43 days
As we inch closer to August 31st, we are starting to hit milestones that feed the big orange monster. This afternoon, Derek Dooley will take the stand at the SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama. What surely looked like a firing line of hot seat questions, has, overnight, potentially turned into a recruit war with Florida. Dooley will surely get asked multiple times about the academic status and eligibility of Phillips; questions he most certainly was not anticipating being asked.
Dante Phillips, the former 4* DT Florida commit who was denied entry by UF admissions, committed to and was accepted into the University of Tennessee, per an announcement last night. Phillips joins fellow incoming D-Line monsters Darrington Sentimore, Daniel McCullers, and Danny O’Brien; the difference in Phillips? He’s already got a personal vendetta against the Gators. My confidence level in Derek Dooley just went from 5% to 10%.
I still haven’t gotten over losing to Kentucky, and maybe I never will. In my mind, Dooley committed an unforgivable sin. I knew the streak would end one day, but come on, not to that Kentucky team. Not to a wide receiver playing quarterback on 3 days practice. Just unacceptable. Throw in the turnover on the staff, and I’ll gladly tell anyone who will listen that Derek Dooley is over his head and won’t last.
However, as we chug through these milestones (the next one is when the Vols report to camp on August 3rd), I can’t help but start to get excited. Basically, I’m tired of attacking our own, and I’m ready to go after some NC State, Florida, and Georgia cronies. I skipped Georgia State and Akron on purpose, because if I even have to acknowledge anything with those teams, then none of the other games are going to matter, because we’ll get to start talking about the next head coach after Dooley.
Anyway, back on topic with Media Days. Dooley is taking Tyler Bray, Herman Lathers, and Ja’Waun James with him. Sure, we all would’ve loved to see Da’Rick Rogers get the nod, but I think we can all understand why he didn’t. The real question, since we all know Dooley will field questions about the temperature of his desk chair, is if Barbara Dooley will be in the crowd.
Okay, that’s my last Dooley shot for a while. There’s plenty of negativity swirling, and even though I want to join in, I’m going to choose not to. Dooley has taken his criticisms, put them in the trash bin, and still slapped together, arguably, a better staff than what bailed off of the perceived sinking ship. He also assembled an *excellent* recruiting class. Sure, it’s not the highest ranked class (17th overall (6th in the SEC) per Rivals), but the class filled many areas of serious need. Defensive line aside, running back, wide receiver, and the defensive secondary got some serious depth. Would’ve liked to pickup at least one more running back or offensive lineman, but it was still a really good class, in spite of all the turmoil and discontent swirling around Knoxville.
So as we sit 43 days from Atlanta, and 15 days from Fall Camp, my cynicism is draining, and my excitement level is rising. It’s a new year, and I can’t do anything (aside from heavy drinking) to erase last year. It feels like this Tennessee team is primed to be explosive, offensively and defensively, it’s just a matter of making it happen. I feel like these guys are hungry; I just hope their as hungry as the rest of big orange nation is.
I wonder how long it will take before the Gator jort-holes start ripping Dante Phillips and Tennessee’s low admission standards. I can hear them now: “Anyone can get into UT. We have standards at Florida. UT’s admissions are so low so the dumbass rednecks can get in to watch football.”
Or this one: “Dante Phillips sucked anyway. He wouldn’t have played even if he did come here, we’re loaded with D-linemen.”
He’s a 4-star lineman, registered at 6’6”, 268 lbs. Monster. You don’t just throw an athlete with his skills and accolades to the curb because you didn’t need him. Hopefully Tennessee actually lets him in, and we don’t walk away from this looking worse than Florida did.
