Tennessee Vols morning report: Jeremy Banks listed as football student
Jeremy Banks leads our Tennessee Vols news for July 9, 2020.
The college football season is back in question now after news that the Ivy League has decided to cancel all fall sports amidst the coronavirus pandemic. What that means for the Tennessee Vols going forward remains up in the air.
However, there are other news stories calling things into question today. Our morning update on Rocky Top leads with a news report that actually raises more questions than it answers. We’ll track it in the coming days, but for now, we just have to look at what is officially being said.
Beyond that news report, there is another administrative change that happened for us to report on. Finally, Rick Barnes had an interesting quote in an SEC Sports story that we will get to as well. So there’s a good bit of interesting news to cover. Let’s start with the football roster.
Jeremy Banks listed as active football student – Dan Harralson, VolsWire.com
There are no reports of a reinstatement, but Jeremy Banks appears to be enrolled at UT and listed as an active student with the Tennessee Vols football program. Once a four-star running back in the 2018 recruiting class out of Cordova High School in the Memphis area, Banks played running back and linebacker for a year and a half with the program.
"Banks has played 15 games in two seasons (2018-19) for the Vols. His 2019 campaign came to an end in early October when Pruitt dismissed the sophomore linebacker from Tennessee’s football program."
Rick Barnes reveals T.J. Ford, Kevin Durant motivate him – SECSports.com
In an interview with SEC men’s basketball coaches on players that motivate them, Tennessee Vols head coach Rick Barnes brought up T.J. Ford and Kevin Durant from his days with the Texas Longhorns. Ford helped Barnes and co. reach the Final Four in the 2002-2003 season. Durant played for Barnes in 2006-2007. Here’s a bit of what Barnes said about both.
"“They were all about winning. They were all about their teammates-trying to make their teammates become the best they could be. Those guys just saw the game different in some ways, and they were both National Players of the Year. There’s a reason for that-not only were they talented, they worked hard. And the most important thing for them was how they could get the best out of their teammates.”"
Marshall Steward promoted to assistant AD – UTSports
One day after Ashley Smith was promoted to University of Tennessee Assistant Athletic Director for Player Relations and Development, Marshall Steward was promoted to Assistant Athletics Director for Academic Services & Assistant Provost. AD Phillip Fulmer and Provost John Zomchick announced the move.
"Steward had already been serving on the Tennessee Athletics Expanded Senior Staff as Executive Director of Academic Services at the Thornton Athletics Student Life Center, where he oversees the staff’s day-to-day academic support operations.In his enhanced role, Steward maintains his oversight responsibilities at the Thornton Center while also working alongside key administrators in leading diversity and inclusion initiatives within the athletics department.As part of his Assistant Provost duties, Steward has a voice on the university’s academic affairs team."