The Sports Animal’s Vince Ferrara and Eric Cain broke down all that was day four and the week of SEC Media Days.
WATCH: 99.1 THE Sports Animal’s Day 4 recap of #SECMD21
Three Vols Tabbed to 2021 Preseason All-SEC Media Team
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Three Tennessee Volunteers have garnered 2021 preseason All-Southeastern Conference recognition as selected by the media at SEC Media Days, the league office announced Friday.
Senior offensive lineman Cade Mays earned first-team honors. Senior punter Paxton Brooks was a second-team recipient, while senior defensive back Alontae Taylor was chosen to the third team.
Mays, a native of Knoxville, played in and started seven games a season ago, seeing action on 478 offensive snaps. Six of Mays’ starts came at right guard with the other start coming at right tackle. Mays began his career at Georgia and has played in 32 career games with 25 starts.
Brooks, a native of Lexington, South Carolina, has averaged 42.9 yards per punt and 61.2 yards per kickoff for his career. In 2020, Brooks averaged 43.6 yards per punt, which ranked fourth in the conference. A total of 19 of his career punts have gone over 50 yards.
Taylor, who attended SEC Media Day earlier this week, enters his fourth season with the Vols having played in 33 games with 19 starts. He has collected 102 tackles for his career, including 29 a season ago to go along with five passes defended. As a junior, Taylor saw action on 439 snaps with 234 of those coming in coverage. He did not allow a touchdown pass according to Pro Football Focus.
Tennessee opens its 125th season of football on Sept. 2 against Bowling Green at 8 p.m. ET in Neyland Stadium. The Vols begin their first preseason camp under new head coach Josh Heupel on Aug. 4.
Single-game tickets, mini-plans and season tickets are on sale now at AllVols.com.
-UT Athletics
Jimmy’s blog: Heupel has different approach as player’s coach
By Jimmy Hyams
HOOVER, Ala. — Former Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt fancied himself as a player’s coach.
After his first year, when it was apparent some of his Tennessee team’s didn’t play hard, Pruitt didn’t blame them. He blamed himself.
He said he didn’t build a good enough relationship with the players so they would play hard for him.
Heupel is considered a player’s coach.
But his approach is different from Pruitt’s.
Pruitt’s idea of getting close to players was to help them achieve their goal of playing in the NFL.
It was all business.
Heupel wants to help his players get to the pros. But he also wants them to have some fun.
Thus, he’s had impromptu dodgeball or kickball games, or bowling outings.
That’s not a bad way to mix up the grind of the football experience.
“I just think connection is so important,’’ Heupel said. “Relationships are so important in anything you do. You need to spend time together.
“You win a national championship, that’s awesome,’’ said Heupel, who won one as a player at Oklahoma. “That’s fun. It’s worth every price that you pay to go after it.
“At the same time, when you’re done with it, those experiences and the people you’re with matter just as much as hoisting the national championship trophy.’’
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Jimmy’s blog: Heupel thinks CFP expansion is `awesome’
By Jimmy Hyams
HOOVER, Ala. — It’s apparent the College Football Playoff will expand from four teams to 12 teams within the next few years.
Players at North Carolina have voted against expansion.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney isn’t a fan, either, citing the extra games.
What does Tennessee coach Josh Heupel think about adding eight teams and potentially having a squad play 16 games in a season?
“The center of everything we do in college football has to be the player experience,’’ Heupel told The Sports Animal at the SEC Football Media Days. “We need to put them in the best position to have a great experience.
“The more teams that have an opportunity to compete for a national championship that’s awesome.’’
There is a caveat.
“Obviously,’’ he said, “we don’t want to take away from the general bowl experience that might not be part of playoff.’’
That’s a unique balancing act.
Many will suggest the College Football Playoffs have rendered other bowl games meaningless.
If you believe that, then you believe many of those bowls were already meaningless because they had no impact on a national championship.
While many contend there are too many bowls, I haven’t heard many players attending bowls complain.
And that’s more important that fans or media complaining.
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Jimmy’s blog: Heupel unsure of NCAA probe’s timetable
By Jimmy Hyams
HOOVER, Ala. — The Michael Glazier law firm began its internal investigation of Tennessee’s recruiting violations nine months ago.
Two months in, a head coach was fired, 10 support staff were relieved and an athletic director was replaced.
With all that collateral damage, you would think the internal probe would be nearing an end.
Not necessarily.
The law firm’s tab has exceeded $700,000.
The Vol Nation’s anxiety has exceeded patience.
No one seems to know how far along the investigation is, when it might end, when the law firm will submit its report to the NCAA and when the NCAA will act – provided there is an NCAA in the next few months.
Not even Tennessee coach Josh Heupel has a clue.
Asked if he knows a timetable for the probe to conclude, Heupel told the Sports Animal at the SEC Football Mefdia Days: “I don’t. I’m not involved in those conversations right now.’’
But don’t you want to know?
“I get some feedback,’’ he said. “You know, I don’t think we’re at a landing spot right now, you know what I mean, where there’s certainty about moving forward on a certain day.’’
The only thing certain about the NCAA timetable is uncertainty.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey addressed the lengthy delays of cases, some that took five years and longer to adjudicate.
“Those accused of violations deserve a fair and timely outcome, especially for high-profile cases,’’ Sankey said.
In Tennessee’s case, it spears the law firm is dragging its feet in an effort to run up its legal bill.
If you had enough information in two months to clean house of a football staff, why haven’t you completed your investigation six moths later?
NCAA officials were present via zoom to observe the interviews of those involved.
Seems to me that the Glazier team should have finished this probe by now, submitted the report and allowed the NCAA to act on whether to accept the internal findings.
Then, UT could self-impose penalties that the NCAA would accept or reject or amend.
Instead, Glazier seems to be working at a glacier’s pace.
And that isn’t doing Tennessee any favors.
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Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood Team Up on “If I Didn’t Love You”
It didn’t take Jason Aldean very long to follow-up on his number-one hit “Blame It On You” – even as he still occupies the top spot on the country music airplay chart, Jason is sharing his new song “If I Didn’t Love You.”
He started giving hints earlier this week that it would be a duet, but failed to share who would be joining him on the track…but now we know!
It’s Carrie Underwood!
Check out the studio performance lyric video featuring behind the scenes footage of Jason and Carrie as they recorded “If I Didn’t Love You.”
Photos Courtesy of Jason Aldean
A Day In The Country – July 23rd – Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert & Alison Krauss
This is A Day in the Country with Paul Koffy – July 23rd
On this day in 2016 Jason Aldean’s hit “Light’s Come On,” was number-one
And speaking of Jason, in 2013 his hit “Amarillo Sky,” was certified platinum
In 2012, Brantley Gilbert was number-one with “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do,”
And we’re sending out a very happy birthday to Alison Krauss.
Photo Courtesy of Alison Krauss
Chris Young Shares New Music From Famous Friends – “Break Like You Do”
Chris Young continues to give fans a preview of the music that will be coming on his new album, Famous Friends, this August 6th.
“Break Like You Do” is the latest track released…
Of course fans are also still digging the number-one hit title track – featuring Kane Brown – to Chris Young’s new Famous Friends album
Photo Credit: Jeff Johnson
Scotty McCreery Announces New Album – Same Truck – Available September 17th
Scotty McCreery has shared the name and release date of his next album – Same Truck will arrive for fans on September 17th.
The 12 track project will contain his Top-15 (and climbing) hit “You Time,” and “Why You Gotta Be Like That” – a new song from the album that Scotty recently shared.
Fans are connecting with “You Time” and “Why You Gotta Be Like That” just like they do with the rest of Scotty’s music, and he loves to hear stories from fans, “It really brightens my day. It makes my day when someone comes up and says how my music has impacted their life and tells me their stories. I’ll sit there and listen to them for hours, cause it’s just an amazing thing…and it’s cool to be in that position to have that kind of impact on somebody’s life you haven’t even met…it’s pretty cool.”
Scotty was pretty young when he entered the country music spotlight after winning American Idol at age 17, so it took him a while to get used to random people coming up to him to talk about his music…but as his career developed, not only did he get use to it, now Scotty treasures the stories that fans share about what his music means to them. He shares, “You know, I got started so young, and early on I couldn’t grasp the fact that people were going to come up and say ‘Hey’ when I’m just trying to live my normal life….but as I’ve grown up and realized, man these people…your music is speaking to them, it’s impacting them in a good way. So I welcome it.”
With announcing Same Truck fans will have a bunch of new songs to connect with come September 17th
Track list for Same Truck:
- “Same Truck” (Scotty McCreery, Ashley Gorley, Taylor Phillips, Zach Crowell)
- “You Time” (Scotty McCreery, Frank Rogers, Aaron Eshuis)
- “It Matters To Her” (Scotty McCreery, Rhett Akins, Lee Thomas Miller)
- “Damn Strait” (Trent Tomlinson, Jim Collins)
- “It’ll Grow On Ya” (Jeremy Bussey, Jason Blaine, Taylor Phillips, Adam Wood)
- “The Waiter” (Scotty McCreery, Matthew West, Frank Rogers)
- “Why You Gotta Be Like That” (Scotty McCreery, Jordan Schmidt, James McNair)
- “Home” (Scotty McCreery, Frank Rogers, Brent Anderson, Tammi Kidd)
- “Carolina To Me” (Scotty McCreery, Jeremy Bussey, Taylor Phillips)
- “Small Town Girl” (Scotty McCreery, Ashley Gorley, Zach Crowell)
- “That Kind of Fire” (Scotty McCreery, Josh Hoge, Matt McVaney, Justin Wilson)
- “How Ya Doin’ Up There” (Scotty McCreery, Monty Criswell, Derek George, Tyler Reeve)
Scotty says that this new album reflects how he’s grown since his last project, “My last album was about me as a young man getting ready to get married. Same Truck is me three years later, taking a moment to acknowledge where I am now as a 27-year-old, happily married man, sharing both what I’ve learned and where I want to go.”
Originally, the album was going to be announced next month, but after intense fan demand following the recent release of “Why You Gotta Be Like That” caused pre-sale information to leak at several key retailers. Scotty and his label both decided to announce the album early as a thank you to his fans for fervently supporting his music through the years.
Scotty adds, “It’s gratifying to learn that my fans are so excited about my upcoming new album that they sought out pre-order information before it was ready to be announced….and got it! Thanks to Triple Tigers and the retailers for coming together quickly so we could make this official album announcement. I can’t wait to share this music with everyone.”
Same Truck arrives September 17th but it’s available now for pre-order HERE
Photo Credit: John Shearer
Travis Denning Got a “Jack And Coke” Thanks to His Dad and The Marshall Tucker Band
Travis Denning‘s road to his country music career started at age 14 with an appearance on stage with The Marshall Tucker band and a word of encouragement from his dad.
Travis shares the story of the first time he thought that making music for a living might actually be possible, “First time I ever thought music might actually be a career was…the first time I ever stepped foot on stage. I was 14 years old and I actually got to play ‘Can’t You See’ with The Marshall Tucker Band. My dad was good friends the guitar player in the band – and that was also the first night I kinda heard my dad make some comment that sounded like him and mom would’ve supported me if that’s what I wanted to do, so that’s when I knew I wanted to be a musician.”
Travis just released a brand new song called “Jack And Coke” – check it out here…
Photo Courtesy of UMG Nashville
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