3rd Saturday in Blogtober

Tennessee’s preseason camp last 31 days, though that month of the August seemed like it lasted 300 days.

I got to be there to cover all but a few of those, so I know how slowly time crept along, and how I swear I wrote stories on just about every single player on the team (and some twice).

So after all the Tennessee football program has been through since that now infamous Tuesday night in January, having a game to watch, talk and write about and move forward from was an excellent and welcomed change of pace.

But after all that time, what did we learn about Derek Dooley’s first team against UT Martin Saturday?

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Montario Hardesty’s tough luck just won’t end.

Hardesty, who appeared to be set for a solid rookie season with the Cleveland Browns, tore his ACL last night and will miss the entire season.

Hardesty battled multiple injuries as a Vol before finally staying healthy for all of last year. Through those four years where he was hardly healthy and playing behind Arian Foster (who’s the No. 1 back for the Houston Texans now, haters), he had a little more than 1,000 yards.

Last year behind a line that included a pair of 260-pound former walk-ons? 1,345 yards. In addition to what he did on the field, he was also somebody that was really hard not to like off the field.

Best wishes to Montario in his rehab, and hopefully he this won’t completely derail his promising NFL career.

The first week of fall practice before Derek Dooley’s first season as Tennessee’s coach has been anything but uneventful.

And fortunately I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of it.

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And no, they didn’t change their minds and take up that offer to play USC.

The Vols will open up next season against Montana instead of North Texas after the Eagles/Mean Green backed out.

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The Tennessee/Lane Kiffin drama/saga/soap opera/whatever-you-like has really spiked the last couple of days.

Derek Dooley took one of Lane’s defensive ends Monday night.

Then it came out that Dooley was proactive and intentional in trying to get more Trojans to join Malik Jackson in Knoxville.

And today, there’s this: USC – Kiffin specifically – approached Tennessee about playing in the 2011 Chick-fil-a Kickoff Game in Atlanta, and the Vols wisely said no.

“We told [USC] we could play ‘em in a few years but we can’t make it work with our schedule next year,” said UT AD Mike Hamilton.

It doesn’t take me to say it, but this was a no-brainer from the orange point of view. If you’re truly trying to distance this clown and his loyal band from his tumultuous time in Knoxville, the last thing you want to do is play the guy.

We’re trying to get away, to forget Lane Kiffin and move on. Right? So let’s not play him.

In addition, we’re playing in that particular game in 2012 (against N.C. State), and starting two straight seasons – rebuilding ones, at that – in the House of Horrors known as the Georgia Dome isn’t smart.

Plus, it’s not like UT has to beef up it’s schedule more. UT goes from West Coast (Cal, UCLA and Oregon) to East Coast (?) with the adding of Cincinnati (home) and North Carolina (road) in 2011. Then there’s SEC road trips to Florida, Alabama and Arkansas that season, and future home-and-homes with Oklahoma, Ohio State and Nebraska.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s Lane being Lane. Doesn’t he have enough to worry about in LA?

We were getting a number of Big Orange Mailbag questions concerning the ongoing/never-ending construction/facelift of our beloved Neyland Stadium a few weeks back.

Being the lone 3SiB writer residing in Knoxville, it would have made perfect sense to, you know, actually drive five minutes to campus and get some visuals.

But then again, I’m just kinda lazy, so these are well overdue. But anyways, here’s some pictures I took Monday afternoon…

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ESPN’s Bruce Feldman reported on Twitter than USC defensive end Malik Jackson will transfer to Tennessee.

He’ll immediately become a fan favorite because of his defecting from Lane Kiffin/Ed Orgeron. Jackson, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound upcoming junior, had 3.5 sacks in 13 games as a backup last season.

He was a four-star out of Birmingham High School in California, ranked as the 35th best player in the state and the nation’s 10th best weakside defensive end. He was used primarily in pass rush situations last year, and he brings depth to a spot where the Vols aren’t exactly hurting with Chris Walker and Ben Martin among others.

However, Jackson, who was listed at 240 pounds in his sophomore season, could provide some much-needed depth at defensive tackle.

Per Brent Hubbs on VolQuest, Jackson will be in Knoxville tomorrow (Tuesday). He visited UT around three weeks ago and UT’s new staff impressed him.

Thanks to the NCAA violations levied on USC earlier this summer, Jackson will be able to play right away.

Welcome to Knoxville, Malik Jackson!

As expected, none of the four former Tennessee hoops stars were selected in Thursday night’s NBA Draft.

But as we all knew going in, that doesn’t mean C.J. Watson will still be the only Vol in the NBA come fall.

The NBA Draft woes continued for Tennessee, as Wayne Chism, Tyler Smith, J.P. Prince and Bobby Maze all went undrafted.Tennessee hasn’t had anybody drafted since Marcus Haislip (13th overall) and Vincent Yarbrough (second round) in 2002. Since the NBA went to its two-round format in 1989, only six Vols have been drafted.

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Hey guys, post your questions in the comments section. Also, a friendly reminder (to us and to you) that we will be answering some questions from last week (here and here) as well.

Knock yourselves out!

Since we had just four questions for the Big Orange Mailbag this week, we are giving you guys another shot next week. So we’ll have another post set up Monday (per usual). Then, next Friday, we’ll combine next week’s questions with the four asked this week in mega-Mailbag Roundup.

And on behalf of all of us here at 3SIB, we hope you guys have a great weekend.