Gameday Today: Orange Carpet Day, Peyton Manning, and donuts

It’s Orange Carpet Day on Rocky Top, Peyton Manning’s on campus, and I apparently eat donuts like offensive linemen eat donuts. This and more in today’s link roundup.

Orange Carpet Day

Rocky Top hosts its annual Orange Carpet Day today, and a slew of recruits are on campus to just hang out and have fun. GoVols247 says that there should be as many as 80 players attending, including more than a dozen 4- and 5-star guys ($$$).

SEC Country says that the No. 1 target today is in-state defensive lineman Greg Emerson, a 4-star recruit listed as the No. 6 defensive tackle in this year’s class.

Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning’s in town and on campus. He’s helping to dedicate a new dining facility in Stokely Hall named after friends Carmen and Deborah Tegano. Carmen is associate athletic director, and Deborah was one of Peyton Manning’s professors at UT.

Manning’s also honoring his 2017 Peyton Manning Scholarship recipients Emma Kate Hall, Grace Neiman, Sydney Peay, and Blake Turpin.

And of course, he’s hanging out with the quarterbacks in the quarterback room:

https://twitter.com/vol_football/status/875729750676959232

I’d say it was a good day in the QB room. I’d also say, though, that maybe they should rethink the order of the goat and the orange so that it looks like the goat is eating the orange instead of, well, you know.

The fact that all of this is happening the same weekend as Orange Carpet Day? Pure coincidence, I’m sure.

Other football

Another article with more details supporting our four reasons to be excited about the 2017 season:

Any notion the Vols are lacking in talent simply isn’t factual.

Tennessee’s past four recruiting classes ranked seventh, fourth, 14th and 17th nationally.

There are 32 former four- or five-star prospects on the roster. Two at quarterback and running back, three at wide receiver and four on the offensive line. Seven on the defensive line, six at linebacker and eight in the secondary.

To compete for national championships, you generally want more than half your roster to be 4- or 5-star guys, and Tennessee’s not there, but they’re closer than most think right now.

The strength and conditioning program is apparently starting to produce visible results, and you have to like this balanced attitude from coach Rock Gullickson:

“I like where we’re at, but I’m more excited about where we’re going,” said Gullickson.

That story also includes a video of the team working out, which you might find worth a watch. I didn’t actually try it, but I bet it’s better to the Theme from Rocky. I mean, isn’t everything?

GoVols247‘s latest edition of its weekly What-If Game asks what might have happened if the Vols hadn’t lost the 2001 SEC Championship Game. It’s a painful read, but the included video of Phillip Fulmer’s post-Florida locker room speech is balm for the soul.

Speaking of Fulmer, he had some interesting things to say about the current state of the program in a recent radio appearance with Erik Ainge. The good bits start at around the 5:00 mark:

Hoops

In case you missed it, check out this great video of Rick Barnes watching the NBA Finals with his team.

There’s good reason for Barnes to be smiling. He sincerely believes his team is now poised to take the next step into postseason play.

Other recruiting

New offers:

Other Vols News

After repeatedly touting the new format of the Big Orange Caravan as a less-expensive family friendly venture that won’t charge you $35 for a rubber chicken plate, the school announced that the Nashville stop is limited to 400 pre-registered people who must pay $20 ($12 for kids) for a rubber BBQ plate. The new PR guy must have been outvoted on this one.

Tennessee’s hand-me-downs have surfaced in Israel. I’m a huge fan of adidas over Nike, but those Smokey Grey with Checkered Shoulders unis were sold to us retailers with the promise that the team was going to wear them on the field sometime that season. They were so hideous, though, that they were treated like Christmas sweaters from your Grandma. You know, you smile politely and thank her for her kindness, and then look for the first opportunity to unload them to some poor unfortunate soul in a faraway land.

New baseball coach Tony Vitello thinks he just landed the best pitching coach in the country in Frank Anderson.

Vols track and field phenom Christian Coleman is going pro.

Tennessee freshman golfer Chase Roswall won the 17th Annual Tennessee Match Play Championship yesterday. Follow that link and tell me that picture doesn’t make him look like the caddy from Caddyshack.

The ladies tennis team just signed Elizabeth Profit, who’s transferring to Tennessee after two years at Baylor.

Other fun stuff

This video from the SEC Network has made me realize that I eat donuts like an offensive lineman:

Seriously, that exact conversation takes place at my house on an almost daily basis, except it’s usually about ice cream. I think it’s my 15-year-old, but she thinks its me. Either one or both of us are right. We report, you decide.

Texas is objecting to KISS’ attempt to trademark the horns hand signal. Is it a college football signal that says, “Hook ‘Em Horns?” or is it the sign of the devil? (Or is it both? Ba-dump-bump.) Really, they should just have KISS do the halftime show at a game this fall, and they can share.

Gameday Today: History lessons, accelerators, and brakes

Butch Jones is bringing back the history lessons and trying to find the brake on the Trey Smith hype train. Plus hoops updates and more in today’s Vols link roundup.

Football

I’ll just leave this here:

https://twitter.com/vol_football/status/875442820676411393

And now that your pump is primed, let’s get on with the football news:

Butch Jones is bringing back the Tennessee Football history assignments this fall. Each player has to get up in front of the team and present a little lesson on the guys who have worn their numbers before them. I love this, no joke. 

SEC Country has a great feature on Tennessee commit D’Andre Litaker. That dude has had a rough time of it lately and is somehow managing to keep his head above water.

More praise for the quiet monster on the offensive line, Trey Smith. Jones is doing his best to fight the urge to mash the accelerator instead of the brakes on the Trey Smith hype, but man do we have legit high hopes for this guy.

VFLs

Phillip Fulmer thinks that Jones has made some especially nice tweaks in the offseason:

“The coaching changes give him a great opportunity, and it’s not like this team is coming from nowhere, they had a pretty good season,” Fulmer said. “This can put him over the hump and that’s what everyone wants.

“That’s what Butch is trying to do, to take it to a championship level. The coaching experience he has hired around him is obvious, and it should project on the field.”

Hoops

The NCAA has instituted some new rules changes for the upcoming season, including extending the coach’s box from 28 feet to 38 feet, presumably to make it easier for them to communicate with their team. Except at Vandy, of course, where its insidious court configuration necessitates a satellite phone to reach your players if they’re on the opposite end. “HEAD THREE CLICKS WEST. OVER!”

Other rules changes affect the resetting of the shot clock and the locations of throw-ins.

Injury updates: Graduate-transfer James Daniel III should be back from injury in time for the team’s trip to Europe, and guard Lamonte Turner could also be back. Forward John Fulkerson probably won’t be by then, but Rick Barnes does expect him back in time for preseason practice in October.

Barnes is also excited to finally have the depth to be able to take the governor off the strength and conditioning coach without worrying whether he’ll wear his guys out before the season ends.

And in case you weren’t aware of this fact, Barnes is also a funny and entertaining guy. In discussing the Pilot Rocky Top League, he said:

“That league is so good defensively, I’m going to play,” the 62-year-old Barnes said Sunday.

Baseball

UTSports.com has a compilation of information about all five baseball Vols recently drafted.

Recruiting

Punter Skyler DeLong’s commitment to Tennessee lasted about as long as most high school relationships, as he’s now smitten with Alabama and has given his committed heart to the Evil Empire.

New offers:

Odds and Ends

Athletic Director John Currie has written you a letter on the web, and it has actual links and stuff. Particularly impressive for what has traditionally been a real curmudgeon when it comes to new media.

And shoot, that man is going to totally wear himself out reaching for the prize(s):

“We’re not gonna relax until we win all the championships . . . .”

Currie’s also going to have Neyland Stadium painted over the course of three summers at the same time. I don’t really know why it takes three years, unless they just don’t know that they can rent a paint sprayer at Home Depot.

AND, Currie’s also going to upgrade the stadium’s curb appeal along the river. The man’s going to need a vacation after we win everything while painting. 

Track and field star Christian Coleman is a finalist for The Bowerman Award, given to the top male collegiate track athlete.

Tennessee has golfers at the 17th Annual Tennessee Match Play Championship, and they’re apparently doing well.

That’s it for today. Happy Friday to y’all.

 

 

Gameday Today: Is Butch Jones immune to the legion of the miserable?

Butch Jones stiff arms the negative talk and keeps building an awesome class, a bunch of Tennessee baseball players get drafted, and VFLs just keep making us proud, all in today’s Vols link roundup.

Football

This headline from Gridiron Now makes a really interesting point: 

Tennessee recruiting booms despite Butch Jones speculation

You’d think that recruiting would be even more difficult when rumors begin to swirl about your imminent demise, but Jones is instead putting together one of his best classes. Chest bump to Jones for that. Maybe players just understand that relentless optimism better than fans do.

And yet Jones seems to be learning to season that optimism with a pinch of reality when talking to fans through the media. He’s “proud of [his] players, but not yet satisfied.” He says in one breath that Tennessee-Alabama is a “great, great rivalry,” but in the next that “we were very disappointed when we played them last year.” Basically, he’s still being himself but also learning to keep his foot out of his mouth.

There’s little danger in this statement, though, in which Jones says that he is pleased that his veterans are leading and his freshman are following.

Mike Griffith has an excellent feature on incoming running back Ty Chandler that you should go read now. Speaking of Mike, here he is saying interesting things on the SEC Network:

And again, GoVols247 entices you to bear the indignities of a 16-click slideshow by promising Vols football’s best moments against the Georgia Bulldogs. Yes, it’s a pain, but this one’s worth it. (You can also see the whole thing on one page if you are a subscriber.) 

Recruiting

Offensive line coach Walt Wells is up to No. 5 on 247Sports‘ recruiter rankings after landing the commitment of 4-star D’Andre Litaker. He’s third among SEC assistant coaches, and largely responsible for Tennessee’s 2018 class, which is currently ranked in the Top 10 and heading into Orange Carpet Day.

Speaking of which, GoVols247 has a list of five guys to watch this weekend ($$$).

New offers:

Baseball

The Atlanta Braves drafted Tennessee third baseman Jordan Rodgers in the sixth round on Tuesday. Pitchers Kyle Serrano (10th round, by the Houston Astros), Zach Warren (14th round, by the Philadelphia Phillies), and Hunter Martin (20th round, by Houston), and infielder Jeff Moberg (30th round, by the Colorado Rockies) were also drafted. Serrano, however, told Jimmy Hyams that he’s inclined to return to Tennessee rather than heading to the big leagues.

If you’re interested, SEC Sports has a list of all 75 players taken in the 2017 MLB Draft. Actually, they still have it even if you’re not interested, but you know what I mean.

The baseball Vols have also hired Frank Anderson as pitching coach.

Hoops

Five of the first six picks in the Pilot Rocky Top League draft were Vols. Guard Chris Darrington went No. 1 overall. Jordan Bowden went second, and Admiral Schofield went third. Grant Williams and Jordan Bone were fifth and sixth. Play begins Monday night at 6:00 at Knoxville Catholic High School. 

VFLs

Cam Sutton has signed his contract with the Steelers, and according to Spotrac, it’s worth $3,236,714. Love to see these guys so richly rewarded for their hard work.

Peyton Manning offered Lamar Jackson this advice after he won the Heisman Trophy:

“Peyton Manning told me that if you’re not having fun with it, always talk with your guys. Talk to the people around the program who can help you with stuff like that. You’ve got to always have a smile on your face. People are always watching.”

Eric Berry said that he has a very good reason to regularly give hungry people food:

“I don’t do it for the attention,” Berry said. “I don’t do none of this for the attention. I do it to better myself and give back. That’s what you should do it for.”

Other fun stuff

Another sports book has set the over/under for the Vols this fall at 7.5 games. So the money-where-your-mouth-is people are banking on 7-8 wins for Tennessee. 

The USTFCCCA, which wins the award for laziest acronym, named Vols junior Christian Coleman its National Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year. Assistant coach Tim Hall earned National Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year.

Golfer Hunter Wolcott is tied for 13th after the first round of the Southeastern Amateur at the Country Club of Columbus.

The 2017 Tennessee offensive line is one of the most experienced in the SEC

You often hear from coaches and commentators that football is a “line of scrimmage” game and that the SEC, in particular, is a “line of scrimmage” league. What they mean, of course, is that the game is largely decided on which team’s offensive and defensive lines win their respective battles.

We know this intuitively to be true. Taken to its logical extreme, if the offensive line could magically make the entire defensive line disappear on every play, that offense would have an advantage even with mediocre players at quarterback, running back, and receiver. And conversely, if the defensive line just rolls right through the offensive line, no amount of Heisman Trophy contenders in the backfield are going to save the day.

The coaches and commentators are not saying that the skill players aren’t important. They’re just reminding everyone that the players no one talks about are at least as important, and perhaps even more important, to the success of the team.

So if that’s true, why is it that the offensive line doesn’t get more attention?

Evaluating offensive lineman is time-consuming and difficult

Offensive linemen get less attention from casual fans and pundits because, frankly, there’s just not much for them to talk about. Most folks in the stands and in front of their televisions watch football by watching the football. After the center snaps the ball, all eyes are first on the quarterback, and then on either the running back or the receiver. The eyes follow the ball on Saturdays and the stats on Sundays, but even most of the stats follow the ball. So it’s easy for fans to talk about skill players because there are numbers at the ready to measure their performance.

Not so for offensive linemen. There are few easy stats adequately measuring their contributions that fans can toss back and forth in conversation. The explanation for the lack of such stats is that the real contributions of the offensive line are difficult to measure. Their value comes not from actually moving the ball but from creating opportunities for the skill guys by creating space or time.

So if offensive linemen don’t get noticed because they rarely touch the ball and therefore rarely end up in the box score, how do you evaluate them apart from actively studying their individual efforts on video or relying on the experts who do?

One way is to use the decisions of the coaching staff as a proxy. They are studying film, closely evaluating each player, and presumably, the best guys are earning the most playing time. So the number of games a player starts and the number of games in which he played should be a pretty good indication of how a staff values an offensive lineman. More games and more starts means more experience, and experience matters in football, especially along the offensive line. We’ll talk about the degree to which experience matters later, but first, let’s look at the relative experience of the offensive lines in the SEC.

Phil Steel’s SEC offensive line experience list

Yesterday, Phil Steele posted his compilation of offensive line experience, which is a ranking of teams by most career starts on the line. Here are the SEC teams:

So, according to that table, Tennessee has a pretty significant experience advantage over most of its SEC East rivals, with only South Carolina and Kentucky really coming close.

Gameday on Rocky Top’s SEC offensive line experience list

In compiling the Gameday on Rocky Top All-SEC team for our magazine, we, too, compiled a list of offensive line experience for the SEC teams. Ours included both starts and games played, and in that list Kentucky edged Tennessee for first place by a small margin. So our numbers are in general agreement with Phil Steele and show that Tennessee’s offensive line is in good shape this fall from an experience standpoint.

[ess_grid alias=”grt-2017-promo-grid”][/ess_grid]

 

Conclusion

The Vols’ offensive linemen for 2017 have played and started a lot of games in their careers. Being pressed into action early in their careers undoubtedly gives them experience, and experience presumably makes them better. At the very least, they should be better than they were before they gained the experience.

Of course, being the best on your team and the unit being better than it was last year says little about how good you are relative to other teams. For that, we’ll need to look at other factors, which we will get to in a later post.

For now, though, one thing is crystal clear: The 2017 Tennessee Volunteers have one of the most experienced offensive lines in the SEC.

Tennessee Recruiting: The Vols Secure Second of Instate “Big Four” DLs in Litaker

Two down, two to go.

The Tennessee Volunteers received one of their biggest commitments yet in the 2018 recruiting class on Tuesday when Murfreesboro (Riverdale) defensive tackle D’Andre Litaker tweeted his intentions to officially become a Vols pledge. UT has led for his signature for months, but the 6’3″, 300-pound defensive lineman elected to stay near home and play for Tennessee for the next four or so years.

https://twitter.com/dandrelitaker/status/874673687777210369

Though he had things planned out for breaking the news at this weekend’s “Orange Carpet Day,” Litaker decided to pull the trigger early.

“I was going to wait ’til Saturday and do it on ‘Orange Carpet Day,’ but I couldn’t wait no longer,” he told GoVols247’s Ryan Callahan.

Litaker — a 4-star prospect who is one of the nation’s top 250 players — joins Nashville 4-star defensive tackle Brant Lawless as Tennessee commitments. The duo gives first-year D-line coach Brady Hoke a pair of potential studs around which to build the defense. While Hoke had a hand in the pledge of Litaker for sure, ace Midstate recruiter Walt Wells was the one who led the recruiting efforts for Litaker. He continues to be a home-run hire for UT on the recruiting trail, and the Vols hope he can provide the same impact for the offensive line.

Now, the Vols need to focus on uncommitted stud 4-star strong-side defensive end/defensive tackle Greg Emerson of Jackson and Alabama commitment Jordan Davis of Memphis to round out their recruiting class. Both of those guys will be tough pulls, but Emerson may actually be leaning to UT right now, though the Crimson Tide, Ohio State and others are deep in that battle, too. As for Davis, he’ll be tough to get away from the Crimson Tide, but the Vols are making every effort to convince him to stay in the Volunteer State.

In a great development for the Vols, both Emerson and Davis will be in Knoxville this weekend for the “Orange Carpet Day” recruiting get-together that has been so successful in recent years for UT head coach Butch Jones. Maybe the Vols can convince those two guys they need to join Hoke, Lawless and Litaker in turning around UT’s fortunes on the defensive line. Considering Shy Tuttle and Kahlil McKenzie are rising juniors and Kendal Vickers is a senior, the Vols need some interior linemen, and this year’s instate haul comes at exactly the right time.

As far as Litaker goes, this is a major pledge. Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Florida State and many others wanted Litaker, but he never could get Tennessee off his mind. The Vols did a great job recruiting him, Wells in particular. Teams are sold on Litaker’s combination of size and athleticism despite injuries keeping him off the field for the Warriors.

“I think there’s a lot unknown about him,” 247Sports director of scouting Barton Simmons told Ryan Callahan regarding Litaker, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 240 overall prospect and No. 23 defensive tackle in the 247Sports Composite for the 2018 class. “We just haven’t seen him play a lot of football because he’s been injured.

“But, from what we’ve seen, he’s very talented. He’s got an SEC body, and he’s just going to be somebody that has to be diligent in his rehab and needs to get healthy because, when healthy, I think he’s got a lot of upside.”

A couple of days after receiving a major recruiting blow from Murfreesboro when top running back target Master Teague chose Ohio State, the Vols were happy to get the news on Litaker, who was essentially a silent pledge to Tennessee for months. He was just waiting for the right time to let everybody in on the news.

With his pledge, Litaker helps the Vols continue a massive instate recruiting class. Despite missing out on top targets like Teague and offensive lineman Max Wray to OSU, at least for now, the Vols have commitments from Litaker, Lawless, safety Brendan Harris, elite receiver Alontae Taylor, stud offensive lineman Cade Mays, O-lineman Ollie Lane, tight end Jacob Warren and defensive back Shatar McClay. The Vols won’t stop recruiting guys like Davis, Teague and others, though it appears they’ve moved on from Wray as of now. Jerome Carvin is a top offensive line target who is still being heavily recruiting from the Volunteer State, too.

Tennessee has missed on a couple of guys in this cycle, yet still sits seventh nationally in the 2018 rankings according to 247Sports, and that’s good enough for second in the SEC.

Litaker is a great get for the Vols, who now have 13 commitments.

Vols Secure Another 2019 Pledge

The next few days could be another recruiting whirlwind for the Vols with this weekend’s recruiting celebration upcoming, but Tuesday was big in its own rights.

Before Litaker came and stole all the thunder, it was already a great day on Rocky Top.

That’s because 2019 cornerback Te’Cory Couch committed to Tennessee just a few days after receiving an offer. The 6’1″, 165-pound defensive back from Hollywood, Florida, had offers from Michigan, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Kentucky and others. He was receiving interest from some of the nation’s top programs.

“When I visit school I try to learn about the history of the school and what the classes are like and the type of coaches I’d be playing for and I liked everything I saw from that at Tennessee,” Couch told VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs.

The Chaminade-Madonna Prep standout earned an offer after camping at UT this past weekend. He committed just three days later via Twitter.

https://twitter.com/TecoryC_16/status/874618922334605312

No matter how much you want to nitpick early commits, Couch is potentially a good one. He was a first-team All-Broward County selection by the Sun Sentinel as a sophomore a year ago. That’s exceptional football down there, and he’s standing out as a sophomore.

Reporter David Furones wrote that he had six picks a season ago.

Tennessee Recruiting: Vols Get Cross in Recruiting

Every year, there are a few commitments who come out of nowhere. Those guys either become big-time recruits, or they get recruited over late in the game. It’s all part of the process.

Tennessee got an out-of-the-blue pledge on Monday when Orlando cornerback Brandon Cross pledged to UT over offers from Mississippi State, Missouri, Florida Atlantic and others. The 5’10”, 185-pound defensive back is a 3-star player according to 247Sports and the nation’s No. 1,114-ranked player in the country. That may seem puzzling on its surface for UT to take a player ranked there at this point, but last year, the Vols received commitments from Cheyenne Labruzza, Shawn Shamburger and Terrell Bailey.

https://twitter.com/iambcross/status/874412647449595908

Teams like LSU, Georgia, Notre Dame and others came after those kids late in the game; they stayed true to the Vols.

With UT needing defensive backs and only Shatar McClay (who reportedly has grade issues) in the fold, Cross’s pledge was one the Vols were thrilled about. You could tell by their reaction on Twitter. Also, considering Cross is small in stature, they must love his game.

Last year, Tennessee signed tight end James Brown from the same high school — Jones HS in Orlando — so you know the Vols have seen a lot of Cross. Obviously, they liked what they saw, as evidenced by their Twitter reaction.

https://twitter.com/UTCoachG/status/874417028806971393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftennessee.247sports.com%2FContentGallery%2FTwitter-reaction-Coaches-celebrate-Tennessee-Vols-football-landi-53150061

https://twitter.com/UTWWells/status/874418042662506497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftennessee.247sports.com%2FContentGallery%2FTwitter-reaction-Coaches-celebrate-Tennessee-Vols-football-landi-53150061

As you know by now, the Vols [nor any other teams, for that matter] care what you think about star ratings. They go off their own evaluations, and while UT hasn’t been able to break through with any championships lately, they are winning nine games the past couple of years, so obviously, the evaluations aren’t bad. We’ll see if Cross winds up being a jewel or somebody who the Vols wind up recruiting over.

He’s a kid who wanted to come to UT, and he’s a kid UT wanted. It’s going to be interesting to see if he blows up and becomes a kid with a huge offer sheet. He’s going to be visiting Knoxville for Orange Carpet Day, according to VolQuest.com’s Austin Price.

“I have a vision because of James and I know he is going to lie to me. I know it’s going to feel like home. I can’t wait to vibe with players and coaches. It’s going to be my home for the next four years.”

The Cross news is at least some good news after the decision of 4-star, in-state running back Master Teague choosing Ohio State over the Vols (Georgia, Auburn and others) on Sunday after receiving an offer in Columbus over the weekend. That was a big blow to UT, who now probably turns its focus at running back onto Lyn-J Dixon, Anthony Grant and Tae Provens.

Glad to have Cross aboard!

Gameday Today: East Tennessee loves West Tennessee

The Big Orange Caravan shows some love to West Tennessee, a few of Butch Jones’ favorite things, a raise for an assistant coach, and a relief for a player, all in today’s Vols link roundup.

Football

The Big Orange Caravan hit Memphis yesterday, and more than 900 Vols fans showed up.

Butch Jones took the opportunity to reiterate that West Tennessee is important to the University of Tennessee:

“It’s very, very important,” Jones said. “This is the state of Tennessee. We’ve really made a concentrated effort to get into the Memphis area, and I think that shows in our recent recruiting. Then you look at our players from the Memphis area, they’re having great success right now, with Drew Richmond and obviously Trey Smith from Jackson.

“We’re very, very excited about this area. We’ve made a great commitment to recruit here and be very visible here, as well.”

Jones is also excited about his receiving corps this year, looking forward to Peyton Manning visiting campus sometime this week to spend some time with Quinten Dormady, Jarrett Guarantano, and Will McBride, and managing expectations about the Shy Tuttle’s return from injury (there’s “no timetable,” but Jones does expect him to be back by the season opener, which is great news.) Oh, and Jones has a picture of Jajuan Jennings’ “I-just-burned-Jalen-Tabor” touchdown against the Gators last season on the wall in his office.

Not sure why this is news, really, but athletic director John Currie says that he’s not talked with Butch Jones about his contract. He’s in the middle of it, and I’m not a huge fan of regular re-negotiations anyway, although I know it’s the way of the world these days.

Running backs coach Robert Gillespie got a $35,000 raise, and his now-$510,000 annual salary makes him the highest-paid non-coordinator assistant on the Vols staff. Related: ESPN put Tennessee running back John Kelly on a list of potential 1,000-yard rushers for this fall.

Not only have all criminal charges against Josh Smith been dropped, the threat of civil liability has been dropped as well. Good news. I don’t know the story, and we’ll probably never know, but the whole thing just looked like a molehill.

[ess_grid alias=”grt-2017-promo-grid”][/ess_grid]

 

Recruiting

Latest offers:

 

 

Gameday Today: Bob Shoop’s covfefe, cocky wide receivers, and recovering former QBs

Bob Shoop’s covfefe oops, cocky wide receivers, and recovering former quarterbacks, all in today’s Vols link roundup.

Football

Tennessee defensive coordinator has apparently out-covfefe’d Donald Trump. I vote ei.

New Vols wide receivers coach likes his receivers to be cocky and knows how to handle ’em that way:

“I love ‘em cocky,’’ Beard said. “I love ‘em. Why? That’s who you are. That’s all the great receivers.

“It’s not about, `Oh, you can’t handle those guys because they’re cocky.’ No, you’ve got to explain to them when and when not to exercise those actions. Once you learn how to cultivate them and coach them up on when should and shouldn’t, you’ve got a great football player. So I like them cocky.’’

One of his other quirky qualifications is “juice,” meaning a guy whose actions prove that he just loves to play.

And Tennessee coaches are pleased that the offensive line is taking on a leadership role this year. It’s important, says offensive coordinator Larry Scott:

“You always want your guys up front to set the tone, no matter how experience or how skilled you are everywhere else,” he said. “Football games are won, especially in the SEC, up front. It’s a line-of-scrimmage league. With that being said, you always want that to kind of be the strength, even though they may be young or whatever. 

“It’s the mentality and the mindset that you’ve got to have from those guys up front that’s more important than anything else.”

Vince Ferrara ranks the SEC’s toughest stretches in the 2017 schedule. The Vols’ schedule ranks 12th, from October 14-28, which is South Carolina, at Alabama, and at Kentucky. That really doesn’t sound all that bad, as far as gauntlets go.

VFLs

It’s a shame that former quarterback Jonathan Crompton does not look back at his Tennessee days fondly. I don’t blame him, as too many folks were too ugly during that tough time and, as the quarterback, he was often the target.

What would have happened if Peyton Manning had left Tennessee early for the NFL? Surprisingly, the answer is not, “The world would have come to a screeching halt.” Maybe there would be fewer folks named “Peyton” or “Payton” in East Tennessee right now. Or maybe not.

Baseball

Get to know new baseball coach Tony Vitello a little bit:

If five minutes isn’t enough and you’d rather have 40, here’s the entire presser:

Hoops

Three players — James Daniel III, Lamonte Turner, and John Fulkerson — are not playing in the Rocky Top League, which holds its draft this Wednesday.

Recruiting

New offers:

 

 

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.