Category Archives: Baseball

Gameday Today: Eric Berry makes everything better

The legend of VFL Eric Berry continues to grow, a prospect turns the table on Tennessee, and we’re beginning to feel better about the secondary, all in today’s Vols link roundup.

Eric Berry just keeps leveling up in Awesome

My favorite NFL team – Eric Berry – is apparently still engaged in the continuous improvement of his Awesome game, getting to-go food at a Knoxville restaurant while he was in town for the purpose of giving it to some homeless people on his way out. He also reportedly stopped and prayed with them. All of this without any cameras or public relations folks following him around. It’s just Eric Berry living his life, and no one but the people involved would have known if it hadn’t been captured by a random Facebooker:

Recruiting

As Brad posted yesterday, the Vols landed a commitment from top-shelf Class of 2020 running back Miles Friday. The 247Sports follow-up article includes a quote from Friday that makes it sound like he was recruiting Tennessee:

“It’s always been a school that I’ve really looked into and could see myself going to at a young age,” said Friday, who’s expected to be one of the top prospects from Georgia in the 2020 class. “It was a few schools I was basically waiting for — them, LSU — but Tennessee was really just the one I really, really wanted. And when I got it, I was ecstatic.

“They looked at me for a while, since my eighth-grade year. But they were like, ‘You’re too young,’ and stuff. And I just kept pushing. I kept going over there, and every time I’d see the coaches, I would just push for them.

“And when they finally did it, I was just like, ‘It’s time.’”

There were more offers yesterday, too:

Football

Brad also weighed in on his projections for the Tennessee secondary yesterday. And we’re adding this bit from 247Sports to our list of reasons to be excited for this season:

The quartet of seniors Todd Kelly Jr. and Evan Berry, junior Micah Abernathy and sophomore Nigel Warrior recorded a combined 25 starts last season alone, and there’s talent to go along with their experience, as all four are former four-star prospects according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

I’ll keep saying it: Folks are under-appreciating the talent that will take the field for the Vols this fall.

Hey, Tennessee offensive coordinator Larry Scott, how do you keep quarterbacks happy? Teach them about process and patience.

Hey, Lane Kiffin, what do you think about Butch Jones? 

“I think Coach [Butch Jones] has done a great job there,” Kiffin told Saturday Down South. “They really have had some tough breaks down the stretch. They started out really fast with some big wins and it seems like they are right there and need one break to get it done. … Injuries take their toll, especially as the season keeps going on. It’s a tough sport and that’s why it’s one of the hardest sports to maintain winning because of that factor and so many variables.”

Odds and Ends

Grant Williams!

https://twitter.com/Vol_Hoops/status/872904997670973441

UTSports has a roundup of what people who matter are saying about new baseball coach Tony Vitello.

Eight members of the Tennessee women’s golf program will play in 18 different tournaments over the summer.

 

 

Gameday Today: A new record, a new coach, and a new assignment for you

 

Christian Coleman sets a new record, Tennessee baseball hires a new coach, and the football program begins summer workouts and apparently expects you to help. This and more in Gameday Today.

Christian Coleman

Breaking news: Tennessee track and field star Christian Coleman is FAST. Coleman set a collegiate record in the 100 meter with a time of 9.82.

https://twitter.com/Vol_Track/status/872653353385205760

Baseball

Tennessee has hired Tony Vitello as its new head baseball coach. The job offer apparently came shortly after a 1:45 a.m. phone call from John Currie to Vitello, who was consoling himself by watching Tombstone after the Arkansas team of which he was an assistant coach had lost in the NCAA Tournament:

“I don’t know how good I am in a formal interview,” Vitello said, “but at 1:45 in the morning you throw everything out the window. It was just chatting about the job and … that turned into a teleconference the next morning and that turned into meeting some place (Tuesday) night.”

If you’re interested in a 12-click slideshow (or have a subscription), GoVols247 has a list of the MLB players Vitello has coached.

Tennessee Football commences summer workouts

Do you remember that old public service announcement about forest fires? We’re introduced to Smokey the Bear, who somberly says that, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Okay, hold that in your mind a second.

Now, do you remember comedian Steven Wright and his joke about seeing that Smokey the Bear PSA as a kid? You know, this one:

Yeah, that’s the feeling I had at the tail end of UT Football’s latest video showing the players starting the summer strength and conditioning program:

https://twitter.com/vol_football/status/872585221891268609

It’s my turn? Oh, no. Where does one buy a medicine ball?

Other Football

The SEC Network has a video of Cole Cubelic opining on the SEC’s Top 5 offensive lines. His list is Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Florida, and then a bunch of others grouped together, including Tennessee. I still think the Vols’ o-line is being underrated and undervalued.

Great quote from offensive coordinator Larry Scott:

“I would never sacrifice recruiting. Never,” he said at the Big Orange Caravan stop in Chattanooga on Saturday. “You can be as good a coach as you want to be, but if you ain’t coaching good players and good people, good luck.”

VFLs

This is a great story about how Cam Sutton blew the Pittsburgh Steelers away with his knowledge of the game:

“We hold a dinner for all the NFL head coaches and general managers the night before our NFL Pro Day, when they come to our campus and they test our players,” Jones said. “Mike Tomlin, who’s a great friend of mine, and Kevin Colbert, the GM of the Pittsburgh Steelers, come in and take Cameron Sutton into our defensive back meeting room. Mike Tomlin says to Cam Sutton, ‘OK, pick a game, and I want you to talk about it. You’re gonna tell me your assignment.’ Cam says, ‘I want to watch the App State game, so they put the App State game in, and Cam is telling ‘em the front, the coverage, the defensive line’s responsibilities, the linebackers, the entire secondary.

“Then Kevin Colbert steps in and says, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re playing us. We don’t go for that game. You’ve rehearsed this. Take that game out. I want the second quarter of the Nebraska game.’ So they put the second quarter of the Nebraska game in, and Cam Sutton does the same thing, saying everyone’s assignment.

“Mike Tomlin comes out and says, ‘Butch, I need to see you.’ I said, ‘What’s up?’ He goes, ‘In all my years of coaching, I’ve never been through an interview like that. He could tell us everything.’

Woo for Cam.

Peyton Manning is becoming a strategic advisor to helmet-maker Riddell.

Recruiting

There were a whole bunch of new offers extended by the Vols’ coaching staff over the past couple of days:

 

Tennessee baseball coach Dave Serrano to resign

Tennessee Vols baseball coach Dave Serrano informed Athletic Director John Currie on Wednesday that he has decided to resign at the end of the season.

Serrano’s accomplishments as baseball coach at Tennessee include overseeing an improvement in the graduation success rate of his players and the highest-ever multi-year APR score for the baseball team. He’s also coached 14 players who were eventually selected in the MLB Draft and signed six consecutive Top 20 recruiting classes.

Unfortunately, Serrano was never able to achieve the same kind of success in the win/loss column at Tennessee that he had at other stops. In his 13-year head coaching career, he has a 446-229-1 record, and yet his record on Rocky Top is only 157-160.

Serrano will continue to coach the remainder of this season, including any postseason tournaments for which the team might qualify. When he leaves, assistant coach Larry Simcox will take over as interim while the program searches for Serrano’s replacement.

Gameday Today: Vols not resisting the sweat-talk

Football

 
Breaking News Flash: Butch Jones inherited an “absolute total mess” at Tennessee. Seriously, though, this is VFL Phillip Fulmer speaking truth, but doing so publicly, going on the record with his opinion that he thinks Jones is doing fine.
 
Vols’ defensive tackle Kendal Vickers is not making excuses for the defensive line this season, tight end Jakob Johnson is not taking his degree for granted, and new cornerback Terrell Bailey is not resisting his transition from sweet-talk to sweat-talk.
 
And finally, new quarterbacks coach Mike Canales is winning hearts and minds, giving up his seat on a flight so a mom could get home to see her kid play in his baseball game. The kid even hit a home run. So did Canales.
 
The new guy at Rocky Top Talk has made a list of the five defensive guys that are the most indispensable (and one for the offense as well), which looks quite reasonable.
 

Recruiting

 
Tennessee is in the running for Harold Joiner, the No. 3 running back in the Class of 2018, and Owen Pappoe, the No. 1 outside linebacker and No. 4 prospect overall in the Class of 2019. These would be big gets for a program on a bit of a roll lately.
 

Baseball

 
Sigh. Tennessee baseball got swept by Kentucky, moving the team to 26-22 overall and 7-18 in the SEC, which even hurts to type.
 

Miscellaneous fun stuff

 
Vols’ sprinter Christian Coleman won the 100-meter dash with one shoe untied behind his back. Or something like that. And Vols wide receiver commit Jatavious Harris won three Georgia state titles this weekend.

Gameday today: It’s all a super-revealing mind game, man

Football

It’s all a mind game, man. When defensive back Rashaan Gaulden had to sit out most of the spring due to injury, new position coach Charlton Warren told him that he could look at it one of two ways: Either he wasn’t getting any reps, or he was going to get all of them (mentally). The happy ending: Gaulden chose to get every rep.
 
Oh my goodness, the headline: “Tennessee QB Jarrett Guarantano’s Twitter account revealing.” What’s the big reveal? Is it naked Jim McElwain on a shark? Another mooning incident from a Volunteers quarterback, this time with pictures? Does it unearth psychopathic tendencies of a guy on our roster? What? It “reveals” that Guarantano is a team player? Oh, well that’s good. Boring, but good. Begrudging high-five for the headline, Mike.
 
So some folks are in an uproar about the Vols spending $40,000 on bowl and Battle of Bristol rings. Pffffftt. That’s like two parking passes, man. They can handle it.
 
One small squat for man, one giant squat for Marquez Bembry, who is “maybe 60 percent” recovered from a torn ACL suffered last August. Godspeed, young man.
 
“Pretty boring guy” Kendal Vickers is graduating despite an early stiff arm to the whole academics thing. Congratulations, from one boring guy staying home on Friday nights to another. Represent!
 
I don’t know what’s behind the paywall for this link promising an analysis of the Vols football scholarship distribution, but it sounds fun.
 
The 2017 Lott IMPACT Trophy folks have added Vols’ senior defensive back Todd Kelly Jr. to their watch list for the season. The criteria for the award isn’t limited to athletic performance, but also considers the player’s character, which is awesome. Kelly is one of 42 guys on the list, which is a lot of guys to watch, so I’m just going to watch Kelly and declare him the winner when the time rolls around.
 

Basketball

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee has recommended several rules changes, including implementation of a centralized replay system in basketball games. What’s a “centralized replay system,” you ask? Think replay for college football. You know, where they stop the game and get on the horn to some poorly-compensated virtual assistants in the Philippines to see what they think. Or maybe it’s the guys sitting in the SEC offices in Birmingham; I always get those two groups confused. Anyway, I guess it’s better than watching the stripey guys hunched over the monitor that belongs to the broadcast crew like they’re showing each other their latest Instagrams.
 

Baseball

The baseball Vols dug themselves a hole early and couldn’t climb out, falling to Kentucky 15-5 last night in Lexington. That moves Tennessee to 26-20 and a woeful 7-16 in the SEC.
 

Miscellaneous fun stuff

Remember Ron Slay? He’s graduating, and he’s going to wear a headband on his mortar board. Also, the Indianapolis Colts have waived VFL Curt Maggitt. Boo.

Gameday Today: Not a fan of Will Muschamp edition

Football

 
Tennessee freshman offensive tackle K’Rojhn Calbert is not a fan of the Muschamp culture at South Carolina. Sort of confirms most of what you thought a Muschamp locker room would be like, doesn’t it? Muschamp, though, does outrank Butch Jones in CBS’ list of the best coaches in college football. No. 52 doesn’t sound bad for Jones, but being ranked lower than Muschamp has to add a little salt to the sting. That’s what you get when you haven’t ever beaten the guy. Let’s fix that this fall, shall we?
 
And speaking of things to fix . . . Dave Hooker says that Vols defensive coordinator Bob Shoop needs to rebound this year. Yeah.
 
Things that don’t need fixing? Josh Dobbs, who is still winning hearts, participating in graduation activities and throwing his first pass for the Pittsburgh Steelers all within the same 24-hour span. 

Recruiting

The Twitter profile of 4-star defensive tackle Jaquaze Sorrells makes him look like a pretty solid commit to the Florida Gators, but that didn’t stop Tennessee from throwing their hat in the ring.
 

 

 Hoops

Little late to this party due to the magazine deadline, but . . . Vols guard Shembari Phillips is transferring. The Vols have also lost Kwe Parker, but they have signed JUCO All-American Chris Darrington and are trying to land James Daniel, a grad transfer from Howard. 

Baseball

 
Tennessee baseball . . . has a really good APR.
 
 
 
 

Today on Gameday: Jajuan Jennings and John Kelly leading the way on offense

 

Tennessee wide receivers coach Kevin Beard is liking his guys. He especially likes returning starter Jajuan Jennings, who just needs to be the alpha male he naturally is.

But speaking of leaders, running back John Kelly is relishing the spotlight and taking it on himself to coach up Carlin Fils-aime and the other running backs when he gets the chance. “He’s probably more vocal than he’s ever been,” coach Jones said. “He’s coaching the younger players. He’s demanding.”

Good. With Kelly and Jennings and the experience along the offensive line, the offense should at the very least be confident, which should go a long way in making things just a bit easier for whichever guy wins the starting quarterback gig. The latest report on that competition is that it’s still a competition.

On the other side of the ball, Darrell Taylor is really beginning to make a name for himself, even earning comparisons to Derek Barnett.

And on the baseball diamond, freshman Justin Ammons scored the game-winning run against #10 Auburn yesterday thanks to a sacrifice fly by Andre Lipcius.