Morning gang! Butch and company had their final open practice before the season opener (AAAAAACANTBELIEVEJUSTTYPEDTHATAAAAGAMEWEEKAAAAAAAAAA) in pads and shorts yesterday at Haslam; 247 has photos and whatnot. Most of the team’s stars, including Jalen Hurd, Alvin Kamara and Jalen Reeves-Maybin, wore precautionary green jerseys, but Tennessee’s platoon of recovering defensive lineman- Shy Tuttle, Alexis Johnson, and Kyle Phillips- were all in full-contact whites. Bob Shoop, in a later radio interview, sounded upbeat about their chances to play Thursday. “They’re all going to have to contribute, to a certain extent — I mean, specifically Shy and Kyle.”
Other highlights of the day include Dobbs demonstrating his growing mastery of ButchSpeak and Jarrett Guarantano and Zac Jancek getting thrown into the Circle of Life, which sounds hilarious but maaaaaybe something we don’t want to make too much a habit of?
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Appalachian State coach Scott Satterfield says the Vols are better than Clemson and describes prepping for Bob Shoop’s defense as “annoying,” which, hey, man, we get it, we hate our job, too.
For the degenerate gambers in the house, the line on the Vols-Mountaineers matchup has tightened considerably to Tennessee -20 after opening at around -30; in completely unrelated news, national treasure Brent Musburger will call the game, along with Jesse Palmer, who is boring, and Laura Rutledge. SEC Nation’s roving band of failed NFL quarterbacks (plus Finebaum!) are also headed to Knoxville for the pregame. Last week it was announced ESPN Gameday will be at Bristol.
Saturday Butch Jones announced the Vols will wear helmet stickers this season honoring Pat Summitt:
Tennessee football will wear commemorative stickers on helmets this season to honor Pat Summitt. (via @Vol_Sports) pic.twitter.com/V9vpKczj7w
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 27, 2016
“We know everything she stands for. I think it’s very fitting that Tennessee football and Team 120 recognize her and everything she means to the University of Tennessee and state of Tennessee,” said Jones.
Happy Monday!