Tennessee  got  another commitment Friday, Nigel Mitchell-Thornton from Stone Mountain Georgia.  Thornton is a 6'-2" 225lb. Middle linebacker, Thornton rated a 3* player by Scout.Com. is from Stepheson High School.

Burke Hayes of scout.com reports that Thornton is rated as one of the top Linebackers in the state of Georgia. He has very good size, is aggressive and plays hard.  He has put on some weight, but still has range, so he should stay at line backer.  Runs well and is not a match - up liability Very poised and plays through adversity.

Thornton had 106 tackles, 6 sacks, and 12 tackles for loss last season. Thornton picked Tennessee over Michigan, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Miss St., Marshall, North Carolina State, and Oklahoma State.  Welcome to Tennessee Nigel.  More News To Come,  Go Vols !! Old Smokey

Austin High School player D.T. Shackelford from Decatur Alabama committed to Coach Phil Fulmer today.  Shackelford picked ORANGE over Crimson.  Shackelford is a 6'-2" 235 lb. Linebacker and as a junior he led his team with 102 tackles, He also had 7.5 sacks,  and with a nose for the football He had five fumble recoveries. Shackelford is a hard hitter and is rated a 3 * player by Scout..com.  Alabamas loss will be Tennessee's gain.

Shackelford picked Tennessee over Auburn, Mississippi, Miss St.,South Carolina,Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Alabama.  Welcome to Big Orange Country. Go Vols !! More News To Come,   Old Smokey

Tennessee picked up a verbal commitment from San Francisco city Junior College Edwin Herbert.  Tennessee needs Defensive Tackles and it looks like they got a good one . I hope we have more to come. Go Vols !!!!  More News To Come, Old Smokey   P.S. this is all the news I can pick up  on Mr. Herbert right now but I will be turning over more rocks to find out all I can. Herbert commited on Saturday along with wide receiver Sach Rogers. I will also try to find more info on Rogers also. So yall stay tuned in. Later, Old Smokey

Zach Rogers  the younger brother of Tennessee wide receiver Austin Rogers will join his brother as a Volunteer.  This is great news,  Zach  told Coach Fulmer he will play in the next level at  Tennessee.  Welcome aboard Zach..  I feel that Zach will be a great addition to the Vols  Football team, Zach has great speed and great hands to catch the football with.  With Sachs older brother Austin being at UT , should make it better to adjust to college life and help him threw the ropes of the Football team..   Go Vols !!!  More News To Come,  Old Smokey

The Tennessee football picked up two Football recruits Wednesday with Defensive back D.J. Hunter and Defensive Tackle Antonio Foster.

D.J Hunter  D.B. 6' 190 lbs runs a 4.32 40 yd. dash and rated a 4* player from Middleton Ohio chose to be a Vol Wednesday. Hunter picked Tennessee over Indiana,Kentucky,Maryland,Michigan, Michigan State,Ohio State and Wake Forest .
Antonio Foster 6'-4" 290 lbs Defensive Tackle who runs a 5.0 40 yd dash from Valdosta Georgia chose to be a Vol also on Wednesday.  Foster chose Tennessee over South Florida,Miami, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Indiana, Michigan State and Oak.State.
It's looking better every day,  More News to Come,  Old Smokey   GO VOLS !!!!!

 4*  player Josh Selby 6'-2" 180 lb Shooting Guard from Baltimore Md. who attended this past weekend University Elite Camp  was offered a Scholarship from Coach Bruce Pearl. Selby who attends DeMatha High School will be in the class of 2010, Selby who can play different positions on the team is very strong and can score. Hoops.com reports Selby should be one of the top players in the Nation in his class.

More News To Come  Old Smokey

Coach Clawson Hit Paydirt  yesterday when Four Star Quaterback  Josh Nunes said he would be a Volunteer.  Nunes 6'-4" 205 lbs. with 4.85 a 40 yd time, is from Upland California, Upland High School.

Scout.Com says: Nunes has all the right measurables, good size 6'-4", tremendous arm strength, pocket presence, toughness and leadership, needs to continue to refine his release and work on making it more fluid.

Biography:  Nunes is coming off a strong junior year in 2007 in which he threw for 2,105 yards, 14 touchdowns, and only five interceptions on 124-of 216 passing. a (57.4 precent).  He earned co-mvp honers of the Baseline League. He earned all-state underclass sophomore team honers after starting QB for Upland H.S in 2006, threw 1,388 yards and 13 touchdowns and rushed for 7 touchdowns.

Nunes has a 4.5 GPA and a 1900 SAT score.

Josh picked Tennessee over Arizona State, BYU, Florida, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Stanford.    Welcome to Tennessee Josh,   GO VOLS !!!!!

Coach Bruce Pearl keeps on bringing top players into the fold.  Today Emmanuel Negedu  a 6'-6" power forward from Brewster N.H. picked Tennessee to play for. Negedu  is the 13th ranked power forward  in the Nation, rated by Rivals.com.  Negedu picked Tennessee over Indiana,Georgia Tech, and Memphis.

" I've decided to go to the University of Tennessee", "I really like Bruce Pearl and all the players get along so well".  "It was hard to pick a school " ,  said Negedu, "But I liked Knoxville, the people are very nice,  Tennessee is a great School academically and Basketball- wise".,  Negedu averaged 18 points, 12 rebounds and nearly four blocks per game.  Negedu stressed he wanted to go to a program where he can win a Championship.

Well  Welcome to Tennessee Emmanuel,  way to go Coach Pearl.

More News to Come,,   Old Smokey,   GO VOLS !!!!!!!

Well I go on vacation for a week and look what happens. Why not Tennessee?  Well why not,  Five recruits say yes to Tennessee.  

  Aubrey Phillips  6'-6"  lineman from Olive Branch Miss.  Chose Tennessee over Florida St., Duke, Penn St., Arkansas, and  Alabama

     Nyshier  Oliver  5'-11" athlete from St. Peters Prep. In New Jersey City  N.J. . Oliver

chose Tennessee over Mich., Ohio St. ,Boston College,Georgia, Alabama, Virginia,and North Carolina.

JeQuari  Schofield, 6'-6" 298 lb. OT  from South Aiken H.S. Aiken S.C.   Schofield cose Tennessee over Gardner Webb, Charleston Southern.

Jarvis Giles  6'-1" 180 Lb. Tailback, runs a 4.5 40 yard dash. Giles is from Gaither H.S. in Tampa Fla. He is one of states top prospects, He rushed for 1,378 yds. and 19 TDS as a junior.  Giles chose Tennessee over Florida, Florida State,Miami, South Flordia.

Kevin Revis 6'-4"  OG,   from Rhea County H.S. in Evinsville,Tn.   Revis chose Tennessee over Clemson,Duke,Kentucky, Purdue,South Carolina,and Vanderbilt.

      Looks like there are some Recruits out there who do Like Tennessee. 

   More news to come,  Old Smokey     Go Vols !!!!!!!

 

[Note by Joel, 06/11/08 4:34 PM EDT ] This is an older FanPost, but it's attracted some extra attention today, so I'm bumping it front, center, and top. GetOffMyVols' line about it being a mistake to " confuse passion and pride with priority" is a terrific articulation of something that's been on the periphery of my mind for awhile.

-- Joel

Why not Tennessee ?  I was just siting here on the porch thinking if I was a football recruit  why would I want to go to Tennessee? What  do they have to offer ? Well going back in time say forty years when I was a young pup, I played football, and Tennessee was the place I would have liked to gone ,  but now days things have changed.

   I see these young players pick other schools that don't have more or better to offer than Tennessee,  and I wonder  why they pick other schools.  Tennessee has one of the largest stadiums,Neyland Stadium to play in.  Why  would a player not want to play in front of 107,000  people every home game ?  I think that would be great,  and Tennessee fans are one of the best group of fans in the  south. The campus is one of the most  beautiful in the SEC. Located just 30 mins from the great Smokey Mountians. Also the chance of going to next level  the NFL  are a lot better than a lot of other schools, just look at the number of Tennessee players in the NFL. So why would a recruit not want to go to Tennessee, I don't know. I know I would, go figure.   GO VOLS !!!!

Looks like freshman to be  QB  Casey  Kelly will most likely be picked in the 1st round of the Major League Baseball draft Thursday.  If that turns out to be the case, then Casey will most likely not step foot on Tennessee campus. Well folks I love Tennessee as much as anybody  but a Major league contract to play Baseball worth million of $$$$$ and not having to worry about  getting your brains knocked out would look pretty good to me.   So  good bye Mr. Kelly and good luck in the Majors.  Tell me which one would you choose?   Would it be Football or Baseball ?  Go Vols !!!! More News To Come, Old Smokey

One of the nations top Basket ball players plans a visit to Tennessee. Emmanuel Negedu  a 6' 6" Power Forward from Brewster N.H. Academy. "Tennessee plays the same game, I play," Negedu  said. He will visit U.T. June 10.  Negedu says He likes to play a up tempo game. He will get plenty of up tempo play at Tennessee, Negedu will also visit Memphis, Indiana. Pearl better put a UT brand on this guy before any one else. To read full story check out GoVolsextra.com. More News to Come, Old Smokey GO VOLS!!!!!

Ya know that little picture to the left of your fan post title. Well I don't like it. I want to change it but I don't know how. Some of you brains out there help an Old Dawg out. Iam still trying to figure every thing out, I hope this new puppy is working for everyone else pretty good.  I like if pretty good, but I still don't have all the rough edges worked out yet as you can tell.

Well  I'm checking out the new set up and so far looks pretty good.  I have decided to go along with the change and change my user name from OLD SMOKEY to  VOLMAN. I know this will be hard for me to adjust to  but time will help me to get used to it. I will still be bringing the news from SMOKEYS DAWG HOUSE  as soon as I can.  Well more News to Come.  GO VOLS  !!!!!!!! VOLMAN