Talking Points: more challenges for Tennessee depth

Yesterday, we suggested that you start biting the fingernails of your other hand in worry over the wide receiving corps. Well, you might need to remove your socks this morning because freshman receiver Jason Croom went down with a tweaked hamstring yesterday. That leaves Pig Howard, Devrin Young (moving from running back), Drae Bowles, and Cody Blanc available to take reps. Coach Azzanni noted that he's now working with four scholarship players, including "a running back and a high school safety." Wring away.

Also concerning is that RB Marlin Lane is missing. Official word when first absent was that he was taking care of a family illness, but coaches are beginning to be evasive, which is never a good sign. So at this time, nobody knows when (if?) he's coming back. Not a positive development when the staff is focused on finding playmakers.

On a more positive note . . . Daniel Hood, who has gone from tight end to center to offensive tackle to big defensive tackle eating entire pizzas and breadsticks for snacks at the request of Derek Dooley to mobile defensive tackle needing to lose weight at the request of another new coaching staff, says that he absolutely loves these guys. Asked to contrast the before and after, here's what he said:

With Coach Dooley, it was: "This is your job. Do your job, then go home and eat." With Coach Jones, it’s: "This is your life. It’s everything to you."

I like the eat part, myself, but I'm not playing in front of 100,000 people.

One more quick thing: When Peyton Manning and Pat Summitt say they're going to win together, who's going to bet against them, even when the opponent is Alzheimer's?

That's all for today, because there's about 35 minutes of videos you can spend your time watching in the RTT News Playlist below. (The embed code is being wonky. If the video doesn't play, you can watch it on YouTube's site.)