Commodore Banter (8/6)

A few links to pass along as I finish packing for my trek back to Nashville, which begins tomorrow morning...

The best preseason is one in which nobody gets hurt. Unfortunately for the Commodores, the injury bug has already hit. Starting wide receiver George Smith will be out for at least the next four weeks with a stress fracture in his right foot, reports Brett Hait of The Nashville City Paper.

Smith, a senior co-captain and team’s leading returning receiver, is scheduled to undergo surgery Thursday and will likely miss the season opener Aug. 28 at Miami of Ohio. Redshirt freshman Udom Umoh might assume a starting role in Smith's absence.

"Udom came up big today and has been having a great camp,” said coach Bobby Johnson, who also singled out Justin Wheeler for having a solid camp and noted that freshman John Cole will be a factor. Throw in two-way player D.J. Moore and redshirt freshman Jamie Graham and you have a strong receiving corps. Still, it's an important loss for the Commodores nonetheless.

The Tulsa World has a feature on Mackenzi Adams, who seems to get overlooked as everyone focuses on the quarterback he's trying to beat out, Chris Nickson.

"We're not enemies or anything," Adams said. "I'm just going to go out there and worry about me."

Despite the loss of first-round pick Chris Williams and four other starters, Bobby Johnson isn't concerned about the offensive line, writes The Tennessean's Mo Patton. Couldn't agree more.

"We're experimenting, doing a lot of moving around," said offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell. "Everybody's learning two positions. Our motto's always been, play the best five. If it means changing position, they should know how to do that."

In baseball news, David Price is "very close" to the big leagues, according to his Double-A manager Billy Gardner Jr.

"He's going to be a No. 1 guy, he's going to be anchoring a staff, down the road," Gardner said. "And if he stays healthy, he's going to win a lot of games on the major league level and be an All-Star. He's a very gifted guy."

Meanwhile, talks between Pedro Alvarez and the Pittsburgh Pirates have gone nowhere and with just 10 days remaining in the signing period, the pressure is on.

"We are extraordinarily interested in signing Pedro Alvarez," said team president Frank Coonelly. "But we're not going to take every dollar that this club has at its disposal this year and will next year and give all that money to a player who has yet to take a swing in professional baseball."

In other words, there's still a small chance for Alvarez to return to Vanderbilt...