3rd Saturday in Blogtober

Parker is the newest Vol

Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley and a few players addressed the media today as football gets ready to kick off, and all I can say is:  It’s about dadgum time! I am so ready for football to start.

Now, I didn’t just all of a sudden get overly optimistic about this season, but I will say that every time I hear our new head coach speak, I feel more and more confident that we’re in good hands for the future — even if the present is probably going to suck epically. I realize what this year is going to be, and if you don’t, you’re just fooling yourselves. But the quicker we get this season over and build in the right direction, the quicker we can move forward. Even though this season won’t be fun on the scoreboard [most likely] it should be fun nonetheless.

More…

It isn’t the big name that Tennessee recruiting star gazers are craving, but the Vols picked up yet another commitment on Sunday night — making it four for last week.

Gainesville (Fla.) defensive tackle Trevarris Saulsberry committed to Tennessee and special teams/tight ends coach Erik Russell last night. Saulsberry camped at the most recent UT lineman camp and gained an offer for his efforts. Though he hasn’t yet spoken with Vols coach Derek Dooley, it appears we’ll be able to add the future DT to the commitment list at some point today. Saulsberry stands at 6-feet-4 and weighs just under 270 pounds, and showed some quickness off the ball at the Vols’ camp. He does play pretty high, and that will need to be something he works on before being able to help on an SEC level. Many believe he will be an offensive lineman on the next level, and that’s fine, too if true. We need those, too. Many other schools were evaluating Saulsberry, including  South Carolina, Miami, Florida, Florida State, Arkansas, Georgia and Louisville. None of those schools had pulled the trigger on an offer yet, though.

More…

Tennessee bolstered its 2011 recruiting class Friday, and the Vols didn’t have to go far outside of the city to do it. Tennessee High stars Mack Crowder – a 6-foot-4, 270-pound center — and Brendan Downs — a 6-6, 240-pound tight end — will be playing their college football less than two hours away from their Bristol home.

In what was one of the worst-kept secrets of this recruiting season, the pair made their selection official at a quiet high school conference Friday. Downs grew up a UT fan but wasn’t sure the Vols would express interest with all the coaching turnover, so he committed to David Cutcliffe and the Duke Blue Devils early in the process. Though he had numerous low-level offers, Downs has a lot of potential if he gets bigger and ultimately chose UT over Duke, Vanderbilt and Maryland.

As for “Mack Truck” Crowder, his recruitment has heated up as much as any prospect nationally in the past few weeks. The three-star center recently received an offer from Florida following Ryan Kelly’s commitment to Alabama, and he wound up choosing UT over the Gators, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Kansas, Maryland, South Carolina and others. In the past week, VT coaches tried to get Crowder to take another visit to Blacksburg in order to try to lure him up there. Given their limited scholarships this year, that tells me all I need to know about Crowder’s prospects.

More…

Defensive back is a huge need in this year’s Tennessee recruiting class, and the Vols addressed that today with the addition of Brunswick (Ga.) cornerback Justin Coleman.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pound three-star corner is the second defensive back to commit to UT, joining Atlanta safety Brian Randolph, and he’s also the second commitment in the past two days for the Vols. That makes nine commits overall for the Vols, who expect to get #10 on Friday.

More…