Tennessee Vols morning report: Former staff salaries, Athlon on UT quarterbacks
Tennessee Vols still paying ex-staff members and Athlon predicting their starting quarterback lead our Volunteers news for Wednesday, May 9, 2018.
Tennessee Vols football can’t stop dominating our morning coverage even as we enter the dog days of late spring and head into the summer. When you’ve got a new head coach and it’s sunny outside, the excitement never dies.
As we get set to bring you our morning report on Rocky Top, it centers around two football stories. One involves staff pay, and we have another on a national publication talking about Tennessee’s quarterback situation.
Don’t worry, there’s other postseason spring sports news to bring you as well. One involves awards and honors. So there’s a lot to get to today. Let’s start with staff pay.
UT paying most 2018 salaries for ex-coaches at Florida – Patrick Brown, GoVols247
The Tennessee Vols are paying most of the salaries for former coaches Larry Scott and Charlton Warren, both of whom are with the Florida Gators now. Both coaches had one year remaining on their deal with Tennessee football, and they took lowered salaries at UF, increasing the buyout money UT owes them.
"According to figures published on Tuesday by Swamp247, Scott and Warren both will make $200,000 in 2018 before their respective salaries jump to $425,000 for Scott, Florida’s tight ends coach, and $400,000 for Warren, the Gators’ cornerbacks coach, in 2019."
Athlon predicts Tennessee’s starting QB – Steven Lassan, Athlon Sports
Athlon released its prediction of which player will start at quarterback for every team this year and ranked all of them. For UT, they predicted Keller Chryst to be the starter and put him at No. 72. The Tennessee Vols play the two teams with the top two QBs, four of the teams with Top 10 QBs, six with Top 15 QBs, and seven of the teams with Top 25 QBs. Here’s what Athlon said about Chryst.
"Jarrett Guarantano (15 of 27 for 226 yards and two scores) finished the spring on a high note, but he will have to compete with Chryst for the No. 1 spot this fall. New coach Jeremy Pruitt landed Chryst as a graduate transfer from Stanford, giving the Volunteers an experienced option to navigate a brutal 2018 schedule."
Five Lady Vols earn postseason softball awards – SEC Sports
Tennessee softball had five players earn postseason SEC awards. Infielders Meghan Gregg and Aubrey Leach made First-Team All-SEC along with outfielder Scarlet McSwain. Infielder Ashley Morgan and outfielder Amanda Ayala both made Freshman All-SEC.
"Amanda Lorenz of Florida was named Player of the Year, while teammate Kelly Barnhill earned Pitcher of the Year honors. The Freshman of the Year award went to Mia Davidson of Mississippi State, and Katie Reed of Kentucky was chosen as the Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Lu Harris-Champer of Georgia was selected as Coach of the Year. The awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches."
Women’s golf tied for 10th place at Tallahassee Regional – UTSports
With two rounds down and one round to go, the Tennessee Lady Vols golf team is tied for 10th place at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, shooting 581 total for five over. Micheala Williams led the team for a second straight day, shooting a three-under at 69.
"“Micheala had a great round for us today again which was good,” head coach Judi Pavon said. “We didn’t get the scores we needed from the other girls. We made a few errors off the tee and were in the trees a little bit more than we needed to be, but Micheala hung in there and kept us in it.”"