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.