Josh Heupel addresses Jeremy Banks absence from Tennessee loss to South Carolina

Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel declined to give the reason why linebacker Jeremy Banks did not play in the Vols’ 63-38 loss to South Carolina.

When asked Monday if Banks had an altercation with a teammate or served a suspension, Heupel said, "As far as what transpired and those types of things, at the end of the day he wasn't available (against South Carolina)."

Banks, a preseason All-SEC selection and the team’s No. 2 tackler, did not make the trip to South Carolina. Before the game, a Tennessee spokesperson said his absence was due to an injury.

After the game, Heupel said only that Banks “wasn’t available” but he was “hopeful” the linebacker would be available when Tennessee (9-2, 5-2 SEC) plays at Vanderbilt (5-6, 2-5) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

On Monday, Heupel said he anticipates Banks will be available to play against Vanderbilt.

There was speculation on sports talk radio and social media that Banks had gotten into an altercation with teammates. On Sunday, Banks appeared to refute those rumors in an Instagram post.

“Wasn’t about no conflict or nun (sic) like that. Get Facts bro, coming back harder than ever!” Banks posted.

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Banks then shared an Instagram post from the Tennessee football account, which announced Hendon Hooker’s season-ending ACL tear and thanked the quarterback for being “forever a Tennessee legend and the ultimate teammate.”

Did Tennessee lose because of Jeremy Banks?

Banks was among the scapegoats for Tennessee’s lopsided loss. Heupel, defensive coordinator Tim Banks, secondary coach Willie Martinez and defensive backs were some of the others.

The Vols allowed Spencer Rattler to pass for 438 yards, and South Carolina scored the most points against Tennessee by any SEC opponent in school history. Heupel said the pain of the loss should be shared between players who played in the game and others who were not at the game.

“This one needs to hurt on the way back (to Knoxville),” Heupel said. “It needs to hurt for guys that aren’t on this trip, that will be in our building (Sunday) afternoon and will be there on Monday.”

On Monday, Banks' teammates addressed the impact of his absence. Linebacker Aaron Beasley said the defense lacked a sense of urgency, but he didn't blame that on Banks.

"Jeremy is a guy of high energy. He would've loved to have him out there with us," Beasley said. "But at the end of day, the outside stuff isn't supposed to affect us. We've got to go out there and do our job."

Banks has 46 tackles, four tackles-for-loss, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery in 10 games. He also touts eight quarterback hurries as Tennessee’s most disruptive blitzing linebacker.

The Vols had only one sack and two hurries against South Carolina. But the secondary also struggled to cover wide receivers from the opening drive. The Gamecocks scored touchdowns on nine of 10 possessions that didn't end at a half.

Defensive lineman Omari Thomas acknowledged the Vols missed Banks' disruptive style of play. But he also thought the defense should've compensated for that loss.

"Jeremy is one of our better defensive players. He flies around to the ball, and he does a lot for us on defense," Thomas said. "So it was a drop, but we just have to continue to play. We have faith in our next people to step up. Everyone prepares and gets reps throughout the week. So we went into the game still expecting to win, knowing that he wasn't going to be there with us.

"It just didn't happen for us. We expect to have him back this weekend and ready to play the next game."

Reach Adam Sparks at adam.sparks@knoxnews.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Josh Heupel addresses Jeremy Banks absence from Tennessee loss to South Carolina