecking order, and Jones indicated the Vols could slide Rashaan Gaulden to safety from his nickel cornerback spot in a pinch if necessary.

"Theo Jackson's an individual who continues to gain valuable repetitions," he said, "and it's moving some other people around, whether it's Rashaan Gaulden or what have you, so again, that's a position (where) we're very limited from a depth standpoint."

Labruzza joins two other freshmen -- wide receiver Jacquez Jones and offensive line K'Rojhn Calbert -- underwent season-ending surgery back in August.

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Contact Patrick Brown at patrick.brown@cbsinteractive.com or on Twitter, and follow GoVols247 on Facebook.