Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Commodore Banter (8/5)

A few links to pass along as we anxiously wait for the fall to get here...

In 2005, Earl Bennett broke onto the scene as a true freshman. Looks like John Cole has a chance to do the same, writes The Tennessean's Mo Patton.

Without Bennett and Alex Washington, who's recovering from a knee injury, Cole has a chance to contribute. The 5'11", 170-pound Cole won the Kentucky 100 meters and caught 164 passes for 3,519 yards and 51 touchdowns over the past two seasons.

"We don't have pads on, but he's showing what we thought he would be, all the skills we saw when we signed him," said Vanderbilt receivers coach Charlie Fisher. "He's got a good feel for the game. Obviously he's very quick and very fast. Hopefully he'll keep progressing."

As we talked about in last week's preview, Vanderbilt's linebackers are already drawing praise for their effort and knowledge, writes Brett Hait of The Nashville City Paper.

With junior Patrick Benoist and sophomore John Stokes on the outside and redshirt freshman Chris Marve in the middle, Johnson said he likes what he says. Also, former safety Brent Trice should thrive as a third-down specialist because of his coverage skills.

In NFL news, Earl Bennett is taking lessons from Devin Hester on how to field punts.

Over the weekend, Casey Weathers pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the game for Team USA as they prepare for the Olympics.

Finally, Tennessee had the nation's largest athletics recruiting budget in 2007 at more than $2 million, according to a recent study by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Following UT are Notre Dame ($1.75 million), Florida ($1.45 million), Auburn ($1.37 million), Kansas State ($1.3 million) and Georgia ($1.28 million).

Looks like the Vols didn't get much bang for their buck.

2 comments:

Tony Arnold said...

So as pre-season practice shakes out, it appears that we could be really solid if our O & D lines hold up. I think the QB issue is settling out, that is either Nickson or Adams or both in tadem can lead this team. Our LB and secondary are top-notch. We shold be fine at WR and adequate at our backs. The key is how well will our lines stack up? Can we endure any injuries?

But that is SEC football in general. You can't win in this league consistently with weak lines.

I am feeling pretty good headed into the season. Maybe this is the year we can under-promise, over-deliver versus the other way around.

David Shochat said...

We have solid players still. There is no doubt about that. We will miss Earl and Williams a lot. Goff not as much just because we are so solid at LB imo. Stokes and Marve are gonna be special. The question is going to be are we going to get that consistent QB play we desperately need and will the coaches have enough faith in the QB to let him win games or are we going to play not to lose every close game...and then lose them because we play that way.