I’m not sure where this originated from since there wasn’t a link provided. I found it posted on a free site.
TEAM NEWS
Obviously, Saturday is a huge opportunity for Josh Heupel’s Tennessee team, but when you look at the big picture of the season with the SEC East schedule in front of the Vols, Saturday is not the end all be all.
It is, however, Tennessee’s best chance in this series in a long time. And it is an opportunity for a huge win for the program and the fans.
Tennessee’s athletic administration is trying to capitalize on this game and the success of the team. Danny White wanted to make the ticket renewal window start during the season instead of waiting until the spring and that appears to be working well thanks in large part to a football team that’s 5-0 and ranked in the top 10.
White tweeted out on Monday that they are within 5,500 of a sell out of season tickets for next year. The sell out number is 68k, which was the goal for the ’24 season in Tennessee’s five year strategic plan. We were told this week that 1000 season tickets for next year have been told since White’s tweet on Monday.
“I know that attendance is an issue nationally. What I’m learning about this fanbase and what I saw last fall coming out of a pandemic and all the challenges we have had competitively, I’m not sure some of the trends nationally apply to Vol Nation,” White said. “The way we packed the arena, the baseball stadium, and obviously Neyland Stadium, we feel very confident that we can get the season ticket base back to where we want it to be. I don’t know that we ever want to be sold out on season tickets because I want to make sure we are accessible to every family in Tennessee to be able to come watch the Vols at some point. It doesn’t make sense for everyone to have a season ticket either geographically or financially so having a single game offering important too.”
As for Josh Heupel and the Vols on Saturday, we don’t expect receiver Cedric Tillman to play. Tillman is running and doing things as a part of his rehab, but Heupel said on Wednesday he wanted Tillman to be a 100% if he played.
“If he plays I want to make sure he’s 100%,” Heupel said on the SEC Teleconference.
Tillman is not 100%. That doesn’t mean he’s had a set back. The hope was that he would be back for Alabama. That was Tillman’s goal, but as we said last week that was never a given or a guarantee.
On Thursday, Heupel would not offer any update on Tillman.
Jaylen McCollough’s status remains unclear and at this point, you would label him unlikely to play following his arrest on Sunday. McCollough’s lawyer has made it clear publicly that McCollough is innocent. McCollough was charged with felony assault after hitting a man who walked into his apartment while intoxicated on Sunday afternoon.
“Mr. McCollough is cooperating fully with both the University of Tennessee and Knoxville Police Department investigations into these allegations. He looks forward to a speedy resolution of this matter and maintains his complete innocence,” attorney Chloe Akers said in a statement.
Thursday, Heupel wouldn’t comment on whether McCollough has been practicing noting they have worked several guys to get them ready at safety.
“We are getting multiple guys ready to play,” Heupel said. “Obviously with the situation (McCollough’s arrest) there’s a process that goes on and we are still going through that. We will see where we get to late tomorrow (Friday).
That starts with Doneiko Slaughter, who will likely start in place of McCollough, if he is indeed out. Slaughter has played 57 snaps this season. He didn’t play at Pitt or against Florida. He played six snaps at safety last week.
Obviously, Slaughter doesn’t have near the experience of McCollough.
One player to keep an eye on in pregame warmups is Kamal Hadden. We have continued to hear he has had a hamstring issue this week and has been limited. Will he be able to go? More pressure on Dee Williams if he can’t.
A quick baseball note for this weekend in terms of visitors in town: Bryce Rainer and Casan Evans are both uncommitted and top 10 players in 2024 class. Then Tegan Kuhns is a top 20 player that’s committed (2024) and Blake Grimmer is a top 50 player that is committed (2023) all are expected to be in to see the Vols and the Tide with Tony Vitello.
