Category Archives: Today on Gameday

Gameday Today: All aboard the Vols hoops bandwagon

Hoops

Warning: Mixed metaphor zone. If you’re still a wallflower, standing on the sideline, reluctant for whatever reason to jump on the Vols hoops bandwagon — it’s time to find your courage, get in the game, and enjoy the ride.

Tennessee men’s hoops is quietly becoming a great team, doing what great teams do like beating opponents by 33 points.

Their coach, who has gotten them to this point by always, always, always finding something they can do better, is having to work especially hard to find something to criticize (video).

The opponents are handing out the rat poison of effusive praise like it’s candy, and the pollsters are piling on, slotting Tennessee at #15.

And we’re talking realistic dreams of a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

So make yourself happy and get on the train before it leaves the station.

Tonight, #15 Tennessee travels to Rupp Arena to take on #24 Kentucky, and we’ll be re-introducing the GRT game thread for it. John Calipari is calling for all hands on deck, so not only do we have a road trip to a blue-blood rival at hand, that rival is wide awake and in attack mode. Will’s Tennessee-Kentucky game preview tells you what to watch for. This is basketball, so a road loss to a ranked rival won’t be devastating to the Vols, but tonight provides a significant opportunity to sweep Kentucky and continue to build momentum heading into the postseason.

Recruiting

Tomorrow is National Signing Day, and nobody knows anything about how the Vols are going to finish.

247Sports has an 18-click slideshow Crystal Ball update on the Vols’ remaining tagets. It’s kind of depressing, to be honest, as it only gives the edge to the Vols for 5-star Quay Walker and 3-star Cedric Tillman and puts them in a tie for 3-star Otito Obgonnia.

This similar post from SEC Country is a relatively more optimistic version of the same thing, guessing that Tennessee leads for Walker, 4-star Isaac Taylor-Stuart, and 4-star Emmit Gooden. The reason for the increased optimism is likely this post, also from SEC Country. Rivals, too, appears to think the Vols’ chances to land ITS are better than the Crystal Ball.

SB Nation has an NSD headquarters, complete with some announcement times for tomorrow.

We’ll have more on recruiting today and tomorrow, but for now, remember this: Nobody knows anything.

Lady Vols

The Lady Vols beat Vanderbilt two days ago, 74-64. Highlights:

Other fun stuff

Congrats to VFL Derek Barnett for his role in winning the Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles and to Tom Brady for losing well:


And also to Butch Jones, Mike Debord, or whoever’s actually responsible for designing the play that resulted in quarterback Nick Foles catching a touchdown pass.

Gameday Today: Quay Walker update, hoops in historical perspective, and dumb smart people

Recruiting

Jeremy Pruitt and two of his staff were in-home with 5-star linebacker Quay Walker last night, and, according to Walker, it went all-caps GREAT.


Walker is technically committed to Alabama, but he’s recently taken official visits to Tennessee and Auburn and will take one at Georgia this weekend. The 247Sports Crystal Ball is showing the Vols and the Bulldogs as the favorites to land Walker, who’s the No. 2 outside linebacker and the No. 31 overall prospect in this year’s class. To say that he’s a priority for the Vols would be an understatement.

Meanwhile, the Vols and defensive tackle D’Andre Litaker have decided to go their separate ways.

Hoops

At this point in the season, the Vols basketball team has put together a resume that rivals the program’s best. So why isn’t there more interest? Will makes a great point in the linked post that the TV schedule, which was made based on preseason projections, is partially to blame.

What does Tennessee have to do to catch up with Auburn in the race for the SEC regular-season crown? Check out this video from the SEC Network on that topic and have a look at those BPI game-by-game projections for the Vols:

The Vols are favored in every game except the one against Kentucky and the officials at Rupp, and even that one is a coin flip. Woo.

Who’s the coach of the year in the SEC? So far, Jimmy Dykes says, it’s the guy whose team is currently projected as a four-seed in the tournament despite being picked next-to-last in his conference:

And if you weren’t convinced after yesterday that Rick Barnes is driven primarily by something other than money, add this to the exhibit list: He’s focused on the season, not on leveraging his recent success into a contract extension.

The No. 12 Lady Vols took care of business last night, beating No. 14 Texas A&M 82-67 with a strong fourth quarter. Highlights:

Other fun stuff

The SEC is distributing $596.9 million among the 14 conference schools. In case you don’t have a calculator, I’ll just go ahead and tell you that that’s a lot of money.

Hey, look. Dumb smart people!

And congrats to Alvin Kamara, who’s been named the NFL Rookie of the Year.

Gameday Today: Hoops rolls, Barnes is a bad, bad man, and Papa likes Pruitt

Hoops

Tennessee dominated LSU last night, 84-61, and we have gathered up everything you need to know about it. Here are the highlights:


And a video game recap from the SEC Network with both highlights and commentary:


Here’s what Rick Barnes had to say in a short post-game segment on the SEC Network despite not being able to hear the questions at all (Flashback to: “I can’t hear you! Rocky Top is playing!”):


And here’s a playlist of Barnes’ longer post-game presser, along with a few player interviews (Grant Williams, JD3, and Kyle Alexander, whose golden tones rival Barry White’s):

Grant Williams, by the way, is fine despite having left the game early with an injury.

And OH NOES! Rick Barnes committed an NCAA violation. What is the egregious sin of which he is guilty? Paying one of his assistants out of his own pocket because he thought he deserved as much as another assistant. Barnes brought it to the attention of the purse string folks, and they said it wasn’t in the budget, so Barnes fixed that for them by paying it out of his own salary. Hang him high!

Recruiting update

Brad has an excellent status update of where we are in recruiting with under a week to go, along with a handful of awesome things we’ve already learned about Jeremy Pruitt.

In the process, I think we’ve also learned something important about Phillip Fulmer. Do you remember how a certain former coach used to get roasted for touting his own (sometimes questionable) accomplishments? And have you noticed that Pruitt’s not been doing that? Fulmer’s doing it for him. Accolades are always more credible and thus better received when it’s someone other than you giving them. Maybe that will change once Pruitt’s not playing catch up with recruits, but if that’s the model going forward, it’s an important public relations improvement.

Fulmer’s latest public praise for Pruitt is that he tripled the number of prospects considering Tennessee and did so immediately:

“He showed he can turn recruiting around in a hurry. We tripled our recruiting board in like two days, with that staff — and not people that we were looking at, but people that were looking at us. That made a big difference. Unfortunately we had the early signing period. I’d like to have had another couple weeks with that, or it could have been really good.
“But we got recruiting turned, and turned quickly, and hopefully we can finish strong here. That’s the foundation of winning, is having the good players here.”

And here’s something else The Papa understands well: Recruiting isn’t about what Tennessee wants, but what the prospect wants. Understanding that is key to crafting a good pitch.

But Pruitt still has to do the work himself, and he and his staff visited 4-star wide receiver Jacob Copeland last night. Good move, but the 247 crystal ball still points to Florida or Alabama at this point. Bummer.

Tennessee does still appear to be in great shape with Quay Walker, though.

Excited yet? USA Today isn’t. Pfffffftttt.

Other fun stuff

If you missed our Three Products Not Even Peyton Manning Could Sell post from yesterday, go check it out and add your own list. Right now, Will leads the field with his first answer, which was “Greg Schiano.”

And finally, Tennessee has sent more players to the Super Bowl than any other SEC team. Woo.

Go Vols.

Gameday Today: Vols hoops on the home stretch, recruiting updates, and more

Hoops

The basketball Vols are now #10 in KenPom, #14 in RPI, and a four seed in the Bracket Matrix. Only four Tennessee teams have ever earned a four seed or higher in the 64+ team NCAA Tournament, so woo.

With 10 regular season games to go, the Vols are sitting pretty, but can move up or down this month. Tonight, they host LSU, which has lost four of its last five games and is down four players due to suspensions. The Tigers do have all of their starters, though, so don’t expect to see any depth advantage early. The game tips early tonight at 6:30 ET and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

Recruiting

National Signing Day is one week away, and Tennessee is hustling to make the most of it. This week, they earned a commitment from 3-star cornerback Brandon Davis, and they are still in the running for some highly-touted guys. That said, fans probably shouldn’t be expecting a Top 10 finish this season.

247Sports’ 16-click crystal ball slideshow suggests keeping an eye on 3-star defensive tackle Otito Obgonnia, 5-star linebacker Quay Walker, and 4-star cornerback Eddie Smith (although rumor has it that Smith is not happening). And DylanVol has a status update for us as well.

Whatever happens, just know that it’s really difficult for a new coach to get traction right out of the gate. Only five first-year coaches in ten years have been able to land classes that are in the Top 7 or better. Pruitt’s not going to get there, but he and Scott Frost seem to be the two new guys having the most success, so he’s off to a good start.

Other Tennessee sports

The Lady Vols hope to find their footing when they host Texas A&M tomorrow at 6:30 on the SEC Network.

Softball is ranked Nos. 11 and 12 in the preseason national polls and will play in 11 nationally televised games this season.

And baseball will play in 10 nationally televised games this year.

Other fun stuff

Druthers. Phillip Fulmer would like to serve at athletic director for five to six years.

Profit, baby. The athletic department had a $10.8 million surplus in 2016-17.

Bro-crush. Former Mississippi State and current Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Fletcher Cox says good things about teammate and VFL Derek Barnett:

“Derek is one of the greatest rookies I’ve ever been around,” Cox said during a Super Bowl 52 media appearance. “He comes to work every day. He listens. He takes coaching. I can tell from his play from Day 1 and the way that he approaches everything up until now. You don’t see those technique mistakes or mental errors with him. Later in the season he was starting to catch up with the game, which is great for him.”

Schiano who? Meanwhile, Kirk Herbstreit is saying good things about Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt:


Remember the NBA? VFL Tobias Harris is being sent to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the trade package for Blake Griffin.

This could be interesting. And finally, Bill Connelly is experimenting with better individual stats for college football players.

Gameday Today: Vols hoops defense travels, recruiting heats up

Hoops

Tennessee did its part in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge/Showdown/Clash/Contest, throttling Iowa State 68-45 on Saturday. To be fair, the Cyclones did some throttling of their own early, but Tennessee was the first and only team to find its offense, finding the right combination in bench guards James Daniel III (JD3, anyone?) and Lamonte Turner. The Cyclones never found their offense, and 45 points was the lowest total for the team since 2009. Defense, yo. It’s what’s for dinner.

If you missed it . . . well, first, stop that . . . but also watch the highlights:

As that highlight package shows, JD3 was key in the game, and he was just as impressive in his post-game interview with Bob and Bert. The Vols are now 7-3 away from home overall, 5-7 in true road games and 2-3 in neutral-site games.

Also noteworthy is Turner, who’s not only been casually tossing daggers into the hearts of opponents most of the season but also playing professional keepaway:

Which of course means he’ll now throw it right to a defender on the first possession against LSU Wednesday, but that tweet will still live forever.

The Lady Vols? Uh, having a bit of trouble lately, most recently having lost on the road to LSU, 70-59.

Recruiting

If you’re looking for all of the latest developments over this past weekend on the recruiting front, 247Sports has a premium post with all of the particulars ($$$).

The Vols appear to have missed on defensive tackle Coynis Miller, but are still in the running for some highly-touted guys.

For a national perspective, check out this post from SB Nation, which includes a nod to Vols receiver commit Jordan Young’s highlight tape.

Other fun stuff

SEC Country predicts a 6-6 or 7-5 regular season record for the Vols next season (notably with a win over Florida, though, so there’s that), which sounds better when you remember that Kirby Smart went 8-5 with a bowl win in his first season with Georgia. We’ll take that first year if we can have the second, too, please.

And finally, GETTING TOO CLOSE TO BRUCE PEARL DURING BASKETBALL GAMES IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH:

Gameday Today: Jauan Jennings’ list and the Smokey Grey uniforms

Football

While everyone else is just reporting the fact that Jauan Jennings has a list of things to accomplish (including anger management) before he can get back in the good graces of the team, Celina Summers drives home the most important part of all of it:

Whatever is on that list, Jauan, just do it. Not for us. Not for Tennessee or the team or the fans. Do it for yourself, for your future, for your family. Give yourself the opportunity to continue to develop as a football player on Rocky Top. Go to your classes. Learn to control your impulses. Don’t just slog through that list either, like it’s a bunch of chores you have to do because you got grounded. The knowledge you’ll gain by completing those tasks is so much more than football.

Go read the whole thing.

AD Phillip Fulmer seems to have the right take on Tennessee’s Smokey Grey uniforms, affirming the importance of tradition while also granting the authority to coach Pruitt to use shiny new objects to lure 5-star players to Rocky Top:

“I talked to Jeremy about our traditions here in a lot of things,” Fulmer said. “In the end, that will be his choice, but we have talked about it. I think he’s pretty much a traditionalist, but I can’t sit here and tell you what his plans are about the grey uniforms. That’s a recruiting thing as much as it is anything.
“I don’t think you would call me old-fashioned, but as much a traditionalist as I am, that has to be his call, because he’s the one that’s out there working and trying to get great football players here.”

The Papa may be in denial about being old-fashioned, but isn’t that one of the many things we love about him?

Also, Tennessee is guaranteed to earn at least a cool $2.5 million for its neutral-site season-opener against West Virginia in Charlotte, North Carolina this fall. Are buyouts like debts? Can you pay them off early and save money?

Hoops

As part of this weekend’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge, Tennessee travels to Aimes, Iowa to take on the Iowa State Cyclones. The game tips at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow, and it’s televised on ESPNU. Will has the only game preview you need. ESPN likes the Vols, 74-71.

Here’s more on the weekend slate from the SEC Network, which includes some love for Grant Williams toward the end:

We’re inching closer to March Madness, which is from March 13 to April 2 this year, and so it’s probably time to start learning the new language of quadrants:


Tennessee’s probably in good shape in that department.

Also, the Lady Vols beat Ole Miss, 75-66 yesterday. Highlights:

Football Recruiting

We’re now 12 days out from National Signing Day, and the Vols are hosting five highly-ranked prospects this weekend ($$$). Among them are three defensive tackles, including 4-star Miami commit Nesta Silvera.

Tennessee has made the final cut for 4-star running back Jashaun Corbin, who has set his official visit to Tennessee for next weekend.

The school is having three NSD Celebrations on February 7 and 8. They’ll be held in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis, and you can get tickets here.

SEC Country has a full update on this year’s class as it now stands.

Other fun stuff

Do you love Chris Lofton? Of course you love Chris Lofton. And you’ll love this article about him, especially the part where Bruce Pearl says he was hoping Lofton was pregnant.

This is why defensive tackles don’t kick field goals:

Hey, he’s been told “LOW MAN WINS” his entire career, what did you expect?

ALVINNNNN!

Florida has hired former Vols offensive coordinator Larry Scott to coach their tight ends this season.

 

Gameday Today: High praise for Pruitt, and players adore The Papa

Time to light this fire

For any still wary of getting too excited about Tennessee football under Jeremy Pruitt, we have two things that should help this morning.

First, Albert Haynesworth says that the worst is over, and if you disagree with Albert Haynesworth, you will most certainly die a sudden, painful, and humiliating death. It’s the law in Tennessee. Seriously though, go read Haynesworth’s Players Tribune post. It will make you feel better, and the line about Haynesworth’s mother may even make you laugh.

Second, according to Gridiron Now, some anonymous SEC coach has a nose tackle-sized mancrush on Jeremy Pruitt, saying that Pruitt’s better at defense than both Kirby Smart and Nick Saban. If you haven’t noticed, Nick Saban is pretty good at defense, so that’s a doozy of a compliment.

Said unnamed source also said this:

“Tennessee will play better defense with whoever they have (now) than they’ve played in the last 10 years,” he said. “The second year, I could see some real [FULMERIZED] happening at Tennessee.”

Well that sounds fun. Let’s do it.

Everybody Loves The Papa

Speaking of The Papa, make some time to listen to this entire interview with Phillip Fulmer on the Erik Ainge Show two days ago:

And I haven’t yet listened to his interview on the Swain Event this morning, but here it is:


One thing that really sticks out when you listen is just how much The Papa’s former players absolutely adore him (it’s evident just from Swain’s introduction). And it’s that that makes you a believer when Fulmer says that one of his main priorities is restoring trust, warmth, and a culture of caring about each other to Tennessee athletics.

Hoops

The Vols beat Vandy last night, 67-62, in a Woo! Wait! Whew! game. If you’re wondering what makes these guys tick, Will has figured it out.

If you missed it, here’s a video recap of the game, along with a bunch of post-game interviews:

Grant Williams is shouldering the blame for letting Vandy back into the game last night, as he was matched up against Riley LaChance at the time the dude caught fire.

Also, Jordan Bowden is feeling much better, thank you, after awakening himself from his mini-slump, and is going to keep shooting. This is a good thing for a shooting guard to say.

Football Recruiting

National Signing Day is a mere two weeks away, and the Vols currently have the nation’s No. 17 class. If you’re wondering who to keep an eye on, here’s a list of 18 guys we think are priorities for coach Pruitt and his staff.

SEC Country takes a closer look at the defensive tackle prospects here, and 247Sports notes that Pruitt and two assistants visited 3-star cornerback Eddie Smith last night. Tennessee appears to be a slight favorite to land him.

The News Sentinel has an article on the importance of the right coaching staff footprint ($$$) that’s worth reading as well. Based on where the guys on Tennessee’s staff have gained most of their experience, expect the Vols to be major players in the key states of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.

Other fun stuff

Woo for Tennessee’s Pro Bowlers:


And finally, Monday Night Football is desperately seeking a student of the game with personality named Peyton Manning to take over for Jon Gruden.

Gameday Today: Loving the Tennessee Chameleons, Saban copies Butch Jones, and more

Hoops

Coming off a big road win against South Carolina, Rick Barnes and his guys return home to host Vanderbilt tonight at 7 p.m. Vandy, of course, will be devoting a great deal of attention to Grant Williams, who went off for 37 points against the Commodores in Nashville earlier this season. Will Williams will himself to another scoring feast or will he merely divert the attention and free up space for another big night for Lamonte Turner or another teammate? Nobody knows, as this team’s identity this season may best be described as chameleony. Or maybe shapeshiftery. Tune in to ESPNU tonight at 7 p.m. to see what shape we become for this game.

Rick Barnes met with the press yesterday and said stuff that was caught on all manner of recording devices. Here he is caught in the act of talking about his team:

Notably: Defense. He likes defense. It apparently gives birth to offense or something like that.

And yes, it’s okay to start joking around and having fun and enjoying something again. The mourning period for the 2017 football season is over. Remove your sackcloth, take a shower, and get on with your sports life. I know you are wary of falling back in love with Vols’ sports teams. I can relate.

But this basketball team isn’t going to hurt you:


Sure, they will likely lose in the end, but it’s a tournament sport, and every team but one suffers that fate. Enjoy the ride.

Football

If you’re wondering where we’re at as we inch closer to National Signing Day, GoVols247 has you covered with a Recruiting Stock Report ($$$). One particularly interesting note on this side of the paywall is that coach Pruitt and two other Vols coaches met with 5-star cornerback Olaijah Griffin last night. He’s the nation’s No. 3 cornerback and No. 25 overall prospect in this year’s class, and while USC may have the crystal ball advantage, Pruitt is setting his stun gun on Woo.


See that mysterious black bag that Pruitt is holding? It’s full of magic and hope.

The Papa speaks, imploring us first to hold our horses on Jauan Jennings because he’s not officially back on the team yet and is going to screw it up unless he changes, and second, setting realistic expectations for how the teams may have to play as careful underdogs for a while until we put the finishing touches on this thing.

It appears Fulmer was serious, though, when saying he was going to build something to compete with Alabama, because he’s continuing to build an army of coaching support staff, adding an assistant director of football operations and an assistant strength coach.

Other fun stuff

Nick Saban is reportedly hiring Mike Locksley to replace Brian Daboll as his new offensive coordinator. Why is this fun? See if this reminds you of anything:

Alabama coach Nick Saban has reportedly settled on the replacement for former offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, and all he had to do was walk down the hall.

Ding, ding, ding! Yes, that’s how Butch Jones found Larry Scott. We need an offensive coordinator, and he was, like, right there, so we hired him!

Okay, so just because it exploded into a thousand death shards here doesn’t mean it will happen there, but a guy can dream, can’t he?

Also, this piece from Dari Nowkhah about the struggle to keep his fandom from showing while covering the Rose Bowl is well done. I wonder when someone is finally going to challenge the idea that old-school professional sports journalists must continue to labor under a pretense of objectivity. It really doesn’t have to be that way. You can be a fan and still be fair and professional, and it will likely result in a lot more fun and a corresponding increase in ratings as well.

And finally, have you ever wondered how the players in the Super Bowl were rated as high school recruits? SB Nation has the info.

 

Gameday Today: Tennessee football, basketball, and VFLs

Hoops

Tennessee found yet another way to win in beating South Carolina 70-63 Saturday night, namely having its bench outscore its starters. If you were for some reason unable to watch, do yourself a favor and watch these highlights of the game. Be prepared to hear the names Lamonte Turner and Derrick Walker a lot:

Unfortunately, the Lady Vols did not fare as well this weekend, falling to #6 Mississippi State, 71-52 at home.

Football

Tennessee appears to be in the mix to land Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst, who’s on the graduate transfer market. Chryst was the third-best pro-style QB in the Class of 2014. He redshirted as a freshman and then played four games (0 starts) as a sophomore, 12 (6-0 as the starter) as a junior, and 7 (all starts) this past season before giving way to KJ Costello after a 5-2 start.

SB Nation has identified Tennessee as the greatest underachiever of the 2017 season as measured by the disparity between talent (8th in recruiting) and S&P+ (107th). Woo. The bright side of that, of course, is that there still appears to be talent on the roster, and presumably, the problem of not having anyone to develop that talent into its true potential has been fixed. Right?

Don’t ever just form opinions on the headlines, folks. Sure, an early tweet made it it look like Vol Shaq Wiggins was recruiting against the team that he played for, but in a subsequent tweet, Wiggins clarified that he didn’t know who the recruit was and that he was merely praising a beloved former coach.

ICYMI: It looks like VFL Montario Hardesty will be joining Jeremy Pruitt’s staff as a quality control assistant. Oh, and it’s looking like Jauan Jennings is going to be given a chance to walk the straight and narrow on this year’s team.

VFLs

Derek Barnett had a huge play in the Eagles’ big win over the Vikings last night:

Christian Coleman set a new world record in the 60 meter dash.

Tennys Sandgren, having already beaten the No. 9 seed in the Australian Open, followed it up by beating the No. 5 seed, Dominic Thiem in a five-set thriller.

Gameday Today: Hoops continues to build steam

Hoops

If you haven’t ever watched a Rick Barnes press conference, you really should take the time to do it. He’s super casual, funny, insightful, and refreshingly open and honest about everything. Here’s a taste:

Speaking of refreshing, check out Admiral Schofield’s interview with the SEC Network after the A&M game Saturday night:

Dude looks like he could absolutely wreck you physically and sounds like he could dominate you at debate club. Love this guy.

Not to be outdone, Grant Williams made this list of performances of the week thanks to his 37 points against Vandy:

And the #6 Lady Vols beat #9 South Carolina 86-70 thanks in part to a double-double from senior Mercedes Russell.

Football

Lots of visitors on campus this weekend, but no real news on any commits resulting from it just yet.

Former Tennessee commit Matthew Flint recently explained his earlier decommitment saying that he “never quit” on Tennessee. Sounds like a victim of coaching change.

One of the few bright spots of the 2017 football season, offensive lineman Trey Smith got some love at the basketball game on Saturday:

And hey, Alabama is not only looking for a new defensive coordinator to replace Jeremy Pruitt, they are now also looking for a new offensive coordinator to replace Brian Daboll, who took a job with the NFL’s Bills after only one season with Nick Saban. If you’re thinking they’re going to have any trouble finding two awesome coordinators, you’re probably wrong. Sigh.

Oh, and Georgia looks like they’re going to be trouble for at least another couple of years. Sigh again.