University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T – A Special Time Of Year
November 20, 2015 | Football
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a lot going on around the University of Tennessee in this great time of year where we have football in crunch time, the start of basketball and a plethora of other special performances and competitions.
Football starts it off with a two game stretch that has the Volunteers with the opportunity to take the next step forward in the development of the program. We’ve gone into these final two weeks in recent years needing wins for bowl eligibility, now we’re playing for bowl positioning.
There are individual accomplishments worth watching as well. Evan Berry is sixth on the all-time kick return yards list at Tennessee and moving up fast. That is, if he can convince someone to actually kick to him. South Carolina kicked away from Berry whenever possible two weeks ago, limiting him to two returns for 49 yards, and North Texas popped up a pooch kick to keep it out of his hands.
He now has 1,143 kickoff return yards in his tenure as a Volunteer, which moves him past Dale Carter (1,130) and Dennis Rogan (1,133) for sixth. Berry is just 32 yards from David Oku (1,175) for fifth and 164 yards from Corey Larkins total of 1,307 for fourth. With 730 yards this season, Berry has already had the second-best season by a returner, with David Oku’s single-season record of 863 well within reach.
Joshua Dobbs has put something pretty special together as well. Dobbs has rushed for 476 yards this year, just 117 yards away from Jimmy Streater’s single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback of 593 in 1978. Dobbs sits at 1,134 career rushing yards, 240 yards from the 1,374 for Streater from 1976-79.
Over on the basketball court, each of Tennessee’s teams is showing flashes of what could be a season of great performances.
Robert Hubbs III, Armani Moore and Kevin Punter Jr. have each scored career highs already this season and are poised to do even more as the season goes along. The up-tempo system that Rick Barnes has put into place is not only exciting to watch, but also seems to compliment what his best players do well. With Punter running the point and the Vols looking to attack on the fast break, I see high point totals and career highs falling night after nigh.
Quite frankly, it’s just fun to watch. When the team misses shots, as they did for a stretch against Marshall on Thursday night, it can be frustrating to take. But, like they did against the Herd, the prospect of a 26-2 run is always just around the corner. With the ability to run the floor and push tempo, I don’t see this basketball team being out of many games. They’ll always be capable of the big run that can turn a game completely around.
The Lady Vols bring that same sense of excitement all over the court. In just two games, Diamond DeShields has made as many “wow” plays as I can remember any player doing over the course of a whole season since Candace Parker was here. Even on the rare occasion that her shot isn’t falling, like against Penn State, he fingerprints are still all over the game. She rebounds, she passes, she steals, she sets a tone of intensity that will make this team special.
It helps to have what she has inside the paint as well. Mercedes Russell is back after a redshirt year to have foot issues addressed and looks every bit of the top-ranked player she was coming out of high school two years ago. Her size is imposing, but her agility to make tough shots against defenders and pull down clutch rebounds on both ends is a game-changer.
Her mate in the frontcourt, Bashaara Graves, started off her senior season looking like the player fans have expected her to be over her first three seasons. She tied a career high with 24 points on a perfect 8-for-8 from both the field and the free throw line and pulled down 13 rebounds in the Lady Volunteers' 74-66 victory over Penn State. Graves' double-double was the 22nd of her career, second among active players in the Southeastern Conference. She crossed the 20-point plateau for the third time in her last four games, a run that began with her then-career-high 24 against Boise State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
It’s a busy time on campus, but it’s an exciting one. It’s why we do what we do. And it’s why we’re all fans of the orange and white.
