FreakNotes and Links: Aug 12-13

August 12-13, Weekend Edition (updating throughout the weekend)

• Butch Jones had a few notable comments in his Media Day press conference on Sunday afternoon. He mentioned an upcoming scrimmage that will take place this Wednesday; he said the team displayed toughness last night during practice at Neyland, but we need to get our pad level down; said Jarrett Guarantano had his best practice last night, but there is no timetable for naming a starting quarterback.
• New Tennessee Nike shoes go live tomorrow morning (Monday) at 10 a.m. I posted several photos of both the Men’s Free Trainer v7 and the Ladies Air Zoom Fitness. If you plan on buying a pair (or two), using our affiliate link, which will be posted in that thread, would be greatly appreciated.
• Robert Hubbs III has signed to play basketball in Europe this season.
• The baseball Vols picked up a new commitment this afternoon, from class of 2019 left-handed pitcher/outfielder Brandon Gielow from Englewood, Florida.
• Two Tennessee games made a list from SDS predicting the biggest upsets of 2017. The article has Tennessee potentially losing to Missouri and Kentucky. On the bright side, the article also has LSU losing to Troy, Bama losing to Mississippi State, Georgia losing to Appy State, Ole Miss losing to South Alabama, and Georgia losing (again) to Vandy.
• On Tennessee’s defense, Austin Price wrote that he was told Kahlil McKenzie has been ($) “really tough to stop and borderline unblockable during the first couple of weeks.”  Que the it’s happening gif. 
• Tennessee target Shocky Jacques-Louis, a class of 2018 wide receiver from Florida, took the opening kickoff to the house  in what was likely the first game of his 2017 season. The Vols are in his top five along with Pittsburgh, Michigan, Kentucky and Missouri.
• I had no idea that ESPN takes message requests and writes all of the College GameDay signs. That picture looks like a Home Depot infomercial.
• Former Vol LaTroy Lewis hasn’t gotten much hype, at least not compared to guys like Dobbs, Kamara and Barnett, but he had four tackles, two sacks, two tackles for a loss and two quarterback hits in his debut for the Raiders. Watch this video of his second sack. Raiders’ coach Jack Del Rio said of Lewis, “No one really saw that coming. It’s one of those good stories.”
• Many here like to listen to Doug Matthews’ radio show on Sunday morning, and Vfl2407 put together a nice summary of today’s show. There’s lots of information there, so check it out.
• I know I’ve posted a lot about Josh Dobbs this week, but Pittsburg released a “#CampLife” video featuring Dobbs that was pretty cool. First off, it appears that he’s still rocking his orange Nike backpack with “11” on the back from Tennessee. Secondly, Dobbs shows off his gaming setup and boasts that no one can beat him at FIFA, then proceeds to give out his Xbox Live gamer tag: JDQB11. I’m guessing he woke up to a full inbox of friend requests this morning. — discussion: Anybody here good at FIFA on Xbox One?
• Which one of you crazy Vol fans has been hanging outside Bryant-Denny Stadium and just happened to have orange and white chalk handy? Fess up. — discussion: Who did this?
• Tennessee had a closed practice last night inside Neyland Stadium. — photo | photo2 | photo3
• Former Vol sprinters Justin Gatlin and Christian Coleman finished second behind Great Britain in the 4×100 relay at the IAFF World Championships. Usain Bolt, in his final race, pulled up with an apparent injury. It was a bit of a disappointing finish after Gatlin and Coleman finished 1-2 in the 100m last weekend. — discussion: Gatlin and Coleman in the 4×100 final.
• Two in-state Vol linemen commits are preparing for their senior seasons, but also looking ahead to next year.  Both plan to enroll early at Tennessee. “Right now I’m getting stronger,” Cade Mays said. “I’m taking my diet seriously. I want to enroll early to hopefully get on the field quicker.” Ollie Lane says his commitment to Tennessee has raised the expectations for his play this season. “It’s motivation for me to want to play well,” Lane said. “If I have that motivation, I know I can help lead the team to big things. Tennessee is a dream school for everybody that’s grown up in Knoxville. If you go to my bedroom there is still a lot of Tennessee stuff on my wall. I’ve watched Tennessee football ever since I was a little kid. I’m a Vol for life and that’s how I want to end it.” — player threads: ’18 TN OL Ollie Lane | ’18 TN OL/DL Cade Mays
• I wrote in yesterday’s FreakNotes that top Tennessee target Jerome Carvin from Memphis would be announcing his college choice next week on August 16th. Well, he changed his mind and has decided to ‘take all 5 of my official visits and decide from there.’ | player thread: ’18 TN OL Jerome Carvin
• Add one more former Vol to current NFL rosters. The New Orleans Saints are reportedly signing defensive back Malik Foreman.
• Even Butch Jones got into the action of applauding the videos of former Vols having success in the NFL preseason. He tweeted ‘DB! #VFL’ in response to a video of Derek Barnett’s first sack, and ‘Run CMG! #VFL’ in response to Alvin Kamara’s big run.
• Former Tennessee wide receiver Josh Malone caught his first touchdown pass for the Bengals last night. #VFL excelling everywhere!
• If you went to bed early last night and missed all they hype over Josh Dobbs’ first start for Pittsburgh, click here to catch up and see the highlights. He struggled early on, but Josh gathered himself and had a respectable showing overall. — Lots of folks on the board were following along during the game last night. The discussion thread “Josh Dobbs gets his 1st start in NFL tonight” has almost 400 posts and nearly 20,000 views at the time of this writing. It’s great to see fans supporting Josh. #VFL
• Be sure to check out yesterday’s FreakNotes and Links: Aug 11, if you missed it. There were several recruiting updates included, a couple note from practice, and a lot more.