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We are now entering Year 3, E.B.E. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

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With Joel on a very well-deserved break, the inmates are left to run the asylum.  So, working on hooper standard time, here are the talking points for the day.  (I don't do 5 AMs like Joel does.)

Football Practice

• Eric Berry #1:  Want even more proof that Dodds doesn't listen?  His plan for Berry to get the Heisman involves things that have been entirely ruled out a long time ago.
• Eric Berry #2:  Janzen Jackson has been alive for 2 years.  When asked about playing alongside Berry:
  

"He's always been one my favorite safeties in college."

• Eric Berry #3:  Two forces are about to collide - #14's unstoppable on-field wrecking ball, and the Heisman Committee's ongoing campaign of hatred against Tennessee.
• Quarterbacks:  Despite the ups and downs, things appear to be more ups than downs for the qbs.  Weidmer at the Times Free Press plays the standard media good-bad-good angle, but some of the players are taking notice of the difference in quarterback play between this year and last:

It was all enough to cause defensive end Chris Walker -- who had at least a little to do with those hiccups -- to note: "I just think Jonathan's more consistent. He's really playing well."

• Not that we're sold yet.  Still, there are nerves about the quarterbacks - enough for Ivan Maisel to refer to them as 'underdogs'.

More Recruiting

• SPEEEEEED!!!:  I've heard of fast linebackers before, but a 4.38-40?  Please tell me that's electronically timed.  And if so, please tell me he commits to UT.

"I am very quick and very fast for a linebacker," says Williams. "I can get to the ball quick but this past summer I’ve been working on getting even quicker because the more speed you have the more dangerous you are. I am also a great team leader and motivator. I can get us that win."

• Looking alright so far.  DeMarco Cobbs still has UT in his top three:

"Right now Tennessee is on top in my top three. It goes Tennessee, LSU, and then Alabama. After that there is Oklahoma and a few others. It really upset me that there was an article out there on a recruiting site that said otherwise and I didn’t want people to get the wrong impression about me."

• How to record the biggest rankings jump of any recruit:  It's simple, really.  Accept an offer to play for Notre Dame.

Lady Vols Bonus

• Three of our former Ladies will be on the National team through 2012.  That's three out of eight players total.  Can you guess who their head coach will be?  Ah, sweet irony.  Sweet, bitter-almondy irony...