FreakNotes: Third Saturday, Recruiting Notes, Dormady injury

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has had a fantastic week. Me? I’m a bit bummed, to be honest. This isn’t what the Third Saturday in October is supposed to be like. Tennessee isn’t supposed to be 35.5-point underdogs (the current line on the game at the time of this writing) to anyone. Ever. Go look at the current lines and see what kind of schools are five-touchdown underdogs. Hint: directional schools. I’ve lived through quite a few Bama weeks in my life, and we were probably underdogs in many most of those games, but this takes things to an entirely new level. This is no way to celebrate the 100th meeting between these two tradition-rich institutions.

Anyway, with that rant behind us, and before I depress you any further, let’s get into today’s FreakNotes. As always, your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below are always appreciated.

  • As always, be sure to enter your score predictions this week for Tennessee vs. Alabama, and submit your entry for the weekly pick contest.
  • Quinten Dormady has a shoulder injury and will need surgery, according to John Brice. “Multiple people, including in the @Vol_Football program, tell me Dormady has a shoulder injury that will require surgery. Battling a while.This is why Dormady missed practice; not bc he “quit” or “left” the team.”
  • Tennesse named its captains for Saturday’s game: Rashaan Gaulden, John Kelly, Kendall Vickers and Ethan Wolf.
  • On the recruiting front, 4-star Tennessee commitment Jaycee Horn is visiting Ole Miss this weekend, according to Russell Johnson. … Five-star Tennessee OL commit Cade Mays is visiting Clemson. … For whatever its worth at this point, the Vols made GA running back Michael Bennett‘s top four ($), along with Michigan, Michigan State, and Georgia Tech.
  • Despite rumors to the contrary, Butch Jones WILL coach the Kentucky game (meaning he won’t be fired this weekend), according to Jimmy Hyams. “I think that John Currie has not made a decision yet, so I think it’s premature. If I’m told correctly then Butch Jones coaches against Kentucky, and if he beats Kentucky, he is going to coach another week. And he may coach the rest of the year if that occurs. I don’t believe the Haslems and John Currie and whoever else is in the decision-making process has made a decision right now.”
  • Mike Farrell of Rivals.com says it’s time for Tennessee to move on from Butch Jones, regardless of what happens this weekend. “Why delay it any further? The Vols will have lost four of their last five games, will be 0-4 in the SEC and have zero chance of doing anything positive under Jones moving forward. Recruiting is already starting to suffer with a recent de-commitment of running back Lyn-J Dixon and rumors of five-star offensive line commitment Cade Mays ready to bolt as well among others. And we won’t have to hear any more ridiculous statements from Jones about five-star hearts, champions of life, leadership reps and not scoring enough touchdowns to win. This would be a mercy firing because leaving Jones to hang out as a media piñata (negative media remember?) would be an injustice to everyone.”
  • The odds of Jon Gruden becoming Tennessee’s coach have moved from 20:1 to 12:1 (they’ve improved). But what does it mean, you ask? I’ll tell you. It means there a more than a few Tennessee fans betting their hard-earned money on the #GRUMORS.
  • It seems like it’s been forever, but 12 months ago Tennessee was 5-0 and ranked in the top 10.
  • For those excited about basketball season, Vol newcomer Yves Pons seems to be living up to the hype so far. Tennessee junior forward Admiral Schofield said of Pons, “I’ve never been around an athlete like him.”
  • Also on the hoops front, Tennessee offered 2020 PG Norance Berry on Thursday.
  • Check out this catch by former Vol Cordarelle Patterson in Thursday night’s matchup between the Raiders and the Chiefs”

  • Another beloved former Vol was in the news yesterday. Ovince Saint Preux (21-10 MMA, 9-5 UFC) was named as a last minute replacement for Patrick Cummins in the upcoming UFC event on November 4th in Madison Square Garden.

Freak

3 responses to “FreakNotes: Third Saturday, Recruiting Notes, Dormady injury”

  1. I know Freak,i’ve been a Vol fan for 40 years and i hate going into a game feeling we have no chance to win.Were just at the same place we were 5 years ago.Time for a change

  2. OK so a customer called me today and she was from Alabama, she had a real problem and needed me to fix it for her, anyway I asked are you a bama fan and she said hell yes I am a bama fan for life, I said well I am a Tennessee Fan and I am going to hang up now, she goes please don’t I will do anything if you fix my problem, I say all I have to do is hit one button and your issue is resolved and she goes thank you, I told her you only have do one thing and that is Yell GO VOLS right now… she yelled as loud as she could GO VOLS…. I hit the button and hung up, anything is possible. Tennessee covers today. 🙂 Thank you Freak. true story my day at work…..

  3. I appreciate the recruiting wounds that CBJ helped heal and the classroom performance improvement, but it’s time to get a qualified coach (Mullen) to manage the game better.

    Thanks for all you do, Freak!!

    GO VOLS!!!