This Week on Rocky Top for August 4-11
Tennessee plays football in 20 days y'all...
Olympics Roundup
Christopher Bailey won Tennessee’s 11th Olympic gold medal as a member of the USA’s 4x400 meter relay team. Eight track VFLs competed for their countries in Paris.
Former Lady Vol Cierra Budrick won bronze with the US 3x3 basketball team, and Uros Plavsic did the same with the Serbian basketball team.
Seventeen Vol and Lady Vol swimmers and divers competed in Paris, including Mona McSharry becoming just the second swimmer to ever medal for Ireland at the Olympics with her silver in the 100 breaststroke.
Former Lady Vol volleyball player Kelsey Robinson won silver with the US team, her third Olympics and second medal with the national team.
In all, 32 Vols and Lady Vols competed in the 2024 Olympic Games, 6th most among NCAA schools and second most in the SEC.
Baseball
Billy Amick had two hits, including a double, in his first minor league game.
About half the links I saved this week were Christian Moore homeruns for the Double-A Trash Pandas, but he kept hitting more and I kept losing track. By my count, C-Mo has averaged a homerun every other game this calendar year.
Football
With just 20 days until Tennessee kicks off against Chattanooga, practice reports are glowing, driving the hype machine either off a cliff or to the top of the mountain, we will see. High emotion, low expectations is the company line here.
Tennessee’s schedule, which has been panned by many outlets, was named the 8th hardest by ESPN.
With NFL preseason games rolling, former Vols are getting work in the league.
His 49ers teammates are always raving about Jauan Jennings. Jennings’ once and present teammate Josh Dobbs was making plays for the Niners in Nashville against the Titans.
Velus Jones, Jr. is getting work at running back for the Bears. It’s been mixed, but he did score a TD against the Bills.
Hendon Hooker saw his first action since the knee injury that ended his Vol career, and promptly started trucking people.
And of course, Joe Milton has been raising eyebrows in New England. Here’s a very good breakdown of Milton’s first preseason action:
and the subsequent Patriots’ fan reaction:
