The countdown to kickoff continues, and along with that comes a warning to the Volnation. Prepare yourself for an earful of prognostications declaring Georgia and Florida the heirs to the SEC throne for the upcoming football season. Yes we have seen and heard it all before. It seems eerily similar to the hype surrounding both of those programs last year. Meanwhile, in Knoxville, UT is quietly toiling away….installing a new offense and propping the confidence of a defensive front seven which was a very shaky unit last year.

Here are a few notes from Saturday’s scrimmage:

On Friday, I heard an interview with Tennessee’s wide receiver coach Latrell Scott who is going through his first spring practice with the Vols since coming over from Richmond with offensive coordinator Dave Clawson. The following is a summary of a few things from the interview that I found interesting.

Stan Drayton has been officially named as the new running backs coach at Tennessee according to the Tennessean.

The coaching carousel continues to spin. Round and round it goes where it stops nobody knows. As long as it’s been spinning, and it feels like it’s been a while, we don’t appear to be any closer to finding out who will be named Tennessee’s next offensive coordinator than we were when the process began.

In case you haven’t had enough of the Outback Bowl yet, I ran across these ESPN highlights. It’s very thorough, spanning over eleven minutes in length. Enjoy!

According to an article this morning in the Times Free Press, Demetrice Morley has met the academic requirements to re-enroll for the spring semester at Tennessee. In order for Morley to be eligible to play next season however, the formal process will need to be completed. That’s expected to happen sometime next week.

For only the third time since the 98 championship season, Tennessee finishes the season with a win. The Vols overcame the many distractions that faced them during the post season, including coaching vacancies, suspended players and having to witness Duke officials attend bowl practice.

Do you know who Bruce Warwick is? Honestly? Well, apparently you should. Warwick’s official title at Tennessee is Assistant AD of Football Operations, but that’s about all the information I could find from the University’s website. It doesn’t even begin to describe the respect that Warwick seems to have on the hill and around the country.

We are now less than a week away from the 2007 Outback Bowl where Tennessee will face off against Wisconsin on New Years Day. Board member MarineBadger posted an analysis of the Badgers in our Vols Forum and I thought it was worth sharing here.