I went to football practice last Thursday afternoon and was impressed with the energy and the athletic look of this football team. Johnny and Wade both took reps at quarterback though not very many. It was the last day of fall camp in a fall camp that Coach Mason called “tough,” and the players looked a bit tired from the grind So Johnny and Wade didn’t get a lot of opportunities in 11 on 11 drills. But I saw some good things from both of them.

I really like what we have on defense. Our linebacking corps is loaded led by middle linebackers Darreon Herring and the awesome Nigel Bowden. Zach Cunningham will be a major contributor on the inside. He’s outstanding. Outside, Stephen Weatherly is going to be a beast this season. I’m expecting eight to 10 sacks from Stephen and a lot of disruptive plays that will cause turnovers and game changing third down stops. He looks like a potential All-American. Nehemiah Mitchell, who came to us from junior college, looks like a specimen, too. We’ve got talent out the roof at linebacker. Landon Stokes looks like he will be a player at outside linebacker as well. He was impressive at practice. Jonathan Wynn is another outside backer who looks good. I saw former linebacker Chris Marve out there calling the signals for the defense as relayed to him from the coaches. He looked like he knew what he was doing. Our secondary is pretty loaded, too. Torren McGaster looks All-SEC at one corner. Taurean Ferguson and Tre Bell look to be the two other guys fighting for the other corner spot. Tre Herndon is an excellent redshirt freshman corner and he’ll be in the mix. We’ve got depth there, too. The coaches are really high on freshman Donovan Sheffield from Ensworth High School in Nashville. He was a four star cornerback signee in this freshman class and looks highly impressive. Andrew Williamson is a solid safety and Oren Burks will be a headhunter at free safety. I really liked the look of Jahmel McIntosh at safety. He was one of the most energetic guys at practice. He loves to play the game. Redshirt freshman Emmanual Smith is a 6’2″, 218 safety and is a flat out stud. He’ll play a lot of nickel. We’ll need Emmanuel. He is going to be a great player for us. He’ll be a huge impact player this season. We’ve got outstanding depth at linebacker. There are freshmen who could make a contribution immediately. Highly touted freshman Josh Smith, Emmanuel’s little brother, who was a 95 four-star in the 2015 class, looks like he will contribute immediately this season. He’s terrific and has an SEC caliber physique already. Caleb Peart and Dare Odeyingbo look like SEC caliber linebackers already on the outside. We are loaded there. Corners are excellent and Ryan White is another guy who will help us at safety. Good player. Up front, Caleb Azubike looks like an All-SEC, potential All-American candidate like Weatherly. We’ve got quite a few All-SEC looking players on defense. Jay Woods looks like he’s going to have an excellent season for us at defensive tackle and I’m ready to see Nifae Lealao take the next step and be the high four star player he was out of high school. Nifae is 6’5″, 315 and looks like he could be a dominant player if he puts his mind to it. Torey Agee is another who has a chance to be good up front. With Coach Mason coaching this defense up, I am really excited about what this unit can accomplish. We look fast, aggressive, hard hitting, tough and powerful. And we look like a defense that can create game changing turnovers.

We will be severely tested right out of the shoot with a highly explosive Western Kentucky offense coming into Nashville a week from Thursday, Sept. 3, for a 7 PM CT/ 8 PM ET kickoff on the SEC Network. Their quarterback, Brandon Doughty, a senior, completed 375-of-552 passes (68%) for 4,830 yards, 49 touchdowns and 10 ints last season. He’s got weapons all over the perimeter, and in the backfield, so our defense will have to really bear down in this one. This is a huge opener for our football team. A victory here could really set the tone for a successful season. I don’t want to look any farther ahead than Western Ky. This is a must win game for us. The great thing about this defense is that we have experience, but there are still young guys in there. Most will be back in 2016. But we will need to put some points on the board. We need 28-31 to get the victory.

On offense, we suffered a couple of major blows with the loss of wide receiver C.J. Duncan and left tackle Andrew Jelks, who both suffered knee injuries that have knocked them out for the season. But, as Coach Mason said, we’re going to have to have other guys step in and get the job done in their place. Andrew was the leader of the line and C.J. is a leader and one of our most explosive offensive players. I still like the playmakers we have. Wide receiver Trent Sherfield looks like a star in the making. He will be a weapon as a vertical threat. He’s going to be fantastic for us. Latevius Rayford is an excellent receiver who can get us those 15-20 yard catches. Looks Jordan Mattews-like in a lot of ways. He’s excellent. Rashad Canty brings good length at 6’3″, 210 and I saw him catch a beautiful deep ball from freshman qb Kyle Shurmur. He looks explosive. Shurmur is really going to be good for us in the future, too. Guys like Caleb Scott, Ronald Monroe and Kris Kentera look capable of being good players on the perimeter. Kentera has dropped some in the past, but looked a lot more sure handed in practice on Thursday. He will help us. Tight end is loaded. Steven Scheu is an All-SEC, All-American type player. He catches everything. He looks like he has a shot to play on the next level after this season. Nathan Marcus and DeAndre Woods are also vertical threats at tight end, and I was really impressed with freshman Sam Dobbs. He has great hands and runs great routes. Sam could help us in the passing game. We are really good at tight end and I see OC Andy Ludwig really using tight end as a tremendous weapon for us this year. Running back Ralph Webb looks awesome. He needs to stay healthy, but he was very durable last year, and he’s as quick as any back in the SEC. When Ralph gets in the open field he could very well be making house calls. Dallas Rivers has the power at 6’1″, 225. I like what Dallas can bring to the table as the tough runner getting the needed yards to move the sticks and he’s got pretty good explosiveness. I like our freshman running back Josh Crawford. He’s got good size. It looks like he’s still trying to get his feet under him in practice, but he very well may be a contributor this season. He’s talented. Didn’t see freshman running back Jair George practice, but he has the size at 6’1″, 227. He was not practicing on Thursday. And the X factor is Darrius Sims. Darrius will be used in multiple ways by Coach Ludwig in the passing game as a vertical threat and in rocket sweep like plays. His speed is 4.3 and he’s a take it to the house guy any time he gets his hands on the football. Darrius will be huge in the punt return game, too. He’s got ability to be a game changer in the return game.

Johnny McCrary and Wade Freebeck are still battling it out for QB1. It’s a good competition. Both are talented players. The coaches may have made their decision on who they are going to start, but there is no indication on whom that will be. I’ve heard Johnny might be slightly ahead right now. Johnny had some good games for us last year. He was really good on the road against Missouri and had a nice game at home for us in a blow out win over Charleston Southern. Wade looked good to me in the spring game. We may not know until game week or even all the way up until kickoff. My belief is the competition is still ongoing and this will be an important week for both guys as we start in our game week preparation for Western. Both have good arms and good wheels. Will keep you posted if anything develops on an announcement of the starter.

The oline has outstanding size and some veteran guys. Spencer Pulley at center, if he stays there with the Jelks injury, and Jake Bernstein, look like mainstays and leaders up front. Will Holden has shown leadership ability at right tackle. Delando Crooks looks like he’ll be a player for us. The loss of Andrew hurts, luckily we’ll have him back next year, but we have about nine or 10 guys there who are all over 300 pounds and look like they’ll be good players for us. We really need to establish the line of scrimmage this season because I know Coach Mason and Coach Ludwig want to pound it, and use the play action off the ground game. Coach Mason likes the Stanford toughness on both sides of the ball, so our linemen really need to set the tone for our offense.

Tommy Openshaw looks like he’ll be our kicker. Like Tommy’s leg. Looks capable of hitting from 45-50 yards. Either Openshaw or Colby Cooke will be our punter. Both have strong legs. Snappers look like Wilson Johnson, Jacob Schultz and Davis Winkle. Not sure if that has been determined, but I saw no problem with snaps out of any of them. Kick returners are anywhere from Sims to Monroe, to Canty to even Ralph. We have good candidates who could take it the distance.

After Western Kentucky, we play at home vs Georgia on Saturday, Sept. 12th at 2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM on CBS. Then we play Austin Peay at home, Saturday, 9-19, at 3 PM CT/4 ET on SEC Alternate Network. We go to Ole Miss Saturday, Sept. 26th, then we’re @ Middle Tennessee State Saturday, Oct. 3, at 6 PM CT/7 ET on CBS College Sports Network. After a week off, we’re @ South Carolina, Oct. 17th, with game time to be determined. We play Missouri at home, Saturday, Oct. 24; we’re @ Houston, Oct. 31; we’re @ Florida, Nov.7; we play at home vs. Kentucky Nov. 14th; we’re at home vs Texas A&M Nov. 21, and @ Tennessee, Nov. 28th. All those games are on Saturdays and the rest of those times are to be determined.

I’m not going to make a prediction on our record; I think we have a shot in every game. A bowl game this year would be tremendous for our players, our coaches and for recruiting. That’s the goal. However many wins that equates to, I’m not sure. We have the makings of a bowl team.

Jay Cutler had a very good game Saturday night for the Bears. He was eight of nine for 69 yards, no TDs, but played a very good game according to the write ups by ESPN Chicago and the Chicago Trib. JMatt is going to be a big time player for the Eagles this season and going forward. He’s sensational. Zac Stacy, Casey Hayward and Sean Richardson all will be key contributors to their respective teams; Zac with the Jets, and Casey and Sean with the Packers. I’m going to watch some taped NFL games this week to get a better grasp on our guys in the league. There are some other guys like Wesley Johnson (Steelers) who are very capable of being good NFL players. I still think Chris Williams deserves a shot with somebody. Kenny Ladler at Buffalo and Andre Hal at Houston could be excellent players for those respective teams; Kenny at safety and Andre at corner. They’re both second string on their team’s depth charts, but I’m a big believer in both of them. I still don’t see why Earl Bennett hasn’t gotten another shot. I’m still not giving up on Earl. Should be an exciting season for our players in the league.

Jay looks tired of all the criticism and ready to step up under a new coaching staff. His offensive coordinator, Adam Gase, is excellent and has coached Peyton the last two years at Denver and is excellent. The Bears beat the Colts, 23-11, Saturday night at Indy, so that’s a pretty good statement. They moved to 2-0 after beating the Dolphins at home in week one. Philly dominated the Baltimore Ravens, 40-17. They look like a serious contender for the Super Bowl. I think the Bears have a shot to make some noise this year. The Packers just lost Jordy Nelson, their star wide receiver, most likely for the year with a knee injury. I hate it for Jordy, you never want to see a player get hurt severely, it’s terrible. Losing Nelson is a blow, but the Packers are excellent still. The Bears defense has been re-energized with former San Francisco defensive coordinator Vic Fangio taking over the defense. He brings blue collar toughness and physicality to a team that has been known for that through the years but kind of lost that the last couple of years. We’re looking to become the Monsters of the Midway again.

David Price and the Blue Jays dominated the LA Angels in LA over the weekend. And I really mean dominated. The Blue Jays scored 36 runs in three days and pounded out 48 hits. That’s 12 runs per game and 16 hits per game for the three game series. David won 9-2 Friday night. He went eight, gave up six hits, two earned, with one walk and nine K’s. His fastball hit 97 six or seven times. He was throwing it 96 consistently and his 85 MPH change up was superb. The change up along with the heater has become an out pitch for him. He was spectacular as was the team all weekend. DP moved to 12-4 on the season with a 2.40 ERA. His WHIP is 1.08 now. He has walked 35 and struck out 171. He’s on a team with  a mission of capturing their first World Series title since they went back to back in 1992 and 93 and hasn’t been to the playoffs since 1994. Toronto is rockin. Watching a game when Price pitches in Toronto is like being at a Bears-Packers game at Soldier Field or Lambeau. It’s electric, explosive and so exciting. The Jays beat the Halos 15-3 on Saturday and 12-5 on Sunday. It was just total destruction of the opposition. Josh Donaldson is superb. The third baseman is hitting .302 with 34 homers and 100 Ribeyes. In his last seven, he’s 11-for-21, for a .524 average, with three homers and 13 RBIs. Joey “Bats” Bautista has woken up. He was three-for-five yesterday with his 29th homer and 85th RBI. Bautista was hitting in the .220’s a couple of weeks ago and he’s now up to .243. He has a cannon for an arm in right field, too. Designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion was 4-for-4 yesterday. He’s hitting .450 in his last seven and has 24 homers and 74 Ribeyes. His average was in the .220’s about three weeks ago and now he’s up to .265. And you add stud shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and you have a potent one through four with Tulo, Donaldson, Joey Bats and Encarnacion. Right fielder Ben Revere, who came over from the Phillies before the trade deadline, has also been a huge part of the Jays’ success. He’s been hitting extremely well. Getting David and Tulo have been just huge pick me ups for this ball club. David has reenergized the franchise and the fans. Jays games are a blast to watch. They play very good defense as well and the pitching, both starting and relief, has been stellar since David joined the staff. The Jays are now a 1/2 game up on the Yankees in the AL East. The Jays play the Yankees seven more times in September. They’ll play four at Yankee Stadium Sept. 10th-13th, a Thursday through a Sunday, and host the Yankees at the Rogers Centre Sept. 21-23, a Monday through a Wednesday. Should be an epic end to the season. The Jays travel to Texas for a key series tomorrow (Tuesday) through Thursday. David is on the hill Wednesday against Colby Lewis of the Rangers. Lewis is 14-5 with a 4.29 ERA with 30 walks and 116 K’s and a 1.18 WHIP, so it will be a challenge in a very hitters’ friendly park. But David has been good at Texas. He won a play in game for the playoffs two years ago for the Rays against the Rangers pitching a masterpiece. The Jays are now 69-55 and the Bronx Bombers are 68-56. In Dave and the Jays I trust.

Pedro hit another long one last night to deep left central, 408 feet. It put the Bucs up 5-2 and they held on to sweep the Giants and keep their lead in the wild card up to three games over the Cubs. Pedro now has 20 homers and 64 Ribeyes. He’s hitting .251. He’s clutch. He always has been. The Bucs are only three and a half back of the Cardinals in the NL Central at 74-48. The Cards are 78-45. The Cards may pitch a little bit better and play a little better defense at this point, but the Bucs can really hit it and they’ve got solid pitching, both starting and really in the bullpen, and  got shortstop Jordy Mercer and utility player Josh Harrison back from injuries, so they’re ready to take off some more. They play at Miami today through Thursday.

Pedro had some trouble in the field last night. He just made a mistake and lost a little confidence committing a couple of errors. But that was the first time I’ve seen Pedro have trouble at first in a while. A pop fly dropped between Pedro and Neil Walker that allowed runners to get to first and third, and then Pedro had a drop on a throw to first and let a hard hit ball get through him in the next inning. I think he’s really hard on himself because Clint Hurdle and his coaches put so much pressure on him that he thinks he has to be perfect. Still believe in Pedro at first. Hope it’ll work out for him with the Pirates in the future, but I wish he had a guy like Corbs coaching him; a guy who would show confidence in him because Pedro is an excellent baseball player and he needs to be given that support. Hurdle just turns on him any chance he can get it seems like. If this keeps up, I want the Pirates to make it to the series and maybe win it–I’m deliberating between them and the Jays–but Pedro may need a fresh start with another club after this season to play for a manager that believes in him and gives him confidence. I think the Pirates can overtake the Cardinals. The bats are so good and the pitching is a wash between the clubs. The Cardinals might play a little better defense, but with Mercer and Jay Hay back, that’ll really bolster the defense. The outfield of Andrew McCutchen in center, Starling Marte in left and El Coffee’, Gregory Polanco, in right, is superb. The Bucs play at the Cardinals Sept. 4th-6th, a Friday through a Sunday, and host the Cards the last three games of the season, Sept. 28th-30th, a Monday through a Wednesday. Could be some huge implications in those series. They also host the Cubs, Sept. 15th-17th, a Tuesday through a Thursday, and play at Wrigley Sept. 25th-27th, a weekend series. So a lot of huge series left for the Bucs as they try to win the NL Central or win the wild card and make some serious noise in October.

Sonny pitched eight innings against the Rays on Saturday night giving up five hits, three earned with two walks and four K’s and left with a 4-3 lead. But the A’s bullpen, as usual, couldn’t hold the lead. Manager Bob Melvin put the wrong relief pitcher in for the ninth and the the A’s gave up two runs and lost 5-4. Sonny didn’t take the loss and is 12-5 on the season with a 2.10 ERA, which leads the American League. He has walked 44 and struck out 145, and has an 0.98 WHIP; still incredible numbers. Sonny is a candidate for the Cy Young in the American League along with David, but David’s chances are probably a lot better because he’s on a team that’s highly relevant and Sonny isn’t. Sonny will hit the hill again this Friday at Arizona facing Chase Anderson (6-5, 4.28 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 33 walks, 86 K’s). Curt Casali is catching quite a bit for the Rays and doing well. Will keep a closer eye on Curt in the upcoming weeks. The Rays are actually relevant in the wild card right now. It’s pretty amazing with all they lost in the offseason including their general manager and manager.

So a lot to be excited about for our athletes. Football season is upon us. It’s time for our team to get in game time mode as the Western Kentucky kickoff is just 10 days away.

Will have some basketball stuff this week, too. We have 89 three star point guard Payton Willis committed to the 2016 class. Payton is from Fayettville, Arkansas and I really liked his film. Can really drive, dish and shoot the trifecta. Braxton Blackwell, the high four star power forward, is our number one target. Braxton, a Nashville native, is a 98 four star and is 6’8″, 220. He’s a game changer for our program. Final Four impact player. We already have a really good team this season and the addition of Braxton could  take us to the next level in 2016-17. I still believe this team can make some serious noise this season though with the players we have. Super excited for Kevin’s team this year. Braxton is now is playing at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, a huge basketball school. Need Braxton. We’ve got other highly rated targets who we are really after. Would love to get Braxton and go from there. Vandy 247 has crystal balled Braxton to us. They have us with a 50 percent chance of landing him. Indiana has a 25% chance, Tennessee has an 8% chance, Louisville has an 8 % chance and Kansas is at 8%. A lot can happen though between now and November, the early signing period, so we need to stay busy with Braxton.

David went seven, gave up only three hits, no runs, with three walks and seven K’s in the Jays 6-0 win over the Yanks on Saturday afternoon at the Bronx. Dave pitched well in the matinee. Didn’t run into much trouble. He threw 110 pitches, 71 for strikes and 39 balls. Wasn’t perfect, but he was pretty doggone good. Justin Smoak helped supply the runs with a grand slam in the sixth. Troy Tulowitzki added a solo shot in the seventh. Catcher Russell Matin had an RBI single in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the seventh, David walked Chase Headley with two outs and Didi Gregorius, a fine young shortstop for the Yanks, singled to right to put runners on the corners. But David got Brendan Ryan to pop out to first and end that threat and the bullpen for the Jays took it from there.

The Yankees broadcasters, it was the only broadcast I could get, said that David’s velo on his fastball was 95 on average in 2010, then it dropped to 93.5 in 2014, but now it’s back up to 94.5. That’s amazing; a pitcher gets better velocity on his fastball the older he gets. Just shows how hard David works out, and works on his craft. His change up is a really good pitch for him, too. He’s now 11-4 with a 2.35 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP with 34 walks and 156 K’s. He was bringing it 95-96 on Saturday and the change up was really clicking. His cut fast ball that comes in at 90-91 is tough too.

Those strikeout numbers have been very good lately for David. He struck out 12 Orioles on July 18th, a 3-0 Tigers’ loss; he struck out seven Mariners in a 3-2 loss to them for the Tigers; he struck out nine Rays, but lost 10-2 and that was right before the deadline when the trade rumors were running rampant. For the Jays, He struck out 11 Twins in a 5-1 Jays victory on Aug.3rd, last Monday night. And then Saturday he may not have had his best stuff, but he really knows now how to battle through it. He’s matured so much as a pitcher. He’s a veteran and he’s an ace. The Jays swept the Yankees over the weekend and moved to 1 1/2 games back of them in the AL East. They’re 61-52 and the Yankees are 61-49, three ahead in the loss column, but the Jays have at least six more with the Yankees.

They lead the wild card by a 1/2 game over the LA Angels. They face the A’s this week, tomorrow through Thursday. David will not pitch, but Sonny will on Thursday. I’m struggling with this one, but the A’s were my pick for the Series the day before the season started, so while they’re in real danger of missing out on October baseball, they did take three of four from the AL West first place Astros at home over the weekend. They had a 3-1 lead in the top of the ninth yesterday and gave up a three run homer to Colby Rasmus, that put them behind 4-3, but scored two in the bottom of the ninth for the 5-4 victory. The A’s bullpen has really been their Achilles Heel all year, but the acquisition of Danny Valencia, who is playing third now, has been huge. He was the reason the A’s took three of four from the Astros. His bat was phenomenal. He hit a home run and the walk off game winning single with  two outs in the bottom of the ninth after Josh Reddick had tied it at 4 with an infield single that hit the pitching mound and bounced away from the pitcher and first baseman. It was a big deal for the A’s to take three from the ‘Stros, who are legit.

I gotta pull for Sonny. Kendall Graveman, who is the A’s starter tomorrow night, came over from the Jays in the offseason. Valencia was designated for assignment by the Jays and the A’s picked him up last week. It was a huge pickup. I don’t know if the A’s have any shot of making the postseason, it’s not totally over, but they have some great young starting arms led by Sonny and a good young team. They are 9 1/2 back of the Angels for the second wild card spot, and they have 49 games left. They’ll need to win close to 37-40 of those games to get in the postseason. But I do like this group and Billy Beane is planning for the future with a possible new stadium in Oakland. He’s going after the younger, talented minor leaguers now. It’s a change in strategy for Beane, who has usually gone after veterans who have the run producing or pitching metrics. I like it.

Our newest basketball commitment, Payton Willis, averaged 13.6 ppg, three assists and three rebounds as a sophomore, and 16 points as a junior. His shot is one of his strong points and he’s an excellent distributor of the basketball and driver and scorer at the rim.

He took off in AAU ball this summer and blew away people. He was offered by Tulsa and Belmont in April and then Rice, Dayton and Western Kentucky followed. The VU coaches were blown away by his July evaluation period and made him a priority heading into August. He’s 6’4″, 175 and can play combo guard. He wants to get stronger and improve  his defense. Commodores basketball strength and conditioning coach Garry Christopher has done a terrific job of getting our present team physically prepared for the upcoming season, there’s a recent picture of them and they look powerful, and he can get Payton toned up physically for the 2016-17 season. Like our coaches’  pickup of this 89, three-star from Fayetteville Arkansas high school.

The ESPN preseason basketball rankings has us ranked 18th in the country. I really think this team can be very special come March. Kind of an unusual pick for them at No.1, as they picked Maryland. No.2 is UNC , No.3 is Kentucky, No.4 is UVA and No.5 is Kansas. Duke is No.6 and Iowa State, Oklahoma, Wichita State and Villanova round out No.’s 7-10. Two other SEC teams, LSU (No.22), and A&M (No.25) are in the rankings. With Wade, MFD, Riley, Damien, Luke, new addition transfer and sharpshooter Nolan Cressler, Josh Henderson and the four talented incoming freshmen, we have the nucleus to do some big things this year. This year is potentially very special as is the future of the basketball program.

Coach Mason and first year offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig addressed the media yesterday in a pre-fall practice preview. Both are optimistic about the pieces we have in place to have a good football team. The SEC is brutal, but we’ve got good players and good coaches. The addition of Strength Coach James Dobson was a huge momentum builder for the team. The former Nebraska S&C coach has gotten our offensive and defensive linemen much bigger and stronger. Our offensive line all averages over 300 pounds and our d line is solid and stout. Coach Ludwig said the strength of the team is the o line with its power and athletic ability. He said he’s always run a tailback-oriented offense, so Ralph Webb will be featured prominently. One guy the coaches haven’t mentioned, maybe intentionally, but who I think will be a big asset to the offense, is backup tailback Dallas Rivers. Dallas is 6’1″, 225 and looked very good running between the tackles in the spring game. He’s got some speed and great power. He’ll be an awesome compliment to Ralph, who is expected to have a big time season. Darrius Sims will be used as a running back, in the slot and out wide at receiver. Coach Mason and Coach Ludwig know that we need to get the ball in Darrius’s hands because he can take it to the house at any opportunity. And he should be electric in the punt return game and possibly in the kickoff return game unless we want to hold him out there. We have other pretty good potential possibilities in the kick return game.

Ludwig was asked if the defenses loaded the box to stop Ralph what he would do, and he said that’s where you make adjustments and use the passing game. He says the receiving corps is the most improved group on the team. Coach Mason loves what Tre Herndon brings to the table in the passing game, and Latevius Rayford and C.J. Duncan, who also will be used like Darrius because of his explosive play capability, will be threats out on the outside as well. Ronald Monroe and Caleb Scott are two other guys who can help us in the passing game. The tight ends, Steven Scheu and Nathan Marcus, will be key components of the offensive attack and look for DeAndre Woods to provide a versatile target with his 6’4″, 235 size, both at tight end and out wide. He was a a highly rated player out of high school and can really give us some big play possibilities. Coach Ludwig likes our young freshmen coming in at tight end.

Ludwig echoed Coach Mason saying that it’s a battle between Johnny McCrary and Wade Freebeck at quarterback with Stank and incoming freshman Kyle Shurmur in the mix. But it looks like it’ll be Johnny or Wade, who both went through the wars some last year, so they have some experience. Ludwig likes Wade as the better drop back passer, more pro style quarterback, and really likes his arm. Johnny brings more running ability than Wade, and he’s a pretty good passer, too. Both Coach Mason and Coach Ludwig emphasized taking care of the football as priority one. We threw 19 interceptions last year and that can’t happen again. There will be a clear number one and number two going into the season according to Coach Mason. So Johnny and Wade will battle it out with Stank and Kyle certainly getting opportunities. But expect either Johnny or Wade to be our starter against Western Kentucky (Thursday, Sept. 3rd, 8 PM ET/7 PM CT, SEC Network).

Coach Mason was asked just a basic question: how does this football team want its identity to look like? He said move the football on offense, get first downs and get it in the end zone. On defense, he said, quite simply, create havoc. Western has a prolific offense, so Coach Mason and the defensive staff have their hands full, but expect an versatile game plan defensively against Western. Coach Mason will blitz, jam the running lanes, disguise coverages, and get his defense to create turnovers. He keeps it simple and it has worked very well for him throughout the years. It certainly did at Stanford and he now has the talent on this VU defense that rivals the aggressive, relentless defenses he had at Stanford.

The addition of Coach Ludwig was a huge hire. He’s highly intelligent, tough and very creative as an offensive mind. I’m very much looking forward to seeing our offense against Western Ky. The addition of young coaches Cortez Hankton (wide receivers) and Mark Mattioli (safeties) to go along with our veteran coaches, Charles Bankins, who coaches running backs/special teams coach, tight end and recruiting coordinator Gerry Gdowski,  o line coach Kevin Lightner, d line coach Frank Maile, cornerbacks coach Brett Maxie, and outside linebackers coach Kenwick Thompson looks very promising.

I like our coaches, I like our players, and I like Coach Mason’s quote to me that “the future is now.”

Sonny pitches tomorrow night (Friday) vs Houston. Sonny is 11-4, with a 2.12 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 40 walks and 131 ring ups. He’ll face Houston ace Dallas Keuchel (13-5, 2.35 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 37 walks, 140 K’s). Should be an epic. The A’s aren’t too relevant right now, but it’s the first place team and a potential go the distance team, so Sonny should be pumped. He’s going against the guy who started the All-Star game for the American League, so it makes it even more of a big game for Sonny. Houston is 60-49 and lead the AL West by two games over the LA Angels (57-50). It’s been a struggle for the A’s, who are 48-61. They kind of had a fire sale before the trade deadline trading their other ace, Scott Kazmir, to the Astros, and Ben Zobrist, to the Royals. But they got some good prospects for those excellent veterans. There is talk that the A’s may get a new stadium, so GM Billy Beane is loading up for the future. Hopefully, Sonny will be on a team that will be playing important games in September in 2016. It’s getting late for anything to happen right now, but they’re still battling. Manager Bob Melvin has the players still playing hard. They’re 9 games back for the second spot in the wild card, which belongs to David Price and the Blue Jays, who are on fire right now, so it’ll take a Herculean effort to get into the playoffs. But I like the way this team has battled all year throughout adversity and all the losses. There are pieces in place for a good future for this club. The A’s actually start their four game set with the Astros tonight after losing two of three to the Orioles.

David will pitch Saturday for his red hot Blue Jays team that took three of four from the KC Royals last weekend and have taken the first three games from the Minnesota Twins. All of these games have been at home. They play the Twins in the final game of their four game set tonight with Mark Buehrle on the mound for the Jays. He’s 11-5 with a 3.32 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP, 21 walks and 70 K’s.  Buehrle will face Kyle Gibson of the Twins, who is 8-8 with a 3.37 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, 40 walks and 92 K’s. So good matchup.

The Jays are 4 1/2 back of the Yankees and they’ll be at Yankee Stadium beginning tomorrow night. Not a huge margin for error, though there is some time left in the season. They are one back of the LA Angels in the wild card race. The Jays are 57-52, the Yankees are 60-46 and the Angels are 57-50.

David is now 10-4 with a 2.45 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP (which improved with his stellar performance Monday against the Twins), 31 walks and 149 K’s. He’ll face Ivan Nova (4-3, 3.10, 1. 28 WHIP, 14 walks and 25 K’s). Haven’t followed Nova closely, but he must have been hurt some this year. He’s quality though, so David and the team will have their work cut out for them.

Last night the Jays beat the Twins, 9-7, as Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista (Joey Bats) and Edwin Encarnacion all homered. Donaldson hit a two run shot, his 29th, and added Ribeyes number 79 and 80. Bautista hit a grand salome, his 24th, and with the four ribbies he has 75 on the season. Edwin hit No. 20, a three run shot, and now has 60 ribbies for the season. Bautista is only hitting .235, which is low for him, but maybe he’s starting to break out some. Still pretty stellar in the run producing department. Encarnacion is hitting .246, but has really been hitting the ball well lately to get his average up. He’s also a massive run producer. Add him to the awesome Donaldson, who played at Auburn, and terrific shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki, who is hitting .286 and plays superb defense, and the other guys throughout the lineup, and this offensive is explosive. The defense is solid and the pitching, with the addition of David, is a confident group going forward. David looks pumped to be a Blue Jay. October baseball looks like a real possibility for the Jays.

Pedro and the Pirates won last night over the Cubs in a big game, 7-5. Pedro was one for three with a two out RBI single in the bottom of the first. Bucs are now 62-44, 5 1/2 games back of the Cardinals in the NL Central and lead the Giants in the wild card standings by 3 1/2 games. But they’re looking to take the NL Central and have nine games left with the Cardinals, six on the road and the final three games of the season at home against the Cards, so they have their chances to catch the Redbirds. They’re off today and then start a weekend series tomorrow night against the Dodgers in a huge matchup between the awesome Dodgers’ pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who is 9-6, 2.37 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 28 walks, 192 K’s,  and the spectacular Pirates’ pitcher Gerrit Cole (14-5, 2.29 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 29 walks, 138 K’s). Should be an epic at PNC Park. The Pirates don’t have to face the Dodgers other Cy Young candidate Zack Greinke, so that’s good. This will be a huge series for both teams. Kershaw has been un-hittable lately and Cole is a big game pitcher already in his young career. Not sure if Pedro will start at first base  against Kershaw since Kershaw is a lefty and maybe the toughest in the game along with David. Michael Morse, who was newly acquired by the Bucs and is a right handed batter, may get the start at first. But hopeful Hurdle will go with Pedro. He’s still a big game player in my opinion.

Brandt is at -1 through 15 holes in the first round of World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club South Course in Akron, Ohio. He is tied for ninth place right now. Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and Robert Streb lead at -3. Fowler and Day are through 15 and Streb is through 13.

Jon Curran is playing in the Barracuda Championship at Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno, Nevada. He tees off at 3:30 PM ET/2:30 PM CT. The leader is Rickie Barnes, who has 13 points. Looks like this is a Stableford points tournament where you get eight points for eagle, four points for birdie, two points for par, I guess, and a deduction for anything worse. Haven’t really followed it closely but will get more information on it, if Jon is in the hunt.

Luke List is -2 through 15, tied for 36th, at the Web.com Digital Ally Open in Overland, Kansas at the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate.  Craig Barlow leads at -9 and is finished for the day. You have to go so low to win these Web.com events. It’s a massive challenge to win one of these. Luke is number 49 in the race for the 25 top players who automatically qualify for the PGA tour next year, but the top 50 players on the Web.com tour at the end of the season compete in the Web.com playoffs with the 126th-200th players on the PGA tour to get the 50 spots for next year’s tour, which actually begins in October. There’s really no offseason for golf on the PGA tour now. The Web.com playoffs start in September with four tournaments that concludes with the Web.com Tour Championship at TPC Sawgrass on Oct. 1st-4th.

Mason primed for year 2

Coach Derek Mason was highly generous in spending an hour with me over the phone on Thursday morning to talk about his young, exciting football team that heads into 2015 with extremely high hopes. There are 50 scholarship players returning with just eight scholarship seniors and 15 scholarship juniors. Coach Mason and his staff brought in 19 freshmen to go along with the returning vets, and this is a talented freshmen class, many of whom will see playing time this fall, along with the talented returners we have on this football team. Coach Mason said there are really all 22 starters returning to this football team. He doesn’t worry about any comments about this being a young team.  Practice starts Wednesday, August 5th, and Coach Mason, his staff and our 85 scholarshipped players are chomping at the bit to get started. The offseason program with new strength and conditioning Coach James Dobson was spectacular. Dobson helped Nebraska go to seven consecutive bowl games as their S&C coach and brought a passion and energy to the guys’ workouts they haven’t seen in quite some time. He’s a motivator and a championship caliber strength coach.
Coach Mason is ecstatic over first year offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig and what he brings in from his offensive coordinator duties at Wisconsin where he led a talented team to an Outback Bowl victory over Auburn and had a 2000+ yard rusher in Melvin Gordon last year. Gordon was a Heisman finalist and a first round draft pick by the San Diego Chargers. Mason loves that Coach Ludwig can mentor our quarterbacks and our offense and he has high aspirations for what this offense can do under Ludwig. Mason calls Ludwig a funny, engaging man who eats, sleeps and breathes football. Mason calls him ” a mad scientist” as an offensive mind and that is in a highly complimentary way. Coach Ludwig knows how to move the football and get it in the end zone.

The quarterback battle will most likely come down to former four-star redshirt sophomore Johnny McCrary (6’4″, 220), and high three star, true sophomore Wade Freebeck (6’5″, 226), with Shawn “Stank” Stankavage (6’2″, 195, RS Freshman) in the mix. Coach Mason and Coach Ludwig will also welcome in four-star quarterback Kyle Shurmur (true frosh, 6’4″, 226), whom Mason says will be “the future of our program down the road.” Shurmur, from Philadelphia, Pa, is the son of Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, and possesses a cannon-like arm. Kyle is highly accurate and has very good mobility and an extremely high football IQ. So quarterback looks solid heading into fall camp. Coach Mason also hired two young, energetic and talented coaches in wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton, who came from Dartmouth where he helped lead the Big Green to a 20-10 three year span, and safeties coach Marc Mattioli who coached with Coach Mason at Stanford and comes from Stanford after working with their secondary under Stanford Coach David Shaw. They both bring high energy, great coaching, and great recruiting ability to the fold. They along with our returning coaches round out an excellent staff.

Another major change will be Coach Mason taking over the defense as defensive coordinator. He looked around and thought there was nobody more suited to oversee his defense than himself. He says the team has practiced in the time frame the NCAA has given the coaches this summer, getting to practice at 5:45 AM, working out where Coach Mason does his coaching and then has handled his head coaching duties, media and speaking engagements in the afternoon.

We’ve got a great group of players returning and with Coach Mason, Coach Ludwig, our two young coaches along with our present coaches the team is energized to have a highly competitive 2015 and set their sights on a very good year and position themselves for big things in the future. We start off with Western Kentucky at Dudley Field in Nashville on Thursday, September 3rd, at 8 PM ET/7 PM CT on the SEC Network. Western has one of the more prolific offenses in the country, led by quarterback Brandon Doughty who was 375-of-552 for 4,830 yards, 49 TDs and 10 ints last season. He has talented playmakers around him and a good offensive line. Their defense is improved from a year ago.  They beat a previously undefeated Marshall team (Marshall was 11-0), 67-66 last year, and won their Bahamas Bowl game over Central Michigan, 49-48. Jeff Brohm, a keen offensive mind, is their head coach. Coach Mason and his staff knows this will be a huge challenge, but we have the makings of a heckuva defense and a coach that beat Marcus Mariota and Oregon twice as defensive coordinator at Stanford.

Coach Mason and his staff have secured 10 commitments for the 2016 class and Mason strongly believes we’ve got some more studs secured to fill out this class, who will pull the trigger once they see how competitive we are in the first three games of the season. We’ll play Georgia in week 2 at home, Saturday, Sept. 12th, at 3:30 PM ET/2:30 PM CT on CBS. Nick Chubb and company will be a challenge, but I like the way our defense is developing to be maybe the most unsung and one of the best in the SEC. Game three is against Austin Peay at home @ 4 PM ET/3 PM CT on the SEC Network Alternate channel. Then we play @ Ole Miss, @ Middle Tennessee State, @ South Carolina, home vs. Missouri, @ Houston, @ Florida, home vs. Kentucky, home vs Texas A&M and @ Tennessee on Nov. 28th, a Saturday. The only other game that has been set for TV is the MTSU game which will air at 7 PM ET/6 PM CT on the CBS College Sports Network. The schedule is the fifth hardest in the country, but that doesn’t deter Coach Mason, his staff and the players. They embrace this challenge.

Here is my interview with Coach Mason.

DW: Coach, what’s the mindset of this football team heading into 2015?

DM: “It’s a mindset like we never really left. We’ve been working and pushing since the end of last season to change our culture, how we approach the game and how we play the game.”

DW: Coach, I heard in media days that you talked about the physical development of the team. Talk about the physical development of the team in the offseason?

DM: “James Dobson, our new strength coach, has added more upper body strength to our team. We’ve made a lot of strength gains. He has installed confidence in our players. Our defensive lineman and offensive linemen are much bigger and stronger. We’ve been going to work every week since the end of the season last year. We’ve had tough lifting sessions and he’s pushed these guys to their limits, to what they did two, three years ago when they were going to bowl games. He went to seven consecutive bowl games as Nebraska’s strength coach. He is teaching us how to compete in the SEC and how to give maximum effort. What you do in the weight room carries over onto the football field, and James has given our guys the mindset on how to compete and win in the SEC. We have a saying it’s ‘RTI.’ R stands for relentlessness, being a relentless competitor. We want to be tough, tough as anybody on that football field, even tougher. And we want to be intelligent. Not hurt ourselves with penalties, convert in the redzone, stop the other team on third and fourth downs. We want to be as fast and physical as we can be and be relentless up front on both sides of the ball. Coach Dobson has brought that mindset into our offseason program.”

DW: Coach, I’ll ask you the inevitable question: how is the quarterback competition shaping up, is Stank healthy, how does the competition between Johnny and Wade look and what does freshman Kyle Shurmur bring to the table?

DM: “First, I’ll start with Stank. He’s rehabbed his knee well (he hurt his knee in the spring, an ACL tear), he’s moving around well and he’ll be full go later in camp. He’s put on 13 pounds of strength and looks great. Kyle Shurmur no doubt could be the future of this football team. He’s a young guy with excellent size, a strong arm, he’s extremely mobile, and is very accurate with his throws. He will deliver the ball where it needs to go.

“Now to Wade and Johnny. They are our lead candidates for the starting job and the number one backup. We will have a clear number one and number two. They’re both working hard. We ask our quarterbacks to do three things:  1. To lead us, 2. help us move the football and get in the end zone, and 3. to take care of the football. Our quarterbacks need to be consistent and intelligent. Wade has a strong arm and good mobility and Johnny has gotten his weight down to 218. Johnny had some highs and lows last year as did Wade, but both are talented players and are capable of leading this team to a successful season.”

DW: How does running back look with Ralph Webb and Dallas Rivers as your go to guys?

DM: “Ralph (5’10”, 202, RS soph) has gotten faster, he’s catching the ball out of the backfield and he’s really worked on his pass pro. We wanted him to add more to his game than just carrying the football, and one thing about Ralph, he wants to work. Ralph ran for over 900 yards last year and we expect big things from him. He doesn’t take anything for granted. He’s a worker. Dallas averaged 4.5 yards a carry last year. He has great vision and great size (6’1″, 224 soph), and he’s a great compliment to Ralph with his tough running style. At fullback we have DeAndre Woods (6’3″, 235), Ladarius Banks (6’2″, 255) and Kyle Anderton (6’5″, 255). This is a group with great size and we can use them all over the place. Coach Ludwig can use us in two backs are put them as H-backs. All are good blockers and physical players. And then we have Darrius Sims, who we’re going to get as many touches as possible (kind of like a D.J. Moore with rocket sweeps and passes out in the flat and out wide). And Darrius, I’m not trying to put too much pressure on him, but as a punt returner, he can be like Devin Hester. He’s that good. He’s just a dynamic player. I told him that during a game you might get five or six opportunities to return a punt. That’ll be at least 60 opportunities over the course of the regular season. We’ll use him in the slot a lot. He’s a game changer.

“And let me move over to the tight end position. Steven Scheu (6’5″, 245) can have a tremendous year (loo0king at a next level guy here-in my opinion, probably in Coach Mason’s too). We’ve got him DeAndre Woods, and Nathan Marcus (6’5″, 240) is going to be a big time player for us. The tight end is the quarterback’s best friend. Sam Dobbs (6’4″, 220 freshman) and Jared Pinkney (6’4″, 240) are going to be great players for us too. They both have elite speed and good skill sets, good hands.”

Mason was at Stanford where tight ends played a huge part in the offense. Guys like Colby Fleener (Indianapolis Colts) are big time players. Zac Ertz was another who stood out at Stanford and is a big time player for the Philadelphia Eagles now. Mason likes his tight ends. I’d say Rob Gronkowski and Jason Witten are pretty important players to the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys respectively.

“And we’ve got a bunch of receivers. A guy to look for is Trent Sherfield (6’0″, 200, soph), He’s dynamic and has elite speed and great hands. With Trent and Latevius Rayford (6’1″, 200) on the perimeter, then you add C.J. Duncan (who can be a house call waiting to happen as well) in the slot, and Ronald Monroe (6’3″, 200) who can be a special player for us too. Caleb Scott (6’2″, 195) and Rashad Canty  will be weapons also. We have some weapons on the outside.”

DW: How does the offensive front look?
DM: “We’ve got our four key guys in Jelks, Pulley, Bernstein and Gouger. We’ll have Spencer Pulley at center (6’4″, 300 senior)  and he’s played a lot of games here along with those other guys. They’re all in the 310-315 range.”

Andrew Jelks, a four star recruit three years ago should have a breakout year at left tackle. Jake Bernstein can play guard or tackle and brings tenaciousness and toughness. Barrett Gouger is a guard who also brings tenacity and physicality to the line, and Will Holden or Delando Crooks could man the other tackle spot. Both could be elite. Coach Mason also likes Bruno Reagan (6″3″, 315, redshirt freshman). Justin Skule (6″7″, 305 freshman), Blake Fromang (6’7″, 305) and Cole Hardin (6’4″, 300) will supply excellent depth. The line is big, strong and deep. Kevin McCoy is another who could stand out at some point in the season if he has a good fall practice. He’s 6’5″, 305. So there is excellent depth, a ton of physicality, experience,  and high football IQ on this line. Jared Southers, a true freshman,  is 6’4″, 315, and Coach Mason likes his potential for this team.

DW: Coach let’s talk about your specialty, your defense, starting up front?

DM: “We’re going to play aggressive, hard-nosed and get to the football, and it starts with the guys in the trenches. I’m excepting Stephen Weatherly (6″5″, 250 OLB in 3-4 defense) to have a big year both in rushing the quarterback and stopping the run. Caleb Azubike (6’4″, 260) is going to play with his hand on the ground this year. Both can be dominant players for us. Adam Butler (DE, 6’5″, 300, RS Jr) can be a force for us in the middle along with Nifae (Lealao, 6’5″, 315 DT). We’re hoping to get good production out of Jay Woods (DE/DT, 6″3″, 280). Jay is a strong player and will be very disruptive. We also want good production from Jonathan Wynn (6″4″, 250 D end) and Torey Agee *6’4″, 282, DE or DT). We feel like we have a good front with good depth.”

Look for freshman Darrion Debrossard (6’4″, 340) to make an impact this fall too.

DW: Coach I know you’re excited about your linebackers.

DM: “We’ve got a highly talented, deep, tough linebacking corps. You start with Nigel Bowden and Darreon Herring on the inside. Nigel (6″1″, 24-0) can dominate. Darreon is our leader and has added 9 more pounds of pure muscle. We’ve also got Ja’karri Thomas and Zach Cunningham, who are both dynamic football players for us. Then you add Nehemiah Mitchell (6’4″, 260 junior college transfer) on the outside at linebacker and defensive end, and you’ve got quite a pass rusher and run stopper. Then we add freshmen Caleb Peart (6’1″ 230) and Dare Odeyingbo (6’2″, 252) who are ready to play. Man, I’m excited about our linebackers. On the outside we added freshman Josh Smith ( a four star recruit, freshman) and we won’t be able to keep him off the field. He’s dynamic too. Then Jordan Griffin, another freshman,  is tough and highly talented. We’re really good at linebacker.”

DW: How does the secondary look?

DM: “Our safeties, Andrew Williamson, Oren Burks and Jahmel McIntosh, are outstanding. Those are the three guys who stand out. Emmanuel Smith and Tre Tarpley are excellent players (Emmanuel could play the nickel spot). Another guy I left out at linebacker is Khari Blasingame (6’1″, 235, redshirt freshman). He’ll be in the mix. At corner, Torren McGaster looks like a lockdown player and Taurean Ferguson looks like he could be lockdown. Tre Herndon can be a phenomenal player for us at corner or safety. Tre Bell is another talented corner and Jalen Banks is another excellent option at safety. Another guy I want you to look for is LaDarius Wiley at corner. He’s 6’2″, 209 and is highly athletic and talented. He’ll be in the mix. And freshman (cornerback) Donovan Sheffield (a four-star recruit in this freshman group) is dynamic. We’re going to have to get him on the football field. He’s ready.”

DW: How does the kicking game look?

DM: Colby Cooke is 6’3″, 215 and has really improved his leg  strength. He will punt. He was a little inconsistent last year. He’d kick a 60 yarder than a 31 harder. But we feel good about him. Tommy Openshaw was one of the better kickers in the conference last year. It took Carey Spear a while to get it and I think Tommy is ready to be our place kicker.”

Wilson Johnson is in the mix as long snapper.

“We’ll have Darrius returning punts and we expect big things out of him. We’ll go with Sims, Duncan, Sherfield, Tre Ellis, Ronald Monroe and Ralph Webb working to get those dynamic kick returners which you need.”

DW: Well, Coach, it sounds like you’re pretty pumped up for Vanderbilt football in 2015?

DM: “I am. We have a lot of young players and we think the future is bright here, but the future is now. We’re ready to get started.”