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Justin Hunter Draws Praise, Gets New RTT Nickname

By Joel Hollingsworth
Justin Hunter, prior to Bennie Wylie's strength and conditioning program. <em>Photo courtesy of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/">woodleywonderworks</a>.</em>
Justin Hunter, prior to Bennie Wylie's strength and conditioning program. Photo courtesy of woodleywonderworks.

Talking Points for 8/16/10:

  • You can tell football is right around the corner, as player features are popping up all over the place. Take, for instance, freshman wide receiver Justin Hunter, whom the players call "Bones." Words worming their way into quotes about Bones include the following: Incredible. Smart. Tall. Rangy. Huge hands. Very athletically gifted. Unbelievable. Phenomenal. Mature.

    All of that's in one article, but the quotes are from five different people, including three different coaches. Hunter's heroics must have gone viral at the media session, as Jim Chaney apparently got bored with it and turned it on its head:
    "He doesn't run very well. He doesn't jump very well, and he's not very tall. He doesn't catch it well," Chaney said, grinning. "Has no talent. If he's any good it's all because of Charlie Baggett, our wide receivers coach."
    But then he got serious again, and again, here come the analogies:
    "We don't know until you go out on the field how they learn," Chaney said. "How quick can they learn? How big is the sponge, basically? He has proved to have a lot of good football intellect, and you just keep throwing stuff at him and he keeps swallowing it up. That's been good."
    So add "huge sponge" to the litany of compliments. Maybe we should call him SpongeBones.
  • CBS has a couple of Tennessee features on their front page right now, including a look at the massive chore Derek Dooley has in front of him. Their SEC breakdown also has this gem about the Vols:
    5. Tennessee: There's a lot of hope in Knoxville. Unfortunately for Vol Nation, that hope should be redshirted until 2011, or '12.
    A redshirt year for hope? Funny.
  • Other player features: JerQuari Schofield, Herman Lathers (who put some anonymous 330-pound lineman on his butt), Tyler Bray (who's second string because he's still getting accustomed to the speed of the game), Tauren Poole and David Oku (who took turns keeping each other on campus over the past year), Nick Reveiz (you know the story, but you're not tired of it, either), and Brent Brewer. By the way, our crack research and investigative team has learned that both JerQuari Schofield and Jarrod Shaw are 331 pounds.
  • Derek Dooley: Perfectionist. Joker.
  • Dooley likes the Wildcat, but thinks it's "grandfather school" as opposed to "old school." It sounds like Gerald Jones will be running some again this year. Don't I remember seeing that he had like a 38-yard run or something in one of the scrimmages?
  • Videos of the day:

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