TENNESSEE FOOTBALL
The offense struck back in this past weekend's scrimmage, apparently. Tyler Bray? "Much more efficient." Tauren Poole? "Significantly more effective." The sluggish tempo? "Ramped up by a no-huddle attack." The offense used just six plays to get into the end zone on the opening drive (a TD for Da'Rick Rogers) and followed that up with another TD drive (a TD to Justin Hunter.) Bray did throw an interception, but he completed 17 of 30 passes for 258 yards and 4 TDs, and Poole had 13 carries for 70 yards. Rogers finished with 6 catches for 120 yards.
The defense did get in some licks, though. Brent Brewer and Raiques Crump forced a fumble each, and Rod Wilks and Dontavis Sapp each had interception returns for TDs against the second team. Montori Hughes had an interception, too, but presumably, he sat down right there and ate the ball and anyone who attempted to take it from him and chased it with a bottle of sriacha sauce.
Dooley wants you. Early. Dooley snuck a pitch for mid-term enrollment into an interview yesterday:
"You’re getting 15 more practices. You’re getting eight weeks of offseason training," Dooley said. "So, you’re getting 12 weeks of intensive training and teaching. That’s a lot. That’s three months of hardcore advanced work."
He then Slingboxed a PowerPoint presentation onto the JumboTron showing pictures of Ja'Wuan James, Tyler Bray, and Channing Fugate. #madethatup
Injuries. Austin Johnson suffered a sprained MCL and will be out 4-6 weeks. Greg King got a concussion.
Twitch. Linebackers coach Peter Sirmon doesn't like to think of his guys as Sam, Mike, Will, strong, middle, or weak. He likes to think of them as X. If "X" is "extreme," then cool, but what he's really saying is that he wants them all trained to know every position so they can be flexible and so the coaching staff can plug and play at will during games. That all sounds good, but ever since the Clawfense's stellar shifting of linemen to different spots on the line, the whole idea of radical cross training gives me sudden bouts of Tourette's. Crossing my fingers that this time it will be AWESOME.
Recruiting. Derek Dooley and Company are in the mix for five-star quarterback Zeke Pike. Pike's a 6'5", 220 pound dude from Edgewood, Kentucky and has about 40 offers. The nation's second-ranked pro-style passer hopes to whittle that a little to eight in May, and he's hinted that Tennessee, Auburn, Arkansas, North Carolina, Purdue, and Michigan will likely make the cut. Come on down the pike, Pike.
Odds/Ends/Etceteras. Matt Simms doesn't care what you think, he's All Vol, VFL, baby. Willie Bohannon is up 30 pounds to 250, but that's still pretty small for a defensive end, isn't it?
TENNESSEE BASKETBALL
Cuonzo Martin is repping the Orange and not only hitting the recruiting trail, he's abusing it. You know, in the right way.
LATER TODAY
- New details about the free tickets that appeared to be the last straw for Bruce Pearl.
- Spring game details and plans
- Around the SB Nation
- Afternoon video break