FREE THOUGHT FRIDAY:
UNDERRATED VOLS: Tony’s conversation on Tuesday’s show regarding underrated professional athletes got me thinking about who I feel are the most underappreciated Vol footballers of my lifetime. I find it very difficult to apply this to the defensive side of the ball because it seems individual prowess is more easily quantified on offense so I will limit my candidates to those that played on that side of the ball:
QB:
CASEY CLAUSEN: Trails only Peyton Manning in Career Yardage with 9577, won TWICE in Gainesville and in 2001 led the Vols to victories over Florida, Notre Dame, Alabama and Michigan all away from the friendly confines of Neyland Stadium. Failure to lead the Vols to an SEC Title is apparently an unforgiveable transgression.
Honorable Mention; ANDY KELLY: 5TH in Career Total Yards (6427) and was 22-5-2 as a starter jump-starting the most successful decade of Tennessee Football in my lifetime.
RB:
JOHNNIE JONES: The first 1000-yard rusher in Tennessee history (1163 in 1983) and is 4th all-time with 2852 career rushing yards
Honorable Mention; TRAVIS STEPHENS: Had the misfortune of playing behind two of the Vols all-time greats in Jamal Lewis and Travis Henry but given the opportunity was pretty special himself. His 1464 rushing yards in 2001 is the best single-season rushing effort in Tennessee history.
WR:
CEDRIC WILSON: Never mentioned among the great Vol receivers of all-time Wilson is third in career receptions with 159. His 24 career TD catches trails all-time leader Joey Kent by only one.
Honorable Mention: THOMAS WOODS: “TD” led the Vols in receiving in 1987, 88 and 89.
OL:
KEVIN MAYS: Let’s face it all offensive linemen are underappreciated so we’ll let Kevin be the representative for everyone. I will never forget seeing him pancake a Vanderbilt Commodore in the 1994 contest at Dudley Field. The significance of that? He did it near the goal line at the end of a 64 yard run.
AND THE MOST UNDERRATED VOL OF ALL-TIME IS:
STANLEY MORGAN: All Stanley-Steamer did in his career is rush for 1952 yards, receive for 1075, return kickoffs for 883 and punts for 732. He recorded the first 200 yard rushing game in Tennessee history (1975 at Hawaii) and wasn’t really a RB. He also scored 39 career TDs which is the second most in Tennessee history trailing only Gene McEver who played his last game as a Vol in 1931.
BEST COACHING HIRES IN MY LIFETIME: On Thursday’s show Tony listed the top coaching hires in Tennessee and SEC history. Since this is May I will unashamedly steal that idea for my own blog. Tony deservedly included Ralph and Karen Weekly on his list but I will limit mine to football and men’s basketball:
3-DOUG DICKEY: The proud Tennessee Football Program had completely lost its way with 1960 being the only season with less than four losses in the six that preceded Dickey’s arrival. They were also begrudgingly hanging on to long-since outmoded single-wing tendencies that were not only boring but had just cost the Vols an opportunity to sign soon-to-be Heisman Trophy Winning QB Steve Spurrier, Dickey -a little known Arkansas assistant- changed the attack, the culture and restored the Vols to their rightful place among conference elite winning 8 or more games (in 11 game slates) five of his six seasons and two SEC Championships.
2-BRUCE PEARL: Tennessee basketball had been wandering in the wilderness basically since 1984 when Dale Ellis left campus and Don DeVoe decided recruiting was a pain he would rather not be burdened with. Wade Houston was lost; Kevin O’Neill was nuts; Jerry Green was disinterested, Buzz Peterson was a great college roommate and a lousy basketball coach which added up to 20 years of futility and/or frustration. Pearl proceeded to treat long-suffering Vol hoops fans to an unprecedented six-year NCAA Tournament run and the only Elite-8 appearance in program history. He not only resuscitated a corpse he turned it into something truly special.
1-RAY MEARS: Tennessee’s administration cared so little about basketball in the early 60s -a long-standing tradition that may still be prevalent today- that they hired a guy from somewhere called Wittenberg College hoping it would satisfy the tens of basketball fans clamoring for a change. Little did they know that over the next 15 seasons he would turn Tennessee Basketball into every bit a can’t-miss event as a football game. He pushed previously unchallenged Kentucky for league supremacy and went 278-112 overall and 182-76 in the SEC over his 15 seasons at the helm.
CREATOR’S CAVEAT: Tony said on the show that you COULD NOT leave Phillip Fulmer off a list of the Top-3 hires in school history and if you did it would be purely vindictive. While conceding a deep-seated resentment for the entitled attitude and sleep-walking ways of his late tenure it has nothing to do with his omission. I think Fulmer was an excellent hire but can’t separate he and Johnny Majors. I do not believe that Fulmer could have rebuilt the program from scratch as Majors did and don’t think Majors would have recruited lineman at the level nor had the necessary staff stability to have taken the program where Fulmer did throughout the 90s. Besides both of those were much more obvious selections than the ones I listed above. Hell the last two Dolly Partons we’ve employed as Athletic Directors could have found those two guys.
BEST SEC COACHING HIRES IN MY MEMORY (64-Present): These are off the top of my head with little thought, zero research and less explanatory verbiage
ALABAMA: C.M Newton, Nick Saban
AUBURN: Pat Dye, Sonny Smith
ARKANSAS: Not a real SEC Team
FLORIDA: Steve Spurrier, Billy Donovan
GEORGIA: Hugh Durham, Mark Richt
KENTUCKY: Rick Pitino, John Calipari
LSU: Dale Brown, Nick Saban
MISSISSIPPI: Tommy Tubberville, Hugh Freeze
MISSISSIPPI STATE: Jackie Sherrill, Dan Mullen
MISSOURI: Damn-sure not a real SEC Team
SOUTH CAROLINA: (Not a real SEC Team but out of respect for my good friend Dave Bishop I’ll say) Joe Morrison and Steve Spurrier
TEXAS A&M: See Missouri
VANDY: Eddie Fogler, James Franklin
MLB MENTIONS:
-It may be surprising that Max Scherzer struck out twenty batters in a nine inning game. What isn’t surprising is who he did it against in fantasy baseball. If your counting at home that’s 1 pt/inning + 1 pt/strikeout + 5 for Quality Start + 5 for Completes Game + 10 for win – 1 pt/ER =
47 flippin fantasy points for my week’s opponent.
-Then Noah Syndergaard hits not one but TWO HRs against the Dodgers on Wednesday night. You guessed it, I had the pitcher that surrendered them; Kenta Maeda.
-It may not be considered the wisest act in today’s protect your high-dollar investment world of Major League Baseball but give me the Todd Frazier’s diving into the stands to get an out any day and every day.
FINAL FRIDAY THOUGHT: Not sure why since neither the Vols or Yankees are very good but I have really enjoyed baseball season thus far.