Tennessee Vols morning report: UT helping Florence evacuees
The Tennessee Vols helping Hurricane Florence evacuees and updates after Wednesday’s practice lead our Volunteers news for Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018.
We’re still in the midst of the dullest period of the Tennessee Vols schedule, and Hurricane Florence is now threatening neighboring states. Simply put, as far as college football goes, this is probably the least exciting weekend in Knoxville and probably even across the country.
As we get set to bring you today’s updates on Rocky Top, news about Florence evacuees actually leads our report. We also have a couple of stories from Wednesday about the football team itself, including a practice report and an injury report.
The women’s basketball team also got its way into our news reports for this morning, so there’s lots to cover. Let’s start, though, with the university as a whole going out of its way to assist evacuees from the hurricane.
Florence evacuees offered free tickets – Blake Toppmeyer, Knoxville News Sentinel
The Tennessee Vols are offering free tickets to evacuees from Hurricane Florence for their football team’s home game against the UTEP Miners in Neyland Stadium at noon Saturday. Residents of North and South Carolina can claim tickets beginning at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on a first-come first-serve basis at a tent inside Toyota Volunteer Village near the DJ, which is inside the Humanities Plaza. Athletic director Phillip Fulmer made the announcement Wednesday. Here’s a bit of what he said.
"“One of our four pillars is warmth, and we feel this is an appropriate way to bring that to life. Certainly, a football game is relatively insignificant in comparison to the realities these evacuees are facing. But if we can provide just a few hours of distraction and normalcy for these families, I believe we should do all we can to make that possible for them.”"
Jeremy Pruitt after Wednesday practice – Patrick Brown, GoVols247
The Tennessee Vols held another practice Wednesday in preparation for UTEP, and Jeremy Pruitt spoke to the media while addressing numerous things. He noted that he was unhappy with player leadership but said that Nigel Warrior is getting better and that he’s happy with Memphis-area freshmen Jerome Carvin and Jeremy Banks. Here’s a bit of what else he said.
"“It’s interesting, we’ve got some guys on our team that I think are really good leaders, OK? But to be a leader you have to be able to confront your peers, and right now when you’re out at our practices, the only body that does the confronting is the coaching staff.”"
Chance Hall getting close to playing full game – Dan Harralson, VolsWire
Tennessee Vols offensive lineman Chance Hall missed all of 2017 and most of 2016 due to injury. To start this year, he clearly wasn’t ready to go at full speed. Jeremy Pruitt said Wednesday that the coaches have to be careful with him because of those injuries. Here’s a quote from him on Hall.
"“For a guy who hasn’t played ball in a couple of years, Chance is extremely smart. He can play multiple positions because he knows what to do and how to do it. He can’t go out and practice every snap every day. He is still working his way back and building up his stamina.”"
Times, TV info for Lady Vols schedule released – UTSports
The tipoff times and the television information for the 2018-2019 Tennessee Lady Vols schedule have been released. Holly Warlick’s team will play eight games on one of the ESPN channels, including non-conference games against the Texas Longhorns and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and six games on the SEC Network. Any games not regularly televised will still be available on SEC Network Plus.
"In SEC play, 12 of 16 UT contests will be carried on linear TV. Home games included in that mix are Missouri (ESPN2), Kentucky (SEC Network), Arkansas (SEC Network), LSU (SEC Network), South Carolina (ESPN2) and Vanderbilt (SEC Network). Linear road broadcasts include Georgia (ESPN), Alabama (SEC Network), Vanderbilt (ESPN2), Mississippi State (ESPN), Missouri (ESPN2) and Texas A&M (SEC Network)."