Nigel Warrior is apparently turning into the player coaches (and everybody else) thought he could be. Meanwhile, Darrin Kirkland Jr. is apparently becoming Jalen Reeves-Maybin, and injured receiver Brandon Johnson is becoming so bored that he’s sneaking into practice reps. And the nickel is becoming the 4-3: Word is that Tennessee is playing around with more standard 4-3 defensive alignments instead of the mostly nickel packages they ran last year. So who’s in line for that third LB spot? It’s looking like Austin Smith, Colton Jumper, and Quart’e Sapp. 

 

And finally, the Orange and White Game: Where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.

Another NFL draft analyst has VFL Derek Barnett going to the Baltimore Ravens as the 16th pick in this year’s draft. Most of the rest of that article talks about how that’s in contrast to Barnett’s somewhat disappointing metrics from the NFL Combine and Pro Day. Aren’t the numbers supposed to help you predict what you don’t know? And isn’t what someone actually did better evidence than an educated guess at what you think they might do in the future? But what do I know?

 

According to a tweet from the recruit, Tennessee has offered a scholarship to 3-star junior cornerback Eddie Smith.

The headline for this piece says that Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder has thrown shade at new Tennessee athletic director John Currie. Listen, Snyder is even older than I am, and he has no idea what “throw shade” means, and anyway, since when does singing faint praise for your incoming boss necessarily indicate an insult at your old boss?