Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Coach Scooter's Recruiting Update Vol.2
Here is this week's quick recruiting update and off season Vol surgery news! I apologize for not having the bowl recap ready, so hopefully I can get that in by the weekend. As of Wednesday, this is what we are looking at in Big Orange Country:Recruiting Update
Scout.com has the Vols ranked third behind Florida and Texas.
UT got a soft verbal from running back Daryl Vereen of Huntersville, NC. Vereen is a three star player who is ranked 54th nationally at running back. He chose the Vols over North Carolina, but the word is he still could choose the Heels on signing day, so stay tuned. (Thanks - Scout.com)
Rivals.com has the Vols second, behind Texas and ahead of Florida and LSU.
The site also unveiled it's 2007 pre-season top 25 and the Vols were the last SEC school to be ranked as they came in at 17th.
Seven Vols Undergo Surgery
Five of the seven Tennessee football student-athletes who underwent surgical procedures throughout the day and early evening on Monday at UT Medical Center should return for at least partial participation in spring practice, according to head athletic trainer Jason McVeigh.
Only defensive end Robert Ayers (left shoulder) and defensive tackle Walter Fisher will miss spring drills, which begin Feb. 22. Both rising juniors, who were operated on by Drs. Greg Mathien and Russell Betcher, team orthopedists from the Knoxville Orthopedic Clinic, are expected to be fully fit in time for fall practice.
Four Vols underwent arthroscopic surgeries on Monday and one, wide receiver Josh Briscoe, underwent a hernia repair.
Rising junior linebacker Jerod Mayo (left knee) joined tailback Montario Hardesty (right knee), center Josh McNeil (left knee) and defensive end Xavier Mitchell (left shoulder) on Monday's list. Hardesty and McNeil just completed their first playing season of competition, Briscoe will be a junior and Mitchell is entering his senior campaign in 2007.
McVeigh said that with the exceptions of Ayers and Fisher, the other players are on target to participate at least on a limited basis in spring practice.
Offensive tackle Eric Young underwent his arthroscopic shoulder surgery last Friday afternoon.
(Thanks, John Painter, UT SID office)
All right Vol fans, I look forward to getting back to you this weekend! Until then, Go Vols!!
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Coach Scooter's Recruiting Update
The Vols got two HUGE commitments at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Saturday as Super Southern 100 linebacker Chris Donald and Cincinnati defensive end Ben Martin looked into the NBC cameras and announced they would be coming to Tennessee. They donned orange UT caps to complete the show.
Donald, the #1 rated linebacker in the country, chose UT over Notre Dame. Martin, the #8 rated defensive end in the country, chose the Vols ov
er Ohio State, Notre Dame
and Florida. Both are five star players. Donald (L) and Martin (R). (Thanks, Rivals.com)
"I've been recruiting them hard all week," joked Atlanta Journal-Constitution player of the year, Eric Berry, who committed to the Vols last month. "But even I didn't know until the end."
The Vols also got soft verbal commitments from Chris Walker, a middle linebacker from Memphis, Rufus Williams, a defensive end from Titusville, FL, and Donald Langley, a defensive tackle, from Germantown, MD. Walker is a four star player, while Williams and Langley are three star players.
Tennessee comes in third in both Scout.com and Rivals.com behind Florida and Texas as of Sunday morning. So far the Vols have landed seven of the top 100, and four of those are five star players.
More about the Vols recruits, as well as a bowl recap on Wednesday! Go Vols!!
