3rd Saturday in Blogtober

For weeks, there have been rumors that the Tennessee Vols may steal a player from Lane Kiffin and the Southern Cal Trojans after the NCAA dropped the ban-hammer down on the cheaters. On Wednesday, that happened — just not the way we expected.

The Vols received a commitment and signed scholarship papers from 6-foot-2, 215-pound Matt Darr of Bakersfield, Calif., who just happens to be 2010′s No. 1-ranked punter in the nation according to Scout. He is also rated the fourth-best specialist in the country according to Rivals.com. Scout’s James Bryant first reported yesterday that Darr was visiting The Hill, and he was also the first to break the news of Darr’s commitment. With Darr’s signing, it gives the Vols the top-ranked punter in the country to go along with the top-ranked kicker in the country (Michael Palardy) according to Scout. Palardy is Rivals’ second-ranked kicker.

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As many Vol Fans know, Derek Dooley is burning up the web on Twitter.  He’s dynamic, funny, charismatic, and vocal with his numerous tweets.  This exemplifies everything he is not in person or to the media.  Finally, Coach Dooley has found an outlet to share his inter most thoughts with VolNation.  The 3SIB crew has taken a shot at listing what we think Coach Dooley will say next on Twitter.

Here we go……….

“Today is the first day Mom didn’t weigh in on what I should wear to work.”

“The Sun came up today. Hooray!”

“Met with Peyton Manning today.  Firm handshake. White shirt.”

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Awful news this afternoon. Former Alabama defensive coordinator and interim head coach Joe Kines‘s daughter was killed in a head-on auto collision today in Tuscaloosa.

Post your questions below, fellas.

Sorry this didn’t get posted last week, guys.

9. Alabamafan wrote: Will Bama beat Florida and Penn State?

Muddog says –

Yes and yes. Bama is replacing a few parts but they have most of their army back from last year.  They will easily break the Lions’ hearts and they crushed Florida last year when they had Tebow, this year they don’t.

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The USC case was wrapped up by the NCAA a couple of weeks ago.  The Trojans got hammered pretty good for Reggie Bush’s dealings with an agent during his time at USC.  The NCAA maintains that all athletes that participate in college athletics must be amateur athletes.  They’re so serious about it they have a rule book thicker than the New York City yellow pages.  Here is today’s Water Cooler Talk question.

Do you feel that players getting paid for their athletic ability or professional potential has a negative  impact on the game of college football, and would you support a rule change by the NCAA that allowed players to sign with agents as underclassmen and receive financial benefits from them before turning pro?

Greg Ostendorf of the Tuscaloosa News is reporting that Alabama basketball coach Anthony Grant has received a commitment from Swedish U20 National Team player Carl Engstrom.  You can read the article here.  Roll Bama Roll has a post that contains a short video of Engstrom in action.  Finally, here is a youtube video of Engstrom in game action and speaking with a reporter (unfortunately, it’s in Swedish – translation would be appreciated).  According to Ostendorf’s article, Engstrom will be enrolling in the fall.   

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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Sorry we didn’t get around to answering the six questions last week, guys. Guess y’all missed us. We had an awesome turnout of inquisitive readers this week, and that’s what we like. We’re going to break it down into two parts. I’ll go ahead and tell you we didn’t answer the questions in the exact order they were asked, but if it’s not in Part I, your question will be in Part II.

But enough of my rambling. Onto your questions …

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The 2010 College Football season is starting to come into view.  The pre-season magazines are out and new recruits are starting to trickle into campus to join the veterans in the weight-room and in 7 on 7 drills.  By now you’ve formulated some idea of what your team is going to look like this season, and while every game is important, you’ve probably circled a game or two on the schedule as more interesting than the rest.  So here’s the question.

If you could only attend two games this season – one at home and one on the road – which two would it be and why?

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