Vols have an easy practice day Wednesday

There’s not much news to report coming from campus. The Vols had a light 45-minute workout on Wednesday as the students had their first day of classes. The Vols did get word that starting tight end Brad Cottam will miss 2-3 months with a wrist injury.

I found Trooper Taylor’s comments interesting in regard to the Cottam injury. He expects Todd Campbell and Tyler Maples to step up and battle to fill Cottam’s spot on the travel roster. Receivers said to already be on that roster: Austin Rogers, Lucas Taylor, Quintin Hancock, Casey Woods, Josh Briscoe, Kenny O’Neal, Denarius Moore, Brent Vinson and Ahmad Paige.

The starting jobs for most all of the offense and defense have been pretty much set. However, Phil Fulmer is still not giving much of a clue as to who the starting kick returners will be. The only hint he has given is that if we go with a young guy, a veteran will be back there with him. I’m not certain of the advantage of that, but I would just prefer to hear him say the two most talented will play.

Those of you that listen to VolNation Live will recall that we had Eric from a Cal Bears blog on the show a couple of weeks ago. I got an interesting email from him yesterday asking if I would return the favor and answer a few questions about the upcoming game between Cal and Tennessee. I was happy to oblige and I’ve already received the list of questions. I’m not going to share them just yet, but I will tell you that the name DeSean Jackson is a common theme.

Speaking of bloggers, the love for Cal continues. People just refuse accept the reality that the Bears are no match for Tennessee. Speed is the term that I keep hearing over and over to describe the advantage the Vols had over California in the opener last year. This year, while Cal is trying to match our speed, we’ll be showing them a healthy dose of tough physical football.

In the Tennessee Vols Forum, it’s been a crazy day as always. I love some of the great topics of discussion that our members come up with. Today, one that caught my eye was the thread about “the bone”. Unfortunately, I’m old enough to remember Tony White and gang rapping about this lucky charm.

Elsewhere on the board, you should definitely check out the thread on fans rushing the field after Tennessee football games. We came up with 82 Bama, 85 Auburn, 85 Vandy, 89 Auburn (why can’t I remember this one?), and 98 Florida. Can you think of any others?