Tag Archives: Phillip Fulmer

Tennessee’s recruiting is at a 12-year high, but there’s still work to do.

The good news:  the five-year recruiting streak Butch Jones has been on since 2014 is the program’s best since 2001-05.

Tennessee just missed the top 15 in February with a #17 finish in the 247 Composite, but they shouldn’t have that problem with the 2018 class. The Vols are currently third nationally and first in the SEC in this cycle, which if it holds would give Jones his third top seven class in five years. That would be more than enough to make this the best five-year run since Phillip Fulmer landed three top five classes and five in the top 11 from 2001-05. With the Vols currently holding at number three, Jones’ five classes (not counting the one finished in the few weeks after he took the job in December 2012) have an average rank of ninth in the 247 composite. Fulmer’s during that 01-05 run finished with an average national rank of 6.4.

Some of Tennessee’s positive momentum in recruiting came from signing huge numbers:  counting 17 current commitments for the 2018 class, the Vols have landed 130 recruits since 2014, the most in the SEC. This is one reason why blue chip ratio – the percentage of four-and-five-star players in a class – is the better measurement and predictor of success.

Here too, Butch Jones is doing it better than anyone at UT since 2001-05. His five post-2013 classes have a blue chip ratio of 42.3%; Fulmer’s last great run carried a 51.5% ratio.

The work still ahead:  despite the best recruiting stretch in 12 years, the Vols are still behind Georgia over the same span.

These numbers only account for who signs, not who stays. But in the last five years, the Fulmer Era arguments about Tennessee having more talent than Georgia and Florida having more talent than Tennessee are both false:  since 2014 the Vols have a 42.3% blue chip ratio, the Dawgs a stunning 59.4%, and the Gators merely 35%. This obviously hasn’t stopped Florida from getting to Atlanta twice in a row, where the Dawgs haven’t been since 2012 and the Vols since 2007. But if you’re looking at accumulating talent, Butch Jones is out-recruiting Florida. These recruiting numbers also make the back-to-back wins over Georgia seem more impressive.

I compiled the blue chip ratios for the last five years (again, including current 2018 commits) from 247 Sports. Here’s how the SEC stands over that span (again, the number is the percentage of four-and-five-stars signed since 2014 plus current 2018 commitments):

Alabama 79.3
Georgia 59.4
LSU 59.2
Auburn 54
Texas A&M 44.1
Tennessee 42.3
Florida 35
Ole Miss 28.7
South Carolina 26.1
Arkansas 22.6
Mississippi State 17.3
Kentucky 16.6
Missouri 8.7
Vanderbilt 7.3

Butch Jones is recruiting better than anyone at Tennessee in 12 years. But there is still work to do to match Georgia’s pace in talent, and get the Vols to a championship level. In February there was concern the 2017 class with only five blue chip players would become a new normal; that clearly has not been the case. I’m not sure if what we’re seeing with the current class of 2018 can become a new normal, but I’m also not sure it has to be. Butch and company have done all of this without winning more than nine games. If they can sustain a healthy level in recruiting and turn it into more wins in the fall in the next couple of years, even more talent will find its way to Knoxville.

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Butch Jones: Comebacks, Blown Leads, and Pace of Play

In late September 2015, after two of the most difficult losses of the modern era, we researched how often the Vols had historically blown leads. In 17 years Phillip Fulmer’s teams blew a two-possession lead in a loss just six times:

  • 1994 at Mississippi State:  led 21-7 third quarter, lost 24-21
  • 1995 at Florida:  led 30-14 second quarter, lost 62-37
  • 1999 at Arkansas:  led 24-14 third quarter, lost 28-24
  • 2001 vs Georgia:  led 14-3 first quarter, lost 26-24
  • 2001 SEC Championship vs LSU:  led 17-7 second quarter, lost 31-20
  • 2006 vs Florida:  led 17-7 third quarter, lost 21-20

In just his first four years, Butch Jones’ teams have also blown a two-possession lead in a loss six times:

  • 2014 at Georgia:  led 10-0 first quarter, lost 35-32
  • 2014 vs Florida:  led 9-0 fourth quarter, lost 10-9
  • 2015 vs Oklahoma:  led 17-0 second quarter, lost 31-24 (2OT)
  • 2015 at Florida:  led 27-14 fourth quarter, lost 28-27
  • 2015 vs Arkansas:  led 14-0 first quarter, lost 24-20
  • 2016 at Vanderbilt:  led 34-24 third quarter, lost 45-34

Fulmer’s Vols never blew a two-possession lead in the fourth quarter. Jones’ Vols did it three times in a span of 13 games against Florida in 2014 and 2015 and Oklahoma in 2015. Before then you have to go back to 1986 to find a Tennessee squad that lost a game in which it led by two possessions in the fourth quarter.

But, consider this:  by my count Fulmer’s Vols came from two possessions behind to win 10 times in 17 years:

  • 21 points: Kentucky 2001, LSU 2005
  • 18 points:  Arkansas 1998
  • 17 points:  Georgia 2006
  • 15 points:  Kentucky 1995, Vanderbilt 2007
  • 13 points:  Alabama 1996, Auburn 1997
  • 10 points:  Arkansas 1995
  • 9 points:  Kentucky 2004

Meanwhile, Butch’s Vols have come back from two possessions behind to win six times in just the last three years:

  • 21 points:  Georgia 2015, Florida 2016
  • 17 points:  Georgia 2016
  • 14 points:  South Carolina 2014, Virginia Tech 2016
  • 10 points:  Appalachian State 2016

Quality of opponent is also interesting here:  40% of Fulmer’s comeback list is Kentucky or Vanderbilt, while two-thirds of Butch’s came against teams who were ranked at the time or finished the year that way.

Say what you will about Butch Jones (or Josh Dobbs, the quarterback of every one of those comebacks). The bigger point?  Pace of play has significantly changed how we watch college football.

Getting down 14 points used to create panic; Fulmer’s Vols only came back from such a deficit six times in 17 years. But today, it’s not a big deal:  Butch’s Vols have come back from down 14 points five times in the last 31 games. 

Getting up by a similar margin is also no sure thing anymore. Fulmer’s Vols only blew two leads of 12+ points ever, and only one if you remove games started by Todd Helton at quarterback. When Tennessee got up that much, the Vols were a lock (in part because of a far greater talent advantage). But the 2015 Vols blew 12+ point leads against three consecutive FBS foes.

Pace of play has increased the number of total plays per game, which means the opportunity to blow a lead or come back from a hole is greater now than it was in Fulmer’s day. More plays also means more opportunity for injury, which as we know can create all kinds of havoc in both an individual’s playing career and a season’s narrative.

Check out the total number of snaps Tennessee’s defense has faced in the last nine years:

Season Opponent Plays Per Game
2008 776 64.7
2009 852 65.5
2010 913 70.2
2011 752 62.7
2012 923 76.9
2013 827 68.9
2014 892 68.6
2015 904 69.5
2016 1000 76.9

Last year the Vols were one of only nine defenses to face 1,000 plays while playing only 13 games. The 2016 defense clearly had problems that went beyond injuries, depth, and fatigue. But no one should pretend this kind of workload wasn’t a significant factor.

Numbers like these are also why using yards/points per game is so misleading. Missouri gained 740 yards on the Vols, but did so in 110 plays. In yards per play it was only the fourth worst performance of the season for the Tennessee defense. Team 120’s season total in yards per play allowed (5.84) was better than not just Sal Sunseri’s 2012 debacle (6.13), but also Butch’s first year in 2013 (6.07).

These numbers suggest Tennessee is going to blow some leads this fall. They also suggest no one should panic if Tennessee falls behind by two scores. I’m sure there are things for Butch to consider in how he prepares his team and keeps them locked in during games. But overall I think this has less to do with Butch Jones and more to do with the current reality of the game. And for coaches, players, and fans alike, it means a higher percentage of meaningful snaps.

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Gameday Today: New adventures with old friends, team chemistry, and over-aggressive facial hair

Gameday Today jumps off a cliff with old friends, fans the flames of team chemistry, and marvels at Spencer Hall’s facial hair. This and more in today’s Vols link roundup.

Sports writing meta

I just got back to East Tennessee from five days in San Francisco and the accursed Pacific Time Zone. It was the second time this year I’ve been to the PST, and I’m telling you, there is something quite unnatural about concluding your work day at the same time everyone back home is going to sleep.

Anyway, because I was without my favorite trusty computer and workspace and instead using a laptop and an unreliable personal hotspot, I missed a proper re-introduction of Will Shelton to the new digs a few days ago. So let me say it now — I could not be happier to be writing once again with both Will and Brad, and I am so incredibly grateful for their trust as we once more unto the breach together.

You might call it providential timing, too, as FoxSports just relieved most of its sportswriting staff of their jobs in order to feed a “growing appetite for video.” There’s a lot to digest on the topic of online sports writing, and you should start with Clay Travis’ take, which is dead on and articulates well much of the reason we recently made the jump to Gameday on Rocky Top after over a decade at SB Nation’s Rocky Top Talk. There’s much more to it than economics, though, and having the freedom to choose which appetites to nourish is one of the things that drives us here at GRT. And as I already said, I could not be happier to be working alongside Will and Brad again, pressing toward the same objectives.

Will’s already off to the start you’d expect from Will, using Bane and Batman to conjure new insights about this season and last, as well as hitching his wagon to a FiveThirtyEight scheduling system that uses “power-pairing” to create something that looks to me like a conference playoff. I might like that even better than my own idea of keeping everything the same but using only division results to determine division champions.

Football

  • Two public messages to another old friend, Spencer Hall: (1) YOUR CHEST HAIR IS ATTACKING YOUR FACE, and (2) STOP LAUGHING AT US WITH PAUL FINEBAUM. (Spencer thinks that Tennessee having to play Georgia Tech’s triple option in the first game of the season is hilarious:)

Recruiting

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Hoops

Forward Grant Williams will be venturing out onto the perimeter more this season in an attempt to improve his versatility, which will in turn improve the versatility of the team.

VFLs

Reggie Wayne says that Peyton Manning used to change the play at the line of scrimmage “85 to 90 percent of the time.” I looked this up for us non-math majors, and “85 to 90 percent” means “a lot.”

Other Vols news

  • The Lady Vols SEC schedule has been set for the upcoming season. The team will face Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Texas A&M in home-and-home series this season. The SEC schedule also includes home games against Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State, and road games at Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, and Missouri.
  • UTSports.com has a beautiful behind-the-scenes feature with track phenom Christian Coleman.
  • Tennessee is mourning the loss of Dr. Earl C. Hudson, who recently passed away at the age of 91. He and his wife, Martha, have owned and trained UT’s Smokeys since 1994. Condolences to the family.

 

Gameday Today: Phillip Fulmer, summer football, and summer hoops

More thoughts on The Papa, football keeps grinding, and updates on the Rocky Top League. This and more in today’s Vols link roundup.

Football

The Tennessee offense is gearing up for the fall:

And apparently, Butch Jones is taking the whole “pace” thing to an extreme this offseason:

https://twitter.com/vol_football/status/877503882984775680

What does Butch Jones think about Fulmer’s return to Rocky Top? Good question!

“It’s an exciting time for the entire Tennessee family to have Coach Fulmer and his expertise and the ability to build relationships that he brings,” Jones told SEC Country on Wednesday. “I consider Coach a mentor and a great friend, and I think this is healthy for everyone involved, not just football, but the entire Tennessee community.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to hear all of that, but really, what else is he going to say?

And what does Wes Rucker think about Fulmer’s return to Rocky Top? Good question!

So pretty much everybody but one person likes this move.

Speaking of Fulmer, The Papa is really happy that the talent pool in the state of Tennessee is improving, and he says having local Tennessee kids matters:

“It means more in the fourth quarter against Alabama, it just does,” Fulmer said. “You have to go back home and live it.”

And in case you missed it, you’ll want to check out the latest Vols hype video and the details of the Big Orange Caravan’s Tri Cities stop.

Hoops

Recruiting

New offers:

VFLs

  • Nobody here is going to be surprised to hear that Josh Dobbs has already displayed a real knack for learning what he needs to know as a quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but you may be surprised to hear that he’d already learned a bunch of pro knowledge while at Tennessee running Butch Jones’ system.
  • If this keeps up, we’re going to need a whole new blog just for Eric Berry:

https://twitter.com/vol_football/status/877564733544595457

Seriously, follow that link and watch that video.

Other Vols news

The Papa! The Papa! Phillip Fulmer returns to Rocky Top as an official advisor

We’re huge fans of Phillip Fulmer around here. Back at the old place, we called him The Papa, after Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, and credited him with much of the best parts about Tradition on Rocky Top. He was the “guy who’d been hugging history and tradition so tightly that it had become both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. He had voluntarily assumed the role as the proverbial salt of the earth, the individual charged with preserving the way things were, the guy who was constantly reminding his peers of the good old days, the paternal old crank who, whether you wanted him to or not, took it upon himself to shield and protect you from the decomposition that too often follows forgetting where you’re from.”The Papa - Tradition!

 

The program put The Papa out to pasture in 2008 and went on a Rumspringa that lasted not just a Kiffin-Year, but a Dooley-Decade. Some wanted the new way, and some wanted the old, but none wanted it to take ten years. The process has been gradual, but we have been slowly walking home the past few years, and the re-hiring of The Papa in an advisory capacity is a comforting signpost of progress.

So count us among the many who were ecstatic about yesterday’s news. Fulmer’s official job duties include serving as an ambassador for the University, supporting the programs, and working with UT government relations and alumni affairs leadership to advocate for the school.

Unofficially, though, this seems to me to be even more valuable than any of that because it signals a long overdue and serious effort to eliminate some of the dysfunction that has been lingering on campus for almost a decade now. Basically, The Papa is adored by nearly everyone and is associated with the last great era in Volunteer history, and having the guy who was unceremoniously fired back in the office and diplomatically and gracefully asking everyone to start pulling in the same direction is a very good thing for the program.

Here’s the press conference announcing the move:

Fulmer’s first great move was preempting speculation about whether he had any lingering bad feelings about not getting the athletic director job and it going instead to John Currie, who some rumors credit with having some role in his ouster as coach. It sounds to me like he’s saying that to the extent it’s true, it’s water under the bridge and that everyone has learned from it.

And Currie himself is echoing the same message:

Of course, at least one person was either not listening or not hearing.

But thankfully, most are applauding the move:

Me, I couldn’t be happier. I love the guy. I know there are varying opinions about what happened in 2008, but I think he got a raw deal. What should not be up for debate, though, is the class with which he handled the whole situation. That continues now, as he sits there smiling, happy to be serving the University he loves for a sixth decade.

I’m sure that there are still some relationship issues bubbling under the surface, but it honestly feels like the program is tweaking its way back to health, making all of the right small moves on a grueling path out of the shadows. This was another positive step in the right direction.

Gameday Today: The importance of focus in a distracted world

Rock Gullickson focuses on focus, football welcomes a new commit, and punter Trevor Daniel is actually a real live person with a face and everything. This and more in today’s Vols link roundup.

Football and learning to focus

You’ve probably heard that new strength and conditioning coach Rock Gullickson came to Rocky Top from the NFL, where he trained NFL pros for years. Well, he’s finding that kids right out of high school these days have a difficult time paying attention. Gullickson does not seem like a get-off-my-lawn type of guy, though, as he’s not just yelling at the guys to PAY ATTENTION! No, he’s imposed on himself a responsibility to take that observation and make something out of it.

Gullickson is actually onto something really important here. I’m currently reading Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport, the gist of which is that the distraction problem is growing rapidly in today’s world and so people who are able to recognize the issue and overcome it are going to have huge advantages over others who allow their valuable time to be stolen away by invaluable, shallow activities. Basically, the ability to concentrate is becoming more and more scarce and therefore more and more valuable.

So if Gullickson and the Tennessee coaching staff have not only identified distraction as a real problem but are also actively working to correct it, they can create and leverage an additional important advantage for themselves and for the team. So, you know. Go Vols.

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Recruiting

Tennessee received a commitment from 3-star Class of 2018 cornerback Tanner Ingle last night. His commitment moved the Vols up to No. 9 nationally in 247Sports‘ team rankings.

Orange Carpet Day didn’t net the landslide of commitments this year that it did last, but most believe that the Vols field-position game this time around was a success.

New hoops offers:

Other Football

Brady Hoke: Mr. Energy, but (presumably) without the cases of Red Bull:

Phillip Fulmer is playing both sides of the two-quarterback system debate, saying both that playing two QBs can be valuable because it stresses defenses but that it’s really not preferable. He is confident, though, that Butch Jones “will handle that fine.”

Vince Ferrara is posting his take on each of the Tennessee units this week. He started with the quarterbacks and has worked his way through the running backs and the wide receivers.

Trevor Daniel has a face. This is what it looks like. GVX has a nice feature on punter Trevor Daniel, who is just continuing to do what he’s been doing, which would be just fine with all us folks on Rocky Top. There are two especially interesting things about the article, though. First, it includes a video interview with Daniel, which makes you realize you would have no idea who he was if you were standing next to him not wearing a helmet on campus. And second, he’s awesome and everything, but that picture they included with the story is so awkwardly timed that it looks like how I would look trying to punt the football.

VFLs

Alvin Kamara’s new teammates in New Orleans are saying nice things about him, and Josh Dobbs is literally hitting home runs in Pittsburgh:

https://twitter.com/josh_dobbs1/status/876963169469640704

Hoops

Transfer guard James Daniel III should be ready to go by August, but in the meantime, the scoring machine is salivating while watching the Pilot Rocky Top League.

Other Vols news

Tennessee track sensation Christian Coleman, who recently announced that he was going pro, has published a letter to Vols fans. Also, the USTFCCCA (seriously, they are in desperate need of a new acronym) has given Jared Prescott — Tennessee’s media relations contact for track — its 2017 Division I Track & Field Excellence in Communications Award. Maybe he’s the only guy who could memorize the acronym, I don’t know.

We reported this earlier, but it’s now official: Vols baseball has hired former Oklahoma State head coach Frank Anderson as its new pitching coach.

Golfer Lorenzo Scalise is tied for 58th after Monday’s opening round of the 122nd Amateur Championship at Prince’s Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England.

That’s it for today. Go Vols!

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: Vols not resisting the sweat-talk

Football

 
Breaking News Flash: Butch Jones inherited an “absolute total mess” at Tennessee. Seriously, though, this is VFL Phillip Fulmer speaking truth, but doing so publicly, going on the record with his opinion that he thinks Jones is doing fine.
 
Vols’ defensive tackle Kendal Vickers is not making excuses for the defensive line this season, tight end Jakob Johnson is not taking his degree for granted, and new cornerback Terrell Bailey is not resisting his transition from sweet-talk to sweat-talk.
 
And finally, new quarterbacks coach Mike Canales is winning hearts and minds, giving up his seat on a flight so a mom could get home to see her kid play in his baseball game. The kid even hit a home run. So did Canales.
 
The new guy at Rocky Top Talk has made a list of the five defensive guys that are the most indispensable (and one for the offense as well), which looks quite reasonable.
 

Recruiting

 
Tennessee is in the running for Harold Joiner, the No. 3 running back in the Class of 2018, and Owen Pappoe, the No. 1 outside linebacker and No. 4 prospect overall in the Class of 2019. These would be big gets for a program on a bit of a roll lately.
 

Baseball

 
Sigh. Tennessee baseball got swept by Kentucky, moving the team to 26-22 overall and 7-18 in the SEC, which even hurts to type.
 

Miscellaneous fun stuff

 
Vols’ sprinter Christian Coleman won the 100-meter dash with one shoe untied behind his back. Or something like that. And Vols wide receiver commit Jatavious Harris won three Georgia state titles this weekend.