Vols: Up And Down Week For Butch Jones

The Vols and head coach Butch Jones have had a very up and down week.

It was just strange altogether. First of all Vol fans received the incredibly good news that the number one rated quarterback in the class of 2017, Hunter Johnson, committed to Jones offer. This young man is a five star pro-style quarterback as a rising Junior in Brownsburg, Indiana.

The news kept getting better as Johnson immediately reached out to 4 star receiver Tee Higgins of Oak Ridge just outside of Knoxville. Higgins is a 6’4″ burner and the number one rated prospect in the State of Tennessee for the 2017 class. He is also ranked as the nations 27th best overall prospect in the 2017 class. He is an incredible receiver already.

This type of news from the University of Tennessee is becoming commonplace for Vol fans. Just four years ago the coaching staff was handing out last minute scholarships to anyone that would show up at their Summer camp. Now the programs is loaded with four star and five star recruits. But we all know we need more.

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So many people reached out to me with the news about Johnson’s commitment. How would it effect next year’s prized quarterback commitment Jarrett Guarantano? I was asked for my opinion of whether or not Guarantano would reopen his recruitment to other schools since the Vols had sought out Johnson. I was asked many times. I was even told (unconfirmed of course) that Guarantano had already spoken with Florida.

Vols fans were concerned if the good news of Johnson was going to lead to bad news about Guarantano. The entire week was like this. Many of you are way too young to remember this, but it reminded me of the old Hee Haw skit that Roy Clark and Archie Campbell used to do about the “That’s good, no that’s bad”. Google that one!

So the week was off to a promising start. We received the word that the much needed Sophomore cornerback Justin Martin had returned to practice. This was so necessary after losing the soon to be starting nickel defensive back Rashaan Gaulden for the season.

Then new news came out that the impressive freshman Vincent Perry was undergoing arthroscopic surgery on a knee that was injured in yet another non-contact drill. The surgery was to repair a meniscus that was injured while simply making a cut in practice. Nothing more. His season status will be updated early next week.

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We were also told that receiver Jason Croom would undergo a scope to clean up a knee that he had already had surgery on. His surgery was scheduled for yesterday (Friday) and we will know more about his status next week. Croom is a beast at 6’5″. I have had such high hopes for this young man, but he has just had these nagging injuries that keep him off of the field.

Butch then reveals that starting safety LaDarrell McNeil is out indefinitely from a neck injury that occurred sometime early in the week. “Indefinitely” is not a good word in coach speak. I know we are not to speculate, but that usually means the season. A neck injury is incredibly dangerous. You don’t just put ice on it and run back out to tackle Derrick Henry of Alabama.

The Vols had already lost Devaun Swafford to a neck injury. This began the depletion of defensive backs. Thank goodness that Butch Jones and his Vols staff have recruited so well at this position that they had developed depth, but that depth is now challenged and the season has not even started.

I halfway expect Hawkeye, Henry Blake, Radar, and Hot Lips Hoolihan at practice on Monday. The injuries are mounting.

To cap it all Coach Jones matter of factly told everyone in his press conference that one to the team leaders, Pig Howard, would be suspended for the Bowling Green University game. It was for an unspecified incident that occurred “a while back”. This came as kind of a shock to me. After Howard was allowed to come back to the Vols team a year ago for off the field issues, he was the model citizen.

Not only did Howard come back to the team and became a better receiver, he also became a team leader. So his suspension may not mean much to the outcome of the Bowling Green game, but it does bring questions of his leadership ability.

Good news then came Thursday with the revelation that Freshman five star receiver Preston Williams was cleared by the NCAA after retaking his ACT test. Williams had made significant progress when taking his ACT the last time, and was required to re-take the exam again. It took valuable weeks to get the ACT scores back, as they were not immediately turned in by those giving the test. That is another story.

So what a week it has been as a Vol coach and a Vol fan. Up and down, Up and down. News of the two commits are great. That is exciting, but we are kind of in the here and now. We need all of these guys that are presently here to get on the field. We all know there will be injuries. That is part of the game, and that is part of a team’s success, or a part of it’s failure. It is the luck of the draw. Let’s hope the Vols luck changes….From the injury standpoint, not the recruiting of course.

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