GoVols247: A Tennessee Volunteers athletics podcast

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Patrick Brown replay every second of Jeremy Pruitt's Thursday night interview and discuss what it means. COVID-19, Cade Mays and lower-case-T tigers included.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Grant Ramey break down the newest elite hoops prospect to commit to Tennessee — 6-foot-5 wing Jahmai Mashack from Rancho Cucamonga, California. Mashask is the No. 43 overall prospect in the 2021 class.

Three Tennessee seniors — including quarterback Jarrett Guarantano — open up about the past, present and future of their careers in Knoxville.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Patrick Brown discuss the COVID-19 quarantine issues impacting nearly 50 Tennessee players in preseason camp and turning Saturday's scrimmage into a regular practice. Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt discusses the issue, as well.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Ryan Callahan break down Tennessee's newest commitment — big Nashville offensive lineman William Parker, who chose the Vols over Alabama on Friday afternoon.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Ryan Callahan break down Tennessee's newest commitment — 6-foot-8, 350-pound local offensive lineman J'Marion Gooch from The King's Academy.

Let's go right to the top. Hear the latest on Tennessee football, COVID-19, quarterbacks and more from Jeremy Pruitt, and hear the latest on all things Tennessee basketball from Rick Barnes.

GoVols247's Wes Rucker and Patrick Brown discuss Jeremy Pruitt's decision to pause Tennessee's preseason camp after an unspecified number of positive COVID-19 tests, and what that means for the near and longterm future. Quarterbacks and other newsy items are discussed, as well.

GoVols247’s Wes Rucker went into Fort Rucker Studio to give a quick introduction on some recent Tennessee news before getting out of way and giving the floor to three of the Vols’ best players to hear their thoughts on things heading into an unusual 2020 season.

Sophomore linebacker Henry To’o To’o, sophomore running back Eric Gray and senior center Brandon Kennedy had plenty to say on plenty of interesting topics, and full interviews with all three players are included in this two-segment episode.

It’s been a bizarre year for everyone, and all three Tennessee stars had plenty to discuss.

The next GoVols247 Podcast episode will be released Sunday, unless breaking news occurs before that point.

GoVols247’s Wes Rucker, Patrick Brown and Ryan Callahan convened via the magic of Al Gore’s Internets to discuss a Monday full of huge news for Tennessee football.

Tennessee’s newly-released, SEC-only 2020 schedule, the Vols’ start to preseason camp, some big roster updates, a new commitment and much more were discussed in this two-segment episode full of news.

COVID-19 to this point hasn’t postponed SEC football in 2020, and the conference on Monday released its adjusted schedule. That schedule will look a lot different for Tennessee, which now opens the season Sept. 26 at South Carolina and ends the regular season Dec. 5 against Florida — yes, THAT Florida — at Neyland Stadium. After getting arguably a raw deal with the additions of Auburn and Texas A&M to the schedule, the Vols were dealt some better breaks with the dates on the full schedule, and reasons for that assessment are discussed in detail in the first segment of this episode.

Plenty of news was crammed into the second segment, beginning with the NCAA’s denial of five-star Georgia offensive line transfer Cade Mays’ initial appeal for an immediate-eligibility waiver to play for his hometown Vols alongside his brother in 2020. That surprising decision was announced Monday, but Tennessee is appealing it and still believes in the validity of its case. There’s plenty of discussion on that topic in the second segment, but there’s also plenty of discussion on the confirmed return of talented sophomore linebacker Jeremy Banks to the Tennessee program following his dismissal for an off-field incident last season. There’s also discussion on the expected news that senior cornerback Baylen Buchanan will sit out a second consecutive season while battling a narrowing of his spinal column, as well as the Vols’ updated COVID-19 testing numbers.

The second segment wraps up with a discussion on Jimmy Scott, a talented linebacker prospect from Upstate New York who recently became the first commitment of Tennessee’s 2022 recruiting class. Discussion of the Northeastern expansion of Tennessee’s recruiting base with Joe Osovet on the staff is discussed, as well.

With so much news to dissect, this episode ran a bit longer than usual. But … well … there was a lot of news to dissect.