Coverage of the Rio Olympics, Tennessee football’s depth chart, and checkering Neyland Stadium lead the Vols news on Rocky Top for Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016.
It’s the first day of school on Rocky Top, and Fall practice is still going on. The hype behind the 2016 season continues to grow for Tennessee football, and we are now two weeks and a day away from the opener.
As we get set to bring you the Volunteers news for Wednesday, Aug. 17, there is still Olympics coverage to mention regarding former and current Tennessee athletes.
But obviously the bulk of the excitement is around football.
So we’ll get straight to that first and then close this segment out with the Olympic coverage since there was a lot of that on Tuesday.
Three Vols named CBS Preseason All-Americans – UTSports
"Tennessee’s Cameron Sutton, Evan Berry and Derek Barnett were named to the CBS Sports 2016 Preseason All-American Teams, which was voted on by a panel of college football experts from CBSSports.com and 247Sports.com.CBS Sports announced the teams on Tuesday."
Micah Abernathy impressing at safety with effort – Ryan Callahan of 247Sports
"The move from nickelback to safety earlier this year seems to be working out well forTennessee sophomore Micah Abernathy.Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop praised Abernathy last week for having “played the best and most consistent” among the Vols’ safeties “through the first 10 practices,” and Abernathy said Tuesday that he’s working with the first-team defense in at least some situations."
Vol fans want Florida game for Checker Neyland – USA TODAY Sports
"Tennessee fans have spoken in the “Checker Neyland” poll and they want Florida.The people behind “Checker Neyland,” the popular campaign to color the stadium in orange and white checkerboard, offered a poll on which home game fans would like to checker Neyland Stadium for."
Former Vols in Olympic women’s basketball, women’s soccer, and track & field – UTSports
"Leading by just two points, 48-46, with 1:30 to go before halftime, the 2016 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team (6-0) outscored Japan (3-3) 62-18 over the remainder of the game to earn a one-sided 110-64 quarterfinal win on Tuesday evening at Carioca Arena 1 in Rio de Janeiro.…Former Vol Rhian Wilkinson and Canada suffered their first defeat in this summer’s Olympics, falling to Germany, 2-0, in the semifinals on Tuesday afternoon. Wilkinson made her third start of this Olympics and played 60 minutes before being subbed off.…Tianna Bartoletta (formerly Tianna Madison) qualified for the finals of the long jump with a mark of 6.70m (22-0 feet). Bartoletta had the fifth highest qualifying mark in the field.…Justin Gatlin won Heat 5 in Round 1 of the 200m dash on Tuesday morning. Gatlin posted a time of 20.42 seconds to qualify for a spot in the semifinals of the 200m dash."