Gameday Today: Hungover Vols hoops team still pretty to the NCAA

Hoops

It was a rough night for the Tennessee basketball team Saturday at Alabama, as they were beaten mercilessly in every way and lost 78-50 to the Tide.

Will wants to burn the film, but not before we learn the most important lesson: When Tennessee struggles, they struggle defending elite guard play.

More specific to Saturday night, the Vols couldn’t keep Alabama’s elite guards (or anyone else for that matter) out of the paint. Wes Rucker of GoVols247 put it this way:  There was a party in Tennessee’s paint, and everyone from Alabama was invited.

Rick Barnes’ list of grievances was longer, but did include the paint problem. He also said this: “I don’t think I thought we could be that bad.”

The good news is that not only do road losses generally not count against you very much when seeding time comes, margin of defeat apparently doesn’t matter much at all. The NCAA Selection Committee released its top 16 seeds yesterday and not only did Tennessee still come in at No. 13, the committee chair explicitly said that the Vols getting run over at Alabama didn’t hurt Tennessee in the eyes of the committee:

(The discussion about the Vols begins at around the 3:45 mark.)

NFL Draft

Somebody’s mocking John Kelly. What? Oh, I see. A mock draft has Jon Gruden and the Raiders selecting John Kelly in the fourth round. Okay, then.

All aboard! A draft analyst is shoveling coal into the Rashaan Gaulden hype train, saying that he’s a top 50 pick. The thing also says that Gaulden has “discipline issues,” which surprised me. I know that picture of him giving the double bird to Alabama fans is still circulating the internet and that Kirk Herbstreit didn’t like it (but also loved Baker Mayfield, go figure), but honestly, having lived through it vicariously myself, I’m inclined to extend a little grace for a short outburst in the heat of the moment in the middle of last season. Is there something more that I’m missing?

Lady Vols

The Lady Vols softball team beat nationally-ranked Utah in Tempe 6-5 on a walkoff, bases-clearing double courtesy of Abby Lockman:

Meanwhile, the No. 11 Lady Vols basketball team beat No. 18 Georgia 62-46, and Mercedes Russell became only the sixth Lady Vol to reach 1,000 rebounds. Highlights:

And the Lady Vols tennis team got a big 4-3 win against Indiana this weekend, giving the Hoosiers their first loss of the season. The tennis team has won its first nine games this season, which is its longest winning streak since 2001.

What Shouldn’t We Burn From This Film?

For whatever percentage of today was Tennessee feeling too good about itself, this loss was a good thing going forward. I don’t know how high that percentage is, but I’m sure it’s there after the win at Rupp and whispers of one seeds. The Vols were humbled today.

And whatever percentage was effort, with Alabama holding a double-digit rebounding advantage for much of the day? I’d imagine it will be corrected, much the same as when it presented itself in the loss to Auburn. Rick Barnes is putting a lot of it on these two things in the postgame.

Alabama still has a murderous schedule left, but their potential is quite high. The margin was zero fun, but this won’t go in the books as a bad loss. It’s certainly not great to see the Vols take their largest defeat of the year, but Tennessee should still have six losses to six NCAA Tournament teams. Credit the Tide for playing so well.

My biggest concern, both coming in and going out of this game, is Tennessee’s struggle to defend elite guard play.

The Vols have given up 80+ points four times this year. Alabama only got 78, but as the backups played the last several minutes I’m counting this one as 80+. And every time, the opposition gets there through its guards:

  • Villanova Bridges & Brunson: 15-of-26 (57.7%), 45 points
  • Arkansas Barford & Macon: 20-of-36 (55.6%), 61 points
  • Auburn Brown & Harper: 10-of-30 (30%), 36 points
  • Vanderbilt LaChance & Lee: 13-of-25 (52%), 37 points
  • Alabama Petty & Sexton: 10-of-17 (58.8%), 30 points

To be clear, the Vols don’t always get blown up by great guards. Tennessee’s problem with Auburn, as you can see, wasn’t defending outright. It was giving up 22 offensive rebounds. Tennessee also shut down Iowa State’s guards, which is harder than it looked as it turns out.

But against great guards from Villanova, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and Alabama, the Vols have had a tough time keeping them off the scoreboard. And while some have been hot from the arc, most often they have taken advantage of Tennessee off the dribble. That’s how much of Alabama’s massive advantage in the paint happened today.

And today was the first time the Vols got punched by great guards, and their own guards didn’t punch back. Alabama’s defense has always been good, and today they held Bone, Daniel, and Turner to 3-of-14 (21.4%) and 10 points. That’s how this Tennessee team gets blown out.

So perhaps Alabama is just a bad match-up. When the other team isn’t so strong defensively, you get Arkansas and Vanderbilt (and while Vandy didn’t score 80+ in the second meeting and Saben Lee went 0-for-4, Riley LaChance and Jeff Roberson combined for 17-of-32 and 46 points). But until Tennessee consistently proves otherwise, it’s something you’ll be searching your bracket for.

File it away; the Vols will get another test against great guards from Florida on February 21. Even great teams have weaknesses; Alabama just exploited what appears to be Tennessee’s better than anyone else.

Tennessee Vols at Alabama Crimson Tide: game time, TV channel, and online game-watching party

Coming off a stellar win and sweep-completing win at Rupp Arena Tuesday night, No. 15 Tennessee now takes its six-game winning streak on the road to Alabama this evening. The game tips at 6:00 and will be televised on the SEC Network. Online, you can catch it at WatchESPN.

While you’re waiting, have a listen to Will on Sports 180 with Josh Ward and Will West yesterday:

See you in the comments below.

Go Vols!

 

Class of 2018 Positional Review: Defensive Back – No Joy in Knoxville

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,

But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.

At no other position did Jeremy Pruitt and Co. swing, and ultimately miss, bigger than at Defensive Back, specifically at Cornerback.  With a massive need at Corner in particular, Pruitt went after two 5-star Californians who ended up at USC (Isaac Taylor-Stuart and Olaijah Griffin) and a previously underrecruited TCU commitment who ended up at Alabama (Eddie Smith) along with Taiyvon Palmer (NCSU) – and missed on all of them.  To make matters somewhat worse, Tennessee also lost four prior CB commitments, two of whom were not “losses” per se in Brandon Cross and Tanner Ingle but the other two – Trey Dean and Jaycee Horn – ended up at SEC East Rivals Florida and South Carolina, respectively.

Tennessee didn’t come out of this class empty handed at the position, however.  That said, the Defensive Back position more than any other will immediately put to the test the evaluation and development skills of Pruitt, Sherrer, and Defensive Backs Coach Terry Fair.  That’s because the three DBs who are part of this class, two of whom are ticketed for blueshirts, were most certainly not household names or guys who are considered to be elite-level prospects.

Trevon Flowers was the most highly recruited of the three, and the Vols flat out beat Clemson and Dabo Swinney for the Tucker High School prospect from near Atlanta.  Flowers signed to play shortstop for Kentucky back in December but decided he wanted to pursue college football after playing football this season for the first time since 8th grade.    The Tucker football coach was quoted as saying “He can be as good as he wants to be. We’ve got guys who have played for us here playing in the National Football League. He’s as talented as anyone we’ve coached here. The sky is the limit for him” so there’s clearly talent there.  And Pruitt is apparently a huge fan, with thoughts of Flowers playing as early as the 2018 season somewhere across the secondary.  Some think he’s unlikely to end up at CB but he’ll certainly get a shot to see if he can play there – if not he’s likely ticketed for the Nickel/Star position.

Joseph Norwood came out of nowhere late in the process and ended up a 4-star on 247 Sports and went from likely signing with MTSU to realizing a lifelong dream to play for the Vols.  Another kid who didn’t play a lot of football prior to this season – and all of that was on offense, Norwood displays serious physicality and good ball skills (and a very long, thin frame) in a way that reminds a lot of people of recent Vol Rahsaan Gaulden. He’s anther multi-sport athlete – a 23-foot long-jumper and star basketball player. He’s raw and probably is only a Special Teams player in 2018 (potentially be a really good one) but has an incredibly high ceiling.  He’s a blueshirt so didn’t officially sign with Tennessee on Wednesday but will show up in the fall

Brandon Davis is the second blueshirt DB in the class and is another example of Pruitt and his staff combing All State teams (he made the Louisiana Sports Writers 5A All-State Team) and multi-sport athletes (he’s a legit MLB prospect).  He also has the requisite length that Pruitt wants in CBs, checking in at 6’0.  For a better evaluation, check this evaluation out – it came before his senior year. It’s also notable that Davis had an offer from CSU and Terry Fair, and it’s also likely that WR Coach David Johnson knew about him, as he had a track record of bringing kids to Memphis who were really good players though they were underrecruited. Davis could potentially jump to MLB depending on his draft spot, but given that Tennessee won’t have used a scholarship on him until he enrolls there isn’t a lot of risk

Despite Pruitt’s protestations to the contrary, DB was in fact a real need in this class.  Whether those needs were met despite missing out on guys who were considered to be blue-chippers and instead signing more under the radar players remains to be seen.  There is some talent in the secondary on the existing roster – CB Shawn Shamburger and S Nigel Warrior are legit high level SEC talents.  Micah Abernathy might not be an NFL player but has played better than he showed last year previously in his career and he’s an uber-high character kid and locker room glue guy.   Assuming Todd Kelly Jr. comes back he’s another guy who has played a lot of football at Tennessee and made a lot of plays in his career.  But outside of those four there just isn’t anyone who is remotely proven and there aren’t ton of bodies. And notably three of them are Safeties. Guys like Marquill Osborne (a former 4-star), Baylen Buchanan and Theo Jackson have played some at Tennessee, just not a lot and not particularly great.  Redshirt freshmen Cheyenne Labruzza and Terrell Bailey have talent but not experience.  So again, Pruitt/Sherrer/Fair have some pieces to work with and there’s hope here that simply having better coaching will get the Secondary to play at a higher level than it did last season.  If the Front Seven is as improved as I think it can be – again, due to some real talent and better coaching – that would make for an overall defense that plays well enough to allow Tennessee to have a much better season than it did in 2017 regardless of what happens on offense.

Tennessee at Alabama Preview

The race is on for the SEC title: Auburn opened the door with a one-point home loss to Texas A&M Wednesday night. The Tigers remain one game up on Tennessee with seven to play, two up if you’re looking to win this thing outright. The head-to-head police department is here to remind you it’s difficult to call the Vols SEC Champions with an entirely straight face if they finish tied with Auburn. But I’m sure we’ll take what we can get.

KenPom and RPI Forecast project the Vols to finish 13-5 in the SEC, a 5-2 homestretch. KenPom has Auburn at 14-4 (likewise 5-2), but RPI Forecast now projects them at 13-5. ESPN’s BPI predicts 13.8 conference wins for Auburn, 13.6 for Tennessee.

Here are the final seven games for each team, with win probabilities from KenPom:

Tennessee   Auburn
at Alabama 64% at Georgia 68%
South Carolina 90% Kentucky 75%
at Georgia 69% at South Carolina 72%
Florida 80% Alabama 83%
at Ole Miss 74% at Florida 55%
at Mississippi State 66% at Arkansas 60%
Georgia 87% South Carolina 89%

(Oddly enough, the Vols and Tigers have the exact same remaining home/away dates.)

A clearer SEC hierarchy is starting to take hold in KenPom. Tennessee remains seventh, with Auburn 10th after the loss to A&M. The Aggies are now the third-best team in the league in KenPom, living up to their non-conference body of work at #23. Kentucky, Missouri, and Florida are all between 28-36.

But over in the Bracket Matrix, there’s a slightly different pecking order. Auburn and Tennessee both find themselves in the chase for a one or, more likely, a two seed. Kentucky hovers as a five. From there, the SEC has five teams currently seeded between eight and ten.

Alabama is in the thick of that race. They are eighth in the league in KenPom (53rd overall), seventh in RPI (42nd), and a nine seed in the matrix. But their remaining schedule is a nightmare: Tennessee, LSU, at Kentucky, at Auburn, Arkansas, Florida, at Texas A&M. That’s six of the other seven SEC teams in the matrix left to play, and they’re coming off a loss at Mississippi State.

What Alabama does well:

  • Collin Sexton gets 18.6 points in 29.7 minutes, a projected lottery pick. I still think Tennessee’s biggest trouble spot is defending elite guard play; here’s another opportunity before the NCAA Tournament to see what we’ve learned. Bama doesn’t necessarily go as he goes: the Tide beat Auburn without him, while he put 23 on Missouri two weeks ago but the Tigers won.
  • Shot-blocking. The Tide are sixth nationally in block percentage, sending back 16.4% of opponent shots. 6’9″ Donta Hall is the leader here, 23rd nationally in individual block percentage and sending back 2.3 shots per game.
  • Defense, and generally all facets of it. The Tide give up just 31% from the arc on the year, 23rd nationally, and just 29.1% in SEC play. Opponents shoot just 41.1% against them overall. They’re 15th in KenPom’s defensive efficiency ratings. Alabama is 7-0 when holding opponents to 64 points or less, including wins over Rhode Island, Texas A&M, and Florida.

Where Alabama struggles is fairly straightforward:  threes and free throws. They beat Auburn and Oklahoma with above-average performances from the arc, shooting 18-of-42 (42.9%) combined. But on the year the Tide shoot 32.3% from three, 301st nationally. And they are 273rd from the line at just 68.4%.

Alabama’s overall offense isn’t consistent enough to win ugly, despite their great defense. The Tide are 1-7 when shooting less than 43.5%; by contrast, the Vols have nine wins while shooting below 43.5%. So even if Tennessee finds itself in Bama’s kind of game, the Vols are much better at winning ugly than they are.

6:00 PM Saturday on the SEC Network. Can the Vols sweep the week and survive what could be their most difficult test in these final seven games?

 

Gameday Today: Pruitt solves a mystery, stiff-arms gimmicks, and knows the best PR

Vols Football News

Mystery Solved. Pruitt has already diagnosed Tennessee’s injury problems of the past two seasons: We’re too small. He also doesn’t like players on the ground in practice and thinks you can teach a guy how to tackle well by learning how to “thud.”

The pendulum swings again. Number one, Pruitt ain’t gone do no gimmick uniforms:

“Well, I’m going to tell you this: When I grew up, when I associated Tennessee, I associated orange and white,” Pruitt said during the post-National Signing Day event at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful at all. But, to me, when you go play a football game, what color your uniforms (are) don’t really matter. So, when I think of Tennessee, I think of orange and white. I don’t think you need no gimmicks.”

And number two, he’s figured out something rather important:

“But, you know, probably the best PR we got is winning football games in the fall. I can come here, and these folks can like me, and we can talk and all that, but if we ain’t winning this fall or next fall, it don’t matter how many times I come over here. So I probably need to spend most of my time on the things that’s gonna help us win football games.”

 

We’re Bad, We’re Nationwide. Jeremy Pruitt says that recruiting locally (defined not only as the State of Tennessee but also as a five- to six-hour radius from Knoxville) is important, but that they also need to capitalize on the national recognition of the Tennessee brand.

Obi Wan San. Pruitt makes a great point in stating that it’s not about how much a coaching staff knows, it’s how much they can teach the players:

“The thing is,” Pruitt added, “it’s not about what we know about the opponent, it’s what they players know. To me, whether it’s 11-personnel runs or a defensive back having to give a wide receiver report, or what’s the opponent running in their stacks and bunches, you’re trying to figure it out.
“It’s good to hear the guys communicate it back. I think the great ones take pride in it.”
Wait, what? New strength and conditioning coach Craig Fitzgerald is the only guy on Pruitt’s staff with whom Pruitt “had no prior relations.” This is where you make your own jokes, because I’ve already deleted three.
Nobody’s perfect, but for some there’s proof. Pruitt says the whole Jauan Jennings thing is “one day at a time.” He seems to understand both that kids make mistakes and that there are consequences for those mistakes:
“One of the first things when I got to Tennessee, Coach Fulmer, he filled me in on the situation,” Pruitt answered. “The way I look at it is this: There ain’t no perfect folks in this room. There ain’t no perfect coaches. There ain’t no perfect players. And if they had Instagram and all that stuff back when we were all growing up, some of us might not be in this room.
“I’ll say this: Jauan knows he made a mistake. He’s embarrassed by it, and I think we’re going to give him an opportunity in-house to find his way back on the team. But — and there’s always a but with it, right? — he’s got to do that. There ain’t going to be nothing given to him and he knows that. It’s a long ways to go and we’ll see. Hopefully he can do that.”

Football Coaching Staff

Tennessee finally and officially announced its football coaching staff yesterday and boasted of their collective achievements:

They also released the staff’s salaries, if you’re interested.

Recruiting

DylanVol takes a closer look at the linebackers in the Class of 2018.

Tennessee secured the commitment of 4-star offensive tackle Jackson Lampley of Montgomery Bell Academy.

Hoops

More rat poison, saying that Tennessee basketball is the best team in the conference:


Mmm. I love the taste of rat poison in the morning.

Lamonte Turner, who carried the Vols in the first half win over Kentucky, got a little winded and so prodded Jordan Bowden to take the torch for a little while. Bowden scored 11 points in the second half.

Admiral Schofield is a man with his head screwed on right:

“One of the biggest things we talked about, Kentucky was 17-6 and people were questioning their team — and we’re 17-5 and people are saying that’s the best they’ve seen here in a while,” Schofield said. “Why is that OK? We want more. We have to keep playing like men.”

Right on.

Other fun stuff

The No. 11 Lady Vols beat Arkansas 90-85 on the strength of a career-high 33 points and 14 rebounds from Rennia Davis. Highlights:

And the Lady Vols softball team, which is ranked No. 11, beat No. 19 Arizona State, 7-4.

Tennessee Recruiting: Jackson Lampley Gets ’19 Class Started With a Bang

The only way to put a forgettable ’18 National Signing Day in the rearview mirror is to move ahead to the 2019 recruiting class, and new Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt and Co., already have started building relationships they had to rush in this year’s haul.

One of those new relationships paid off with a big commitment on Thursday, just one day after the finishing touches were put on a successful half-class for the Vols.

UT legacy Jackson Lampley went public with his pledge to Pruitt and his staff, after committing to them privately a few weeks ago. Volquest.com’s Austin Price broke the news, and it’s not only a big-time player, it also comes at a major need position.

During his first few classes, former UT coach Butch Jones thrived on getting Vol legacies to commit to their family school with mixed results. Perhaps the biggest miss in that area came this past cycle when 5-star offensive tackle Cade Mays decommitted from Tennessee and spurned the Vols to play for hated rival Georgia. Mays left his UT commitment when Jones’ final season began spiraling out of control, and he didn’t give Pruitt a fair chance to lure him back.

Lampley made certain early on he wouldn’t do the same. His dream has always been to play for the Big Orange, and he made that a reality with his pledge. The 4-star offensive tackle from Montgomery Bell Academy is the nation’s No. 211 player on 247Sports, and is a top-300 prospect in the Composite rankings.

The 6’4″, 299-pound lineman already boasted offers from plenty of top programs, choosing UT over LSU, Auburn, Florida, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Penn State and many others. His early 247Sports profile has this to say about his initial evaluation:

Lampley gets off the ball well and has a strong initial punch. He shows good power and strength. Lampley is comfortable run blocking or in pass pro. He is a good athlete and has good flexibility. Lampley is relentless and plays until the whistle blows. He can play too high at times, so he needs to improve his pad level, but he has a lot of natural ability and his best football is ahead.

Tennessee hopes to pair Lampley with 5-star West Virginia offensive lineman Darnell Wright, whom Pruitt already has met with multiple times. The Vols are aggressively starting the ’19 class, and with needs all over the field, getting Lampley is a great start. Two of Lampley’s friends are instate 4-star defensive end Joseph Anderson, and 4-star defensive end Bill Norton who already have offers from most of the major programs in the country. This can’t hurt UT’s pursuit of those two.

This upcoming season is another banner year instate, and though Pruitt and Co. are getting a late start in building relationships, this is a quality commitment who can get started with peer recruiting. Players like Trey Knox, Lance Wilhoite, Maurice Hampton, Norton, Woodi Washington and many others make this a loaded class in the Volunteer State. It’s a good opportunity for Pruitt to flex his recruiting muscle and put a subpar close to this past class behind him.

It always helps to get a player of Lampley’s ilk to get things rolling. His father, Brad, played offensive line for the Vols in the 1990s and was part of former coach and current athletic director Phillip Fulmer’s first recruiting class at UT. Lampley’s bloodlines run deep, and orange blood flows through those veins.

Pruitt has made it clear that he’ll go anywhere in the country to find the best players, but he didn’t have to travel far to get the one that started the 2019 class in fashion. Lampley was in UT’s back yard, and he will have every opportunity to step in, learn under Will Friend and be a key component in Pruitt’s rebuild.

Class of 2018 Positional Review: Linebacker

Yesterday we took a look at easily the best position of the 2018 class, the Defensive Line, a nice companion piece to the post-Early Signing Day look at the overall DL.  Next up is a look at Linebacker, which along with the DL will look different in Jeremy Pruitt’s and Kevin Sherrer’s 3-4 scheme than it has in a while.  After adding JUCO star Jordan Allen in the Early Signing period, Tennessee signed arguably the best overall player in its class yesterday in JJ Peterson, giving the Vols two very talented LBs in the class, both of whom will be expected to contribute immediately.  Obviously the Vols missed on 5-star Quay Walker, who many thought was a Tennessee lean until his visit to UGA last weekend – Walker would have taken this LB class to a whole other level, but alas he’ll now be playing in Athens instead.

Peterson, who the Vols beat out Alabama for, is the kind of elite player that Tennessee simply does not have enough of, and therefore should be expected to be an instant impact guy.  He can really do it all: rush the QB off the edge, make plays in space, and even drop into coverage. He is talented enough to play any of the LB positions in the 3-4.  As it pertains to Tennessee’s relatively disappointing Signing Day, it must be remembered that had Peterson chosen to not go public with his commitment back in early January his signing would have been celebrated much more.

Allen is more of a pass-rushing stand-up 3-4 OLB.  He has great size, speed and athleticism and projects as a guy who could get a lot of reps immediately since he was brought in specifically for the 3-4.  Both being on campus for spring and the fact that he’s a JUCO prospect enhance his overall value and increase the likelihood that he’ll be ready to contribute right away.

When it comes to the overall LB corps, Tennessee has some real talent already on campus to go along with the two high-level talents of Peterson and Allen.  Darren Kirkland has shown that when healthy he’s an All-SEC type player.  Daniel Bituli had a really great season on a really crappy team in 2017, and could be paired with Kirkland, Will Ignot (who in my opinion is an elite-level prospect) and Peterson on the inside to form a really strong quartet of ILBs.  Quart’e Sapp and Austin Smith are two guys with top-shelf athleticism who will help on the outside, and Solon Paige and Shanon Reid give the Vols some young depth here as well.

One wildcard here is Sophomore-to-be Maleik Gray.  Gray is a bit of a tweener in that he currently is too small to play a traditional LB role but might not have enough speed to play at a high level in the secondary.  As one of the too-few elite type players on Tennessee’s roster, though, Pruitt and Sherrer must find a way to get this Gray on the field somehow.  I envision him as a Jabril Peppers at Michigcan type of player – a disruptor who plays close to the line of scrimmage (like a LB) an either blitzes or plays the run but is more than capable of covering RBs and TEs if not Slot WRs as well.

It will be up to Defensive Coordinator Sherrer (who was previously UGA’s ILB coach) and LB Coach Chris Rumph to get the most out of a LB corps that while short on proven talent has a lot of options and legitimate talent as well.

Gameday Today: Vols’ National Signing Day recap

The general consensus on National Signing Day for the Vols is that although the day was a bit of a clunker, Tennessee still ended up with a good class, especially along the defensive line.

Here are the guys the Vols signed yesterday:

The Vols were in the running for several others but just couldn’t reel them in. Here’s a list of everybody who was on Tennessee’s board yesterday morning and where they ended up.

If you want to risk it, we also have a Twitter timeline of just the guys who were on the board yesterday so you can see what they’re saying this morning.

If you haven’t yet watched the Vols’ National Signing Day event, you should. It’s not just an opportunity to hear more about the new guys in the Class of 2018, it’s an opportunity to get to know the almost entirely new coaching staff. You’ll be glad you did.

Hoops

Jimmy Dykes mentions the phrase “1-seed” when asked about the Vols:

And VFL Josh Richardson had a career night:

WATCH: The Tennessee National Signing Day Event Video

If you haven’t had the chance or the inclination to watch last night’s National Signing Day event, do yourself a favor and carve out some time. I meant to just scroll through to see what was going on but ended up watching nearly the whole thing despite an incredibly busy day on tap.

The main reason to watch is that it’s our first chance to really get to know the staff. Each guy took some time with the microphone and talked not only about the guys they signed in this class but also about their particular roles on the staff and the philosophy they’ll use to accomplish their goals.

Have a look and listen. It’s a recorded stream, so the actual event doesn’t start until about 10 minutes in.

A couple of the most notable highlights:

  • Pruitt likes this class, and he says that every guy they signed fits their criteria, but he was also adamant that this day next year will be different once his guys are given an entire year to work.
  • The Vols still have room and actually aren’t done recruiting for this year’s class.