WEEKEND
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Morning yall! On top of the weekend, here's something else to look forward to at 5EST: 247 Composite 3* outside linebacker Chandler Wooten is announcing his college decision, and it appears to be down to Tennessee and Auburn (though now that I look at it, among 247's "Top Experts," Brad Shepard is the only one predicting he'll come to Knoxville, soooo... Go Brad?). Wooten, of Kennesaw, GA, also holds offers from Florida, Michigan St. and Oklahoma, among others.
- Tennessee won big over South Carolina yesterday 5-1 in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal, but not without cost: Rainey Gaffin suffered a fracture in her left (non-pitching) arm. Co-coach Karen Weekly said she wasn't sure of the severity of the injury, but Gaffin will miss the remainder of the Tournament and will be further evaluated on Monday by team doctors. Get well, Rainey.
- Phil Fulmer spoke Thursday at Bolivar High's sports awards ceremony in Hardeman County, and took some time to reflect on his time at Tennessee, and on the current state of the program:
"No one likes it when things don’t go your way. But you have to look at your program every day and ask yourself ‘Are we getting better?’ I think Butch is doing that, and we’re getting better. He’s getting us to a place where we can compete for championships I believe. We’re going to find out. And then getting there is one thing and staying there is another."
- Richard Whittall has a really interesting look at the space between embracing analytics and just loving the dang games. We're (and I'm using the royal "we" now, guys, I've decided) not sure we agree with his conclusions- we tend to view analytics as just another (equally true!) method of creating A Narrative To Talk About When We Talk About Sports- and the ensuing headlong hurtle into the bottomless morass of existential ambiguity as a feature, not a bug- but regardless Whittall's piece is thoughtful and excellent and you should probably just go read it.
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QUICK HITS TO KILL TIME BEFORE YOU GET TO GO HOME
Dave Link has an interesting rundown of former Vols who went undrafted but are still active in the NFL. Caleb Calhoun at Fansided apparently looked at Clay Travis and thought, man, I want to be like that guy: "Peyton Manning Would be a Terrible Coach for Tennessee Vols." Here is the greatest list in the history of Wikipedia.
Want a hype video for the road? Course you do.
It's great to be a #Tennessee #Vol Be #EL17E #TBT pic.twitter.com/C5L4IlDD7M
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) May 12, 2016
Happy weekend!