Tag Archives: D’Andre Litaker

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.

 

 

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.