GoVols247: A Tennessee Volunteers athletics podcast

GoVols247's Wes Rucker, Ryan Callahan and Patrick Brown went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down Tennessee's SEC-opening, 47-20 loss to Florida and the Vols' Saturday trip to Georgia for a game against the second-ranked Bulldogs.

Florida, another proud program in rebuilding mode, was considered one of the more winnable games on this season's SEC schedule, but ... welp. The Vols turned the ball over six times and lost a game that probably will make it tough for Tennessee to secure bowl-eligibility in Jeremy Pruitt's first season.

Saturday's game at Georgia marks the beginning of the nastiest part of Tennessee's schedule. After facing the Bulldogs — who came agonizingly close to winning the national championship last season — they'll play at 10th-ranked Auburn, at home against top-ranked Alabama and then go back on the road to face a South Carolina team that opened the season in the polls and might be back in the polls at that point.

Things get a little more manageable after that, but it's tough to see another SEC game this season where Tennessee will open as the favorite in Las Vegas.

First thing's first, though: Georgia.

We take a look back at the Florida game in this episode, but we pivot — PIVOT! — back to Georgia pretty quickly, and then we discuss the reasons things might get better and the reasons things might not get better this season.

At this point, what's fair to expect from this team this season? We don't dance around it. We discuss the good, bad, the ugly and fugly.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker, Ryan Callahan and Patrick Brown went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down Tennessee's annual SEC opener against Eastern Division nemesis Florida.

This isn't a classic Tennessee-Florida game on paper, but it's nonetheless an intriguing game, and an important game for first-year head coaches Jeremy Pruitt and Dan Mullen. A rivalry win is always nice, and in this case, it will be a win that could go a long way toward determining postseason eligibility.

Both the Vols and Gators already have a loss this season, and neither wants a second loss before the final week of September. Not with the schedules both of these teams have ahead of them.

Is Tennessee ready for the start of SEC play? What matchups in this game look good for Tennessee, and which ones don't? How much would a win in this game mean? And just how many touted prospects will be in the stands on official and unofficial visits? Those are some of the many topics discussed in this episode.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Grant Ramey went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down a huge development for the Tennessee basketball program.

Five-star point guard prospect Josiah James stunned the hoops world Wednesday morning by committing to Tennessee. The nation's No. 14 overall prospect in the 2019 industry-generated 247Sports Composite is a Michigan State legacy from Charleston, S.C., but he turned down Michigan State, Duke and practically every other program in the country and chose Rick Barnes' Vols.

The 6-foot-6, 200-pound James is an impressive southpaw specimen who can play practically anywhere on the floor but was recruited by Tennessee as a point guard, and the Vols believe he has the physicality and maturity to be an instant-impact player. Recruiting analysts obviously share that assessment, considering his ranking.

How did Barnes and Co. finally close the deal on a five-star prospect after coming so painfully close and falling short on a few others? There were several reasons, and those reasons are the primary focus of this episode.

A couple of other basketball notes — former Tennessee star Josh Richardson's impressive ranking on CBSSports.com's list of the NBA's top 100 players, and some preseason-ranking top-five for the defending SEC-champion Vols — are discussed in this episode, but insight into James' commitment and his future in Knoxville are the main topics.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker, Patrick Brown and Ryan Callahan went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down Tennessee's blowout win over East Tennessee and look forward to ... well ... a likely blowout win over UTEP.

Tennessee hoped to use the ETSU/UTEP portion of the schedule as a time to take mistakes from the season-opening game against West Virginia and clean them up before the SEC opener against longtime Eastern Division rival Florida. So far, so good on that front. The Vols took care of business in a big way (59-3) against ETSU, and they'll likely do the same thing against a UTEP that opened the season with a 30-10 loss to NCAA Division I FCS opponent Northern Arizona and then took the business end of a blowout loss at UNLV.

Much can be learned from any game, though, and this episode focuses on the things we learned from the win over the Buccaneers and things we might see against the Miners on Saturday.

Who is underperforming? Who is exceeding expectations? Who is doing what we thought they would do? Why is Grant Ramey avoiding the podcast? There are many questions, and this episode provides many answers.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker, Patrick Brown and Ryan Callahan went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down the good, the bad, the ugly and the fugly from Tennessee's season-opening, 40-14 loss to then-17th-ranked West Virginia in Charlotte.

As much as everyone in and around the Tennessee program would love to flush that season-opening cow pie and forget it forever, the fact is the Vols play East Tennessee State and UTEP the next two Saturdays, so it'll be a few weeks before they face another quality opponent — SEC Eastern Division rival Florida.

Some things actually did go well in Jeremy Pruitt's first game at Tennessee, and those things are discussed in this episode. Obviously there's more bad than good to break down following a 40-14 loss, though, and that bad also is broken down in this episode.

Can Tennessee's offense get explosive? Can Tennessee's defense stop making opponents look so explosive?

How many of the mistakes from Saturday's loss are correctable in the immediate future? How many of them will take longer?

And what, exactly, is chicken skin?

Those and other pressing topics — including some fun facts about East Tennessee State University — are included in this episode.

GoVols247’s Wes Rucker and Patrick Brown (and Grant Ramey for a bit) went into Fort Rucker Studio to ask a simple question: Is the last-minute buzz surrounding the Vols heading into this game based in reality?

For whatever reason, the confidence level in the Tennessee program has seemed to rise in the past week-and-change, and some are considering the Vols a chic upset pick over the double-digit-favored Mountaineers.

Why is that the case, though? This episode features some discussion on the potential reasons for that change.

GoVols247 settled this issue with a debate. Patrick played the part of someone thinking about picking the Vols to upset the Mountaineers, and Wes played the part of someone trying to reel him back to reality and the bigger picture. It was an interesting discussion that should generate plenty of talking points for the next 24-plus hours.

Other football news is included in this episode, as well. There’s discussion on the “or”-filled Tennessee depth chart heading into this game, especially at the quarterback position, and whether the Vols will play one or more quarterbacks against West Virginia.

Ramey joined the final segment of the podcast to break down an interesting week for Tennessee basketball on the recruiting trail, and to discuss the places Tennessee will look after losing five-star point guard commitment Tre Mann to Florida. There’s also a discussion on what Rick Barnes and his staff need to do to seal the deal on all these five-star and high-four-star prospects who keep putting them on the lists of finalists but committing elsewhere.

GoVols247’s full crew — Wes Rucker, Ryan Callahan, Grant Ramey and Patrick Brown — went into Fort Rucker Studio to discuss the Vols’ potential depth charts on each side of the ball heading into the opener against the 17th-ranked Mountaineers.

Plenty of discussion on Tennessee’s quarterback situation is included in this episode. As first-year Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt said, though, there are competitions for several other positions heading into the final week of preseason camp.

Tennessee’s fall academic semester started this week, so the Downtown Knoxville campus is packed with students and football season is tantalizingly close on the horizon. Come get the latest on which Vols should be on the field to start the season.

It’s been a big week for the Vols on the recruiting trail, too, and we discuss the recent commitments of Top247 Atlanta-area safety Jaylen McCullough and Memphis-area offensive lineman Melvin McBride that pushed Tennessee into top-10 status in the updated 247Sports Team Recruiting Rankings. There’s plenty of recruiting talk in this episode.

GoVols247’s full crew Wes Rucker and Patrick Brown went into Fort Rucker Studio to reassess Tennessee football at the midway point of coach Jeremy Pruitt's first preseason camp in Knoxville.

The Vols had a laundry list of questions to answer heading into camp, and some of those answers have started to emerge. But many have not.

What's the deal at quarterback? How many running backs will be in the rotation? Have the wide receivers had a slow start? Have things become any clearer on the offensive line? How many tight ends are in the picture, and what are they bringing to the table?

How has the adjustment to Pruitt's defense gone? Is there enough depth up front? Who's in and who's on the outside looking in at linebacker? Has anyone not named Nigel Warrior stepped up in the secondary?

Will Tennessee have adequate replacements on special teams, with a great punter, a solid kicker and an All-America return specialist out of eligibility?

See what we meant when we suggested the Vols had a lot of questions to answer heading into camp?

There are so many questions to answer. Come get at least some of those answers.

GoVols247’s full crew — Wes Rucker, Ryan Callahan, Grant Ramey and Patrick Brown — went into Fort Rucker Studio to break down the latest news, notes and insights from Tennessee's first preseason camp under coach Jeremy Pruitt.

The Vols have practiced a couple of times in full pads now, and just before that they had an open practice for fans at Neyland Stadium.

We've seen enough at this point to start discussing some of the potential strengths and weaknesses of this team, and some potential surprises. We discuss all of those things in this episode.

There's plenty of talk about Tennessee's ongoing competition at quarterback, but it seems like one of the candidates (sophomore Jarrett Guarantano) still seems to be holding the lead in that competition. No one needs to assume anything about that battle for now, though, and we discuss the reasons for that in this episode.

A season-opening game against high-flying West Virginia is barely more than three weeks away for the Vols, but a lot can happen in those three weeks. There's also plenty of discussion on that in this episode.

GoVols247’s Wes Rucker, Ryan Callahan and Patrick Brown went into Fort Rucker Studio to discuss the hot topics heading into Tennessee's preseason camp — a camp set to start Friday afternoon with a practice at Haslam Field.

The offseason and ended, the preseason is here and the actual season will be here in a month. There are plenty of questions first-year coach Jeremy Pruitt's Vols need to answer, and there isn't much time to answer them.

Who will be Tennessee's quarterback or quarterbacks? How much of a boost should the Vols' offensive line get by the returns of Trey Smith and Chance Hall? What's the overall health of the team after summer workouts? Who's ready for camp, and who isn't? Where will some of the team's talented, versatile newcomers line up to open camp? How many running backs will be in the game-day rotation? What did coordinator Kevin Sherrer, Chris Rumph and Tyson Helton have to say after their one and only interview session of the season?

Those are just a few of the many questions discussed in this episode.