Monday Musings: A big week for the Big Orange

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTT’SSSSSSSSSSSSSS MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you know what that means. Let’s put on those orange and white checkered bibs, grab a fork, and dig into a bowl of Tennessee Vols-related thought nuggets pulled right out of my noggin.

1) It’s a big Wednesday for the Tennessee Vols, along with every other program in the country. Early signing for recruiting begins on Wednesday, and it’s basically become the new primary national signing day. I’m not sure the Vols make a big signing day impact and steal any headline-making names, as most big names appear to have their minds made up, but holding firm with what they have is of the utmost importance. Simply keeping this class fully intact should be what folks hope for on Wednesday. No home runs. Just a solid base hit. That’s at least what I’m hoping for.

2) And why should Vol fans be confident in Heupel being able to have a good class by the end of Wednesday? Well, according to the Tennesseean, high school coaches have raved about Josh Heupel’s attention to detail on the recruiting trail over smaller programs. That’s pretty understandable given the superior resources that Tennessee has over most competing programs for in-state prospects, but it’s still nice to hear that Heupel is doing the little things to make in-state high school coaches happy.

3) I saw that Lane Kiffin had some fun at Tennessee’s expense over the weekend. The former Tennessee head coach was able to secure the services of transfer portal entrants Tyler Baron and Tamarion McDonald. And he thumbed out a tweet in order to tell the world about it, in true Lane Kiffin style.

I’m honestly not all that bothered by it. It hurts losing experienced players off the defense, but they’re not going somewhere that’s going to see them face off with Tennessee. And Ole Miss is largely an inoffensive program to me. Good luck, fellas.

4) But, in some good news, the Vols are getting some portal help. They reportedly picked up commitments from MTSU DL Jamal Wallace and MTSU safety Jakobe Thomas, the latter who had recently committed to Oregon State. The Vols are also trending to land Oregon State CB Jermod McCoy.

If there’s an area of need right now for experienced players, with Kamal Hadden headed to the NFL and Tamarion McDonald and Doneiko Slaughter transferring out, among others, it’s in the secondary. I’m way more concerned on the defensive side of the ball, so help there is very much welcomed.

Go Vols!