Players weigh in on the positivity question, the Jajuan Jennings hype builds, and Peyton Manning continues to entertain. This and more in today’s Vols link roundup.
Football
- Huh. Players (well, Kendal Vickers and Emmanuel Moseley at least) love Butch Jones’ positive leadership:
“It’s a good talent to have, because with all the scrutiny around the SEC in general, there’s times when you might not want to be so positive,” defensive tackle Kendal Vickers said. “But he always stays positive and always tell us and always tries to feed positivity into our brains. It really helps in tough times and stuff like that, just to have a guy like him talking to us and just saying what’s on his mind.
“He’s a great leader, and we all love to listen to him.”
. . . .
“Coach Jones, he’s a positive guy,” cornerback Emmanuel Moseley said. “He brings positive energy. He knows that’s what we need as a team, and he does that on a day-to-day basis.”
- Jones said at SEC Media Days (and subsequently at the Tri Cities Big Orange Caravan) that if both quarterbacks deserve to play, they will both play.
- Love hearing this from Jones about Jajuan Jennings:
“Jauan is a football player, and a very good football player,” Jones said. “He’s had a very, very good offseason. His body is completely different. We’ve spoken to him about doing the things that great football players do, with obviously in the weight room and nutrition and rest and all that goes into being a great football player.
“I’ve been very, very encouraged and very, very excited about the summer that he’s had. I know he wants that role. I know he wants that opportunity.
“He’s a great competitor, and he wants the football in his hands.”
- Redshirt senior punter Trevor Daniel has been named to the Ray Guy Award pre-season watch list, senior tight end Ethan Wolf is on the John Mackey Aware pre-season watch list, and Todd Kelly Jr. is a nominee for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.
- Oh, really. Winning is expected on Rocky Top. Who knew?
- Congrats to Quinten Dormady and his fiance on their engagement.
- The Vols are going back to electing captains on a week-to-week basis.
- In case you missed it, here is Butch Jones’ appearance on SEC Now:
VFLs
- Does following Peyton Manning ever get old? No, it does not. Here’s Manning talking about playing golf with the president:
And here he is making jokes at the ESPYs last night:
Kevin Durant was NOT having this Peyton Manning joke and and it looks like either was Westbrook 👀 #ESPYs pic.twitter.com/8v6TRhJ9Ho
— Casey Baker (@CaseyBake16) July 13, 2017
I will say that I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Durant and Westbrook were in on the joke.
- I found these quotes from Josh Dobbs about how he’s discovered more hours in the day and how he’s using them amusing:
How does the academic background help you with the game?
It helps a lot. It’s been cool just focusing on football. It’s crazy how many hours are in the day when you don’t have school. Just the habits and structure and discipline it took to be successful in the classroom it took pursuing a strenuous and difficult degree, it’s the same as a quarterback, the same structure and discipline in the classroom and on the field. You might be taking the same drops over and over, but you are building habits that are going to help you on Sunday. That discipline, structure and learning how to be successful in the classroom have helped me on the field.What are you doing with the extra few minutes you have now?
Sleeping. Eating a little bit more. Getting all of my meals. In college every day coach would ask me two questions. How many hours of sleep did you get last night and did you get your two meals before practice. Usually it was yes, but half the time it was no to both questions. But it was cool. Now being professional, being able to take care of my body, have time to learn the playbook, being able to just focus on football is a lot of fun. I really enjoy it.
Recruiting
GVX has an interesting interview with Tennessee commit Greg Emerson that includes an explanation of how he got injured at The Opening.
Other Vols news
- I saw this a few days ago but am just now getting to it. There’s a Vol’s themed restaurant in China. It only takes like a day to get there, so you’d better leave now. The good news is that when you fly home, you arrive at almost the same time as you left.
- I haven’t watched it, but this extended video on Kevin Durant apparently includes several segments with Vols head basketball coach Rick Barnes.
- UTSports.com has a nice feature on Lady Vol Cheridene Green.
Other news
Nashville is making a push to host SEC Media Days in the future.