Tag Archives: Lane Kiffin

Gameday Today: Eric Berry makes everything better

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

Eric Berry just keeps leveling up in Awesome

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

Recruiting

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

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

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

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

There were more offers yesterday, too:

Football

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

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

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

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

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

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

Odds and Ends

Grant Williams!

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

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

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

 

 

Gameday Today: ALL THE OUTRAGE OF THE DAY IN A SINGLE POST

Gameday Today rounds up the outrage of the day, including Butch Jones believing he’s making progress, Josh Dobbs wearing the colors of his new home, Vegas believing in Kentucky, and declining to cut off our South Florida nose to spite Lane Kiffin’s face.

Outrageous!

The SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Florida are underway, and so reporters are asking questions and coaches are opening their mouths and saying stuff that makes people MAD ONLINE:

“It’s a journey and it’s a process,” Butch Jones told reporters Tuesday. “I’m very, very grateful to all the players and staff that have really brought Tennessee football back. We still have so much to do, and it’s all about winning championships. But the first element that goes into winning championships is contending to win championships on a consistent basis, and our program has done that.”

The man said that we’ve taken a step, and OH THE HORROR AND OUTRAGE OF AGGRIEVED TWITTERERS! 

And the fire’s just beginning to burn. Because lo, Josh Dobbs is wearing a Penguins jersey! And the Tennessee-Kentucky line is a pick ’em! (This according to a motel in Vegas that apparently can’t afford a PDF scanner.) And Butch Jones has the audacity to believe that attending a Lane Kiffin satellite camp in South Florida isn’t awkward! I could spit!

I am OUTRAGED! INCENSED! MORTIFIED BY WORDS AND LAUNDRY AND STUFF! Mike Griffith, sir, why aren’t you mad? Do you hate America?

Football

Twenty-one members of the 2017 class reported to campus yesterday. With the five guys who enrolled in the spring and graduate transfer Shaq Wiggins also on campus and set to enroll Thursday, that leaves only receivers Jacquez Jones and Jordan Murphy on a delayed schedule. The team meets today and starts work with strength and conditioning coach Rock Gullickson tomorrow. Power up, boys!

Josh Smith and Todd Kelly Jr are having a workout party at D1 Sports Training and YOU’RE INVITED! You’ll have to have one of those Instagram thingies, though, because that article doesn’t say when or where, and you’ll have to track Smith and Kelly down by stalking them online.

Class of 2019 4-star receiver Kendrell Scurry has de-committed from Tennessee, and as far as I can tell, no one has used the word “scurry” to describe it, which is a terrible shame and a dereliction of duty for journalists and bloggers everywhere.

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Miscellaneous fun stuff

Tennessee athletic director John Currie will continue to explore neutral-site games. I’ve loved those games against Oklahoma and Virginia Tech, but I do wonder whether ramping up your non-conference slate might somehow be making it more difficult to win the SEC East. 

Butch Jones is hinting that there are some shenanigans going on behind the curtain when it comes to graduate transfers. He’s all for letting graduates transfer with eligibility remaining, but thinks the NCAA and the conferences need to be careful about how they go about allowing it. That sounds reasonable, but I’m sure that we can find something outrageous if we look long enough.

CBS has ranked the SEC by difficulty of schedule and slotted Tennessee as having the third-easiest slate of the entire conference. Hey, I’m on record as loving where the bye week is this year, but it hardly makes up for drawing both Alabama and LSU from the West.

Tennessee-Florida is set for 3:30 p.m. on CBS, as it should be.

We’re no fans of slideshows, but we’re such fans of great moments against the Florida Gators that we will gladly click ten times for all the feels on this one.