Tennessee

Porteous Opens Jones Cup Play

By John Painter on February 3, 2012 11:23 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Tennessee's Garrick Porteous is middle of the pack after Day 1 the Jones Cup Invitational in Sea Island, Ga.

Porteous opened the prestigious amateur tournament by shooting 40 on both nines for a first round of 8-over-par 80 at Ocean Pines Golf Club. The Vols senior captain is tied for 51st place in the 90-player field. First-round scores can be found at Golfstat.com.

The Jones Cup brings together many of the finest amateurs from the United States and abroad for the three-day competition. Past participants include current PGA Tour stars Luke Donald, Rickie Fowler, Lucas Glover, Dustin Johnson, Chris Kirk, Jeff Overton, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Bubba Watson and Gary Woodland.

Porteous tees off for Saturday's second round at 9:40 a.m.

Signing Day By the Numbers

By Cameron Harris on February 3, 2012 12:02 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

For many college football fans, National Signing Day seems like Christmas in February. This year, UTSports.com went all out to provide Vol fans with up-to-the-second information about Tennessee's signing class with a FaxCam, constant updates via Twitter, complete signee bios, video highlights and much, much more.

Tennessee fans, the best in the country, ate it all up. Below is a statistical recap of 2012 National Signing Day at Tennessee.

- 99,509 total page views on the UTSports.com Signing Day Central page through Feb. 2

- 15,774 views of the list of signees alone

- The top three most-viewed player bios were junior college wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, junior college defensive tackle Daniel McCullers and high school running back Davante Borque

- 53,070 views of the "FaxCam" live video stream

- 24,469 combined views of the individual signee highlight videos

- With 5,263 views, Bourque's highlight video led the way

- 9,376 fans tuned in live to UTSports.com to watch Coach Dooley's signing day press conference

- 99,451 total views on all of the videos (live and highlights) provided on UTSports.com

- 112 total Twitter updates through the official Tennessee football Twitter account, @Vol_Football, which currently sports over 26,000 followers

- Those tweets were retweeted over 600 times by Vol fans

The top two retweeted posts are below:

The newest member of the #Vols is 5-star JUCO WR Cordarrelle Patterson!
-- Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) February 1, 2012

The newest member of the #Vols is WR Drae Bowles of Jackson, Tenn. a 4-star
-- Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) February 1, 2012

On the day after National Signing Day, Vol fans were asked about their favorite part of UTSports.com's coverage. Here are a few of their comments:

RT @patrick1016: @Vol_Football THe best part were the updates of the most recent recruits to sign! I enjoyed it throuroughly
-- Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) February 2, 2012

Hinshaw's Cameo RT @Vol_Football: What was your favorite part of National Signing Day coverage on UTSports.com?
-- Travis Wolfe (@letsgocamp) February 2, 2012

RT @JeffStaffordTN: @Vol_Football When Patterson's fax came through.
-- Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) February 2, 2012

@Vol_Football CDDs press conference at the end, and the excitement it made me feel for #Vol football. #VFL #GBO
-- Eddie Edwards Jr (@VOLSfan2883) February 2, 2012

@Vol_Football Dooley's correlation of social media to barber shops. "There were a lot of haircuts being given."
-- Ben Garrett (@benwgarrett) February 2, 2012

@Vol_FootballThe AWESOME updates so I did not have to leave my deck #mybossthoughtIwasworking #proudVOLfan
-- Brock A Webster (@B_RockW) February 2, 2012

ON TOUR: Smith Reaches Doubles Finals at Burnie

By Amanda Pruitt on February 3, 2012 9:20 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Former Vol John-Patrick Smith and recent Baylor graduate John Peers breezed through their semifinal match in 43 minutes Friday to punch their ticket for the doubles championship at the Burnie International in Burnie, Australia.

Smith and Peers, both standout doubles players on the college level, knocked off Sabastian Riechick and Danai Udomchoke 6-0, 6-3 in the semifinals of the $50,000 Challenger event.

In their first Challenger final appearance, Smith and Peers take on the fourth-seeded Indian duo of Divij Sharan and Vishnu Vardhan. A victory would put Smith in the top 400 in the ATP doubles rankings. He started the week No. 585.

In Florida: Rhyne Williams defeated Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Palm Coast Futures. He faces Petru-Alexandru Luncanu of Romania on Friday.

Luncanu beat Williams' doubles partner and former Vol Tennys Sandgren 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the second round.

Friday's Tennessee Football Briefing (2/3)

By Jason Yellin on February 3, 2012 8:28 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Vols coach Derek Dooley spent time with members of the media on Thursday following Signing Day 2012, here are some stories on the UT football program.

- GoVols247: Derek Dooley Q-and-A, part 1

- GoVols247: Tennessee's 2012 class superlatives

- Inside Tennessee: Q&A with Derek Dooley

- Volquest: Dooley talks state of program in Q-A

- Volquest: Dooley talks pressure, the off-season and more

- The Tennessean: Tennessee Vols pick up surprise JUCO signee

- Tennessee Journalist: Vols look to add "impact players" in the secondary

- 104.5 The Zone: UT Vols Coach Derek Dooley with the 3HL

Friday's Tennessee Basketball Briefing (2/3)

By Jason Yellin on February 3, 2012 6:53 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The men's basketball team will host three of its next four games at Thompson-Boling Arena starting with Saturday night's match-up vs. Georgia. Coach Cuonzo Martin and the Vols met with the media prior to practice on Thursday, here are some stories on the Vols.

- Knoxville News Sentinel: Jarnell Stokes ready to get more physical

- Tennessee Journalist: Vols seek revenge in rematch with Georgia

- Inside Tennessee: Rhythm and Blue

Derek Dooley On With 3HL 104.5 Radio In Nashville

By Jason Yellin on February 2, 2012 4:45 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Check out the interview with Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville as he was on with Brent, Clay and Blaine.

- UT Vols Coach Derek Dooley with the 3HL

Vols Move up to No. 18 in ITA Team Polls

By Amanda Pruitt on February 2, 2012 1:25 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The Vols jumped up six spots to No. 18 in the latest ITA national team poll, the college tennis governing body announced Thursday.

Tennessee (4-1) is coming off a pair of victories, beating Michigan State 4-2 and Mississippi 4-3 to earn a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the fourth consecutive season.

Mikelis Libietis picked up the first SEC Freshman of the Week honors for his unbeaten performance at the No. 1 singles and doubles positions. Redshirt freshman Hunter Reese provided the clinching point against Mississippi in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

On Sunday, the Vols host No. 19 Illinois, which is coming off a 1-1 showing in its ITA Kick-Off Weekend tournament at Georgia Tech. The Illini lost to North Carolina 4-2 before beating Georgia Tech 4-3.

ON TOUR: Vols Advance in Australia, Florida

By Amanda Pruitt on February 2, 2012 10:12 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Former Vol John-Patrick Smith advanced to the doubles semifinals of the Burnie International on Thursday in Australia.

Still playing in his home country, Smith and fellow Aussie John Peers defeated Samuel Groth and Greg Jones 7-6 (6), 4-6, [10-5] in the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Challenger event.

For Smith, it is the first time he has reached a doubles semifinal on the Challenger level since turning pro in July 2011. As a freshman, he and Ben Rogers reached the semifinals of the Knoxville Challenger in 2007.

With the ranking points already, Smith will move into the top 500 in doubles for the first time in his career.

Former Vol Adam Hubble lost his doubles quarterfinal match with Erik Chvojka. They lost 6-2, 5-7, [13-11] to Sebastian Rieschick and Danai Udomchoke. Smith and Peers play Rieschick and Udomchoke on Friday.

In Florida: Tennys Sandgren won his opening match to join Rhyne Williams in the round of 16 at the Palm Coast (Fla.) Futures.

Sandgren beat qualifier Mitchell Krueger 6-2, 6-2. He faces fourth-seeded Petru-Alexandru Lancanu of Romania next. Williams plays Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol.

Happy Birthday - Feb. 2: Anthony Anderson, Devrin Young

By Jason Yellin on February 2, 2012 10:11 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

On Feb. 2, we wish Happy Birthday to a couple of local native football players on the Vols Anthony Anderson and Devrin Young.

Thursday's Tennessee Football Briefing (2/2)

By Jason Yellin on February 2, 2012 8:25 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Wednesday was a huge day for the Tennessee football program, re-live the day with SIGNING DAY CENTRAL and check out the Derek Dooley Signing Day Press Conference.