Today On Rocky Top: Vols Gain Weight On Defense, Slim Down On Offense

Nov 10, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers fullback Austin Bolen (45) celebrates with tight end Mychal Rivera (81) after scoring a touch down against the Missouri Tigers during the first half at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

From Go Vols Xtra

"When Tennessee released its summer roster earlier this week, freshman defensive lineman Jason Carr weighed 260 pounds.When UT updated player weights a day later, he had ballooned to 285.Unless he feasted on one monster buffet, Carr presumably didn’t gain 25 pounds in one afternoon. But he was among several players who either gained or lost a notable number of pounds since last year.The freshmen, many of whom are working under a rigorous college-level strength program for the first time, showed the biggest gains."

From Fox Sports Tennessee

"Butch Jones’ spiel on the Big Orange Caravan trail this summer sounded familiar. The new Tennessee head coach just used a fresh metaphor to deliver the message.“Every house begins with a solid foundation,” Jones said in speech after speech. “We are laying that foundation brick by brick.”The line became such a standard part of Jones’ stump speech that fans brought orange bricks to events for the coach to autograph."

From Nooga.com

"It’s usually not wise to put too much stock in a contest where one team clearly has the superior talent, but early-season matchups told a lot about the 2012 Vols. Even though they had relatively comfortable wins over Akron and Georgia State last year, it was apparent that the Vols had plenty of firepower on offense and some major holes in the defense. Both of those storylines continued to play out over the course of the season. This game might not tell much about how good UT is or isn’t, but it should give some clues as to what kind of team UT will be."

From Go Vols Xtra

"Tennessee’s timing isn’t the best. Ticket-sale revenue is headed south at a time when travel expenses in an expanded SEC are headed north.At least that’s what I took from the athletic budget explanation at Wednesday’s UT board of trustees meeting.The five-year change in ticket revenue from 2010 to a projected 2014 is a negative 18.1 percent. That’s a lot of empty seats, primarily at Neyland Stadium.In that same five years, travel expenses are up by 20 percent. One of the reasons listed by Bill Myers, the athletic department chief financial officer, is travel to Missouri and Texas A&M, the far-flung new outposts in the SEC.Myers said UT travel to A&M and Mizzou added between $750,000 and $1 million to the travel budget this past year."

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