I admire Jacob Gilliam. Playing for the Vols matters to him. He's really going to play this weekend. It seems crazy to me but I didn't pour myself into playing for four long years only to be denied early in a promising senior season. Jacob Gilliam gets two thumbs up here.
Yesterday on the show, Danny Parker joined from insidetennessee.com and Dr Sean Sinclair brought up Vincent Perry out of Hillsboro during the segment. Danny loves this young man as he has blown up. Perry joins a burgeoning in state class.
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Here's some video on Perry.
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Tennessee looks to be the leader for Georgia athlete/corner Micah Abernathy who reportedly is announcing tomorrow. The likes of Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and all the major schools want this kid. Here's some video on Abernathy.
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Here's a link to Danny Parker's appearance yesterday. Forward to 37:24. Remember, every Tony Basilio Show is loaded in the archives.
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On Vol Calls last night on the Vol Network, Butch Jones said the following. 'We have started 6 true freshmen on offense. The other combined 13 teams in the SEC have started 7 total.'
Meanwhile Ja'Wuan James is urging Volnation to be patient.
'Yall have faith in the OLP @ TN I know it’s tough those guys are grinding We gave up 46 sacks our freshman year & look how we turned out #VFL' (Courtesy @JawuanJames70 Twitter)
What are UT's coaches saying heading into the weekend. Great compilation from insidetennessee.com
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Orange Throat called me last night and is preparing a wonderful piece for tomorrow's blog targeted at what at stake for Tennessee this weekend. This is some thought provoking stuff that I will surely be discussing with you on Friday's show.
Stephen Hargis of the Chattanooga Times Free Press joined me yesterday to give me low down on the Mocs of Chattanooga. The more I think about it, this is a perfect opponent for the Vols this weekend. They are no threat to Tennessee in terms of actually beating the Vols but they are good enough to test Tennessee's developing offensive line.
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Here's a Capsule of the Mocs based the conversation with Hargis. Since no film actually exists on UTC, we will let this suffice as our film study this week.
Russ Huesman, UTC Head Football Coach, played there in 80's.
Huesman has brought UTC football back from near extinction.
There were talks back in the mid 90's about dropping the sport there.
UTC was Co Southern Conference Champion in 2013
Chattanooga just missed out on a playoff berth in 2013 and came into 2014 as a
favorite in the conference and a playoff berth contender.
David Blackburn, former mainstay in UTK AD, is AD there. Blackburn joins me today on the show.
Up 16-0 on Western Michigan in 2nd half before losing 20-16 in the season opener.
The following week they lost to Jacksonville State 26-23 in OT.
Offense: UTC runs a Spread. It's a running offense first before one that will throw the ball.
RB Keon Williams will miss this game. He is easily UTC's best back. This is a huge loss. He's a bull. Huge loss for them.
Watch for QB runs/draws as again they run more than pass out of spread.
Mocs are without their best offensive lineman junior Synjen Herren 6-4, 313 lost for yr. Losing him a gut shot. He's an all conference guard.
They run a ton of shotgun stuff and feature several freshmen on the offensive line.
The loss of Williams and Herron for this game will be huge.
Up front
Wr's young
Lots of shotgun
Fr freshmen on line
UTC Defense features a pretty good pair of ends. They will test Tennessee's OT's.
#91 DE Derrick Lott 6-4, 303 the senior is a transfer from Georgia. He's a former 4 star recruit. 13 NFL scouts looked at him. Lott is looking forward to testing himself. Chance for him to put something good on film.
#90 DE Davis Tull,6-3, 240 Sr. from Bearden High School here in Knoxville.
Tull is an interesting story in that he had college recruiters all over him as a senior in high school and many even hung up on him when he told them he was injured while most backed away.
Tull is a high motor type, has been called poor man's Will Overstreet.
Tull's Dad has had 40 to 50 tix requests.
Butch Jones said the following about Tull last night on VolCalls. 'Tull is relentless. He plays with great effort. We have to know where he is on every play.'
Outlook:
Early on UTC will hold up versus Vols offense.
UTC Back 7 on defense is small.
Secondary is inexperienced.
UTC can make plays defensively.
Successful showing. Come out healthy. Make some plays. Don't get anybody hurt. Collect a check for the school. Take it to the house.
The UT Department of Audiology & Speech Pathology is offering free hearing screenings to the UT & Knoxville community on Thursday, October 9th.
So, why did I have a F-Word free Wednesday yesterday. Try these #'s on for size from Wise Old Sage.
'OK, put on your cup, here it comes: 36-0 !! This is the combined win streak that 7 teams in the SEC that matter have against UT.
Here is the breakout:
Fla 10
Ala 7
Aub 6
LSU 4
UGA 5
MO 2
Van 2
36
As you know, the numbers for Aub and LSU are not sequential years as we don't play every year. The Aub streak started in '03 and goes through '13 (last year's complete embarrassment). LSU started in '06 and goes through '11.
I am 65 yrs old and never thought I would live long enough to see us in such a state.
SAGE'
Sage:
Those #'s are sobering and shine a light on a couple of things. This is why many UT fans flew off the handle after the Florida game. Everyone just wants to get out of this orange hell. Considering October, this # could go to 38 after UT gets done with Bama and Mizzou. The Tigers could be alive and kicking in the East with a win this weekend at home versus Georgia.
When you look at those #'s it makes me marvel that much more at the loyalty of UT fans. Do you think Florida would've had a 102,000 plus at that game if they had those #'s in recent years. Those people are complete frontrunners as are most fans. Can you imagine having a sellout crowd for an unranked team in your building that owns a 9 game winning streak over you when you are 2-2? Who else in the country is capable of producing that kind of crowd in this sort of dark era? I'm waiting. Get back to me on that one please if you will.
While the other shows in town rip you the living fan, I celebrate you and say we will all get there together. I don't get the hostility toward our fans from talk show hosts. Sure, people were pissed after Florida. And of course some took it too far. But Tennessee fans did their part on Saturday and they've completely done their part during this streak. This fan base has been one big orange mushroom. They've been kept in the dark, fed mostly crap and have continued to grow.
I tip my cap to this fan base! You get my vote every day!
Michigan isn't even selling out the Penn State game.
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While Michigan flounders, Michigan State is thinking college football playoff.
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Steve Spurrier to his fan base. 'You deserve to bitch.'
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Auburn/Miss State this weekend. Auburn is bringing their own cowbells. This is going to be an interesting game.
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TERRIFIC college football weekend on the heels of Separation Saturday.
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Vandy is in the right here.
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Paul Johnson slaps down David Cutcliffe in a big time way. This is getting ugly. Who's right? Who cares? Keep fighting guys. It's amusing.
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NFL owners spent 5 hours discussing domestic violence yesterday that. How silly is that? Don't we all know it's wrong to beat on women? Political correctness is so stupid because it's symbolism over substance. What does yesterday's symposium change? If these guys can cover this stuff up, keep it out of the public eye and keep the best players on the field, they will.
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Nick Saban doesn't like any kind of criticism. Even if it comes from his former National Title winning QB.
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Kevin Kiley pounded Johnny Manziel over this on 92.3 in Cleveland. You shouldn't laugh when your team is getting blowed (sic) out.
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Adrian Peterson had a day in court yesterday.
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Enjoy your Thursday...
Tony
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