Talking Points: Fate wreaks havoc on Tennessee wide receivers

by Joel Hollingsworth on Jul 15, 2009 8:02 AM EDT in Rocky Top Talking Points

Tennessee football

Yikes! Not only did we get news about the injuries to Austin Rogers and Denarius Moore yesterday, we also learned that Gerald Jones is in a cast due to a wrist injury and that he may miss some games as well.
They're so cute! Lane Kiffin's Junior G-Men Club.
No need for bigger helmet. Eric Berry's friends are keeping an eye on the size of his head. Berry is appreciative, citing Savion Frazier after Berry's interception of Matthew Stafford and return last season:
"Savion was like, 'That was a good pick, but you let the quarterback tackle you,' " Berry said. Frazier prescribed a front-lawn workout as soon as they returned home: "We'll have you working on your jukes, then we're going to get you in the end zone."
The memory of last season is getting Vol football players through summer workouts. Josh McNeil:
"I still feel the same way about last season. I haven't lost any bitterness toward that at all. I won't lose any of it until we get a W in the first game."
Here's hoping that a single mug of refreshment isn't enough to wash away the bitterness by itself. Ten may do the trick.
Wes Brown is still recovering from double knee surgeries. Roommate Jonathan Crompton:

"It's tough. It really is," said Crompton, Brown's roommate. "Especially when I come home from class one day and I see him laying on his bed one day with both knees wrapped up from double knee surgery. That's tough on him. But he did a great job handling it, getting back from it and all that.

Brown's been keeping himself busy with alternative workouts, including boxing, swimming, and stationary biking. He's added 15 pounds, which is good because he'll likely be playing tackle instead of end this season.

Nick Stephens has also put on about 15 pounds of muscle and is retooling his throwing motion. He and Crompton are going to be spitting reps evenly with the beginning of fall camp. I have mixed feelings on that. Doesn't one of them need as many practice reps as possible?

Thanks to everyone for participating in the RTT Create a Uniform contest. Devildogutk has chosen to receive a copy of Rocky Top Tennessee 2009, which means kidbourbon gets a copy of Bruce Feldman's Meat Market. Congrats, guys.

Tennessee basketball

Now that's a beat down. Bruce Pearl's Maccabiah team beat Mexico yesterday, 112-13. NOT A TYPO.
ESPN has a nice feature on Buzz Peterson's return to Appalachian State.

SEC

Running behind this morning, so the SEC links will make their way into the noon Around the SB Nation post.

Just for fun

Dr. Saturday has everything you want to know about EA Sports NCAA 2010.

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Comments

What I've been saying all along

And if Eric Berry said, well….

He wants to prove something with his team.

“People have to realize we have a lot of talent on this team,” he said. "We had a (5-7) season (last year). It makes me mad that people say I’m the only one on the field.

Tennessee WILL beat Georgia on the way to 9+ wins in '09!!!

by VolBrian on Jul 15, 2009 9:16 AM EDT reply actions

Adding to last night's information:

There were a lot of other interviews on the Sports Animal last night. I talked about the Kiffin one because it was the only one I had a chance to get to. But I know that a Buzz Peterson interview started at 4:00 on that same day.

The entire list of 15-minute downloads may be found here. I think a few of the football players were interviewed as well, including Nick Stephens and Montario Hardesty, but I don’t know the times.

So if you need some background noise while working, you can always do some research for us! ;-)

by David Hooper on Jul 15, 2009 9:26 AM EDT reply actions

Print view

thanks for doing that. Now I can pull them up on my blackberry a lot easier.

by golfballs03 on Jul 15, 2009 10:29 AM EDT reply actions

Tweets

Have any of you been following Lane Kiffin’s tweets? I just signed up for twitter but recently they only say the same thing… Like a countdown to game day. Has “he” (whoever posts those for him) toned it down since the twitter issue a while back?

by golfballs03 on Jul 15, 2009 10:31 AM EDT reply actions

The injuries at WR are not good at all.

This is making me real nervous about the ability of our offense to move the ball. I really like Moore and Jones as players but those two have had to battle a lot of injuries since they got to Knoxville. Teams were already going to stack the line against us and stuff the run. We would need Jones and Moore to beat 1 on 1 coverage and make plays to open up the run game for Hardesty, Brown & Oku.

Now where do we turn for play makers at WR? Quitin Hancock? Q didn’t catch a pass last year. Warren? A Freshman? We need Jones & Moore on the field.

by Jan221973 on Jul 15, 2009 12:50 PM EDT reply actions

But hey,

at least we now know our offense is one-dimensional. If G.I. Joe is correct, then we’re 50% further along in the battle than we were last year.

;-)

by David Hooper on Jul 15, 2009 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions

I think Quintin Hancock may be a pleasant surprise this year.

A la Lucas Taylor in ‘07. He’s a big guy, (6’3" 207 lbs) and when given the chance has always shown pretty well. He may have a chance to really improve with increased reps in August with Jones and Moore recovering.

"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it."

by Getoffmyvols on Jul 15, 2009 6:26 PM EDT up reply actions

I hope your right about Hancock

I agree with you on his size being a plus, I just hope he can make the tough catches over the middle.

This may sound a little crazy, but given Oku was the #1 All purpose back and seeing Bryce Brown catch that deep pass in the US Army All American game, maybe we line those two up out wide some and let them use their speed…. Just a thought.

by Jan221973 on Jul 16, 2009 5:44 PM EDT reply actions