The Tennessee Vols’ ranking in the 2020 AP Poll leads our Aug. 25 Volunteers news.
It has been an eventful week for the Tennessee Vols, but fall camp is clearly underway, and the excitement behind this unique football season is beginning to grow. Another preseason storyline that came out on Monday is adding to that excitement significantly as well.
Our morning update on Rocky Top leads with the preseason AP Top 25 rankings. Yes, UT is actually making headlines in that poll, something that wasn’t completely shocking but also wasn’t completely expected. We’ll discuss why with the story itself. Another football story involves a player entering a transfer portal.
We also have preseason news surrounding the men’s basketball program, which shows that the season in general appears to be finally ready to kick into gear. Finally, we’ll close with an award for a Lady Vol in the professional ranks. So there’s plenty to cover for today. Let’s start with the news surrounding the rankings.
UT football No. 25 in preseason AP Poll – APNews.com
For the first time since 2017, the Tennessee Vols football team is ranked in the preseason AP Poll after being just one spot out of the top 25 in the Coaches Poll. If the rankings were adjusted to not include teams whose fall sports have been postponed, Rocky Top would jump from No. 25 to No. 16. They also play five other teams in the top 25, six in the adjusted top 25, for 2020.
"The Associated Press began its college football poll on Oct. 19, 1936, and it is now the longest-running poll of those that award national titles at the end of the season. The preseason poll was started in 1950. A panel of 62 sports writers and broadcasters from around the country votes on the poll weekly."
Rick Barnes meets with media – UTSports
With the Tennessee Vols men’s basketball team all back on campus, head coach Rick Barnes met with the media Monday to discuss the state of the program. Barnes talked about the program’s development, his personnel, his suggestions for dealing with a potential bubble and other topics related to COVID-19. Here’s a bit of what he said about the state of the season.
"“To be quite honest, and this is my opinion, we’ve got to get football going first. Obviously as a conference we’ve been talking about certain things—not anything drastic to be quite honest with you. I think it’s so important these next couple of weeks that we see how it goes with students being back on campus. We’ve got to get football up and going. That’s the first and foremost thing. We’ll come up with plans. There’s no doubt.”"
Jarious Abercrombie enters transfer portal – Austin Nivison, GoVols247
Redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Jarious Abercrombie has reportedly entered his name in the transfer portal. Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports initially tweeted out the news, and sources later confirmed it to 247Sports that night. Standing at 6’4″ 300 pounds, Abercrombie hasn’t yet seen playing time for Tennessee football.
"Abercrombie, a native of Birmingham, Ala., walked on at Tennessee prior to the 2018 season. He redshirted that year and was awarded a scholarship in the summer of 2019. Abercrombie was entering his redshirt sophomore year with the Volunteers in 2020."
Candace Parker recognized by WNBA – WNBA.com
After leading the Los Angeles Sparks to three wins in three games, former Tennessee Lady Vols superstar Candace Parker was named the WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week. She has her team on a seven-game winning streak with a 10-3 record.
"Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks (3-0 record during the week) averaged 18.3 ppg, 11.7 rpg and 5.0 apg (Western Conference Player of the Week)."