First of all, I’d like to clarify where Darius Garland goes to school. It’s Brentwood Academy in Nashville. I misreported that he went to Battleground Academy, BGA, in Nashville, but it’s actually Brentwood Academy. My apologies for the error. My apologies to Darius, his family and BA as well.

That aside, we have one superb point guard coming to Vanderbilt University. Darius signed a letter of intent on Monday, and in his first game as a Commodore signee, he dropped 43 on Centennial High School in Nashville last night. I watched DG’s film and it was a combination of Kyrie Irving and Steph Curry. It was magnificent. He dribbled behind his back, cut on a dime to get around defenders, passed like Tom Brady, and shot it like Steph and MJ. It was phenomenal. This is one stellar basketball player, and as Bryce described him a “program changer” for the our basketball program. His dribbling, his passing, and his shooting look Easy Like Sunday Morning as the great Commodores so eloquently put it back in the day. Can’t wait to see DG suit up for us in our season opener in 2018-19. We’re going to really like what we see and what we can accomplish with Darius and our other stellar players.

Darius chose us over a Final Four of VU, Kentucky, UCLA and Indiana. It came down to us and Indiana, and 3 hours before his afternoon press conference on Monday, DG let it be known to ESPN that he was coming to the West End. DG is the 15th ranked player in the country by Rivals and the 10th ranked player nationally by 247 Sports. He’s 6’2″, 175, and, as a junior, averaged 23.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists leading his Eagles team to a 30-2 record and a Division II-AA title. As a sophomore, DG averaged 18.6 points, 4.3 assists and 2.5 steals for the state champion Eagles. He’s been the 2 time Mr. Basketball for the state of Tennessee. We’ve got a great one for sure. 

Darius and his parents are first class, salt of the Earth, spiritual people. They believe in athletics AND academics. Both are equally important in the Garland family.

So now we have Darius and outstanding small forward Aaron Nesmith in the fold. Aaron, who signed last Wednesday, is a consensus 4 star forward out of Charleston, SC who is 6’5″, 180. He’s a superb player and Bryce said the other day that Aaron can grow to 6’7″ by the time he hits campus.  

Some other very interesting news. The 6th ranked player in the country, 5 star power forward Simi Shittu, a 6’8″, 210 pounder out of Saxtons River Vermont, is very close to Darius and is heavily considering us. Looks like it’s down to us and North Carolina for the consensus 5 star and the No.1 power forward in the country. Simi is another player Bryce, Associate head coach Roger Powell, Jr., and assistants Jake Diebler and Casey Shaw are heavily pursuing. I feel very good that we can get Simi as well. Another 5 star, the 6th ranked player in the country, shooting guard Romeo Langford, out of New Albany, Indiana, has us in his final 3 with Indiana and Kansas. If we can get these 2 along with Aaron and Darius, watch out SEC and watch out nation. We’ve already got good players, and signed 3 stellar players in 2017, so with Joe Toye, Payton Willis, Clevon Brown, Larry Austin, Jr.,  Djery Baptiste and 2 transfers who are sitting out this season on next year’s roster as well, this team will be very capable of doing some major things. Ecstatic over the DG news and what that can hold for the rest of the recruiting season.

Now about our 2017-18 team, which is just as important, if not moreso. We’ve got 3 stellar freshmen in 4 star Saben Lee, along with high 3 stars Ejike Obinna, and Maxwell Evans. Ejike was actually a 4 star by 247. Saben is a 6’1″, 175 point guard  out of Tempe, Arizona, who has already shown signs of becoming an elite college player. He really showed it Monday Night in an unfortunate loss to Belmont, which I’ll talk about in a minute. He can drive, dish, shoot and score at the rim. Saben is fearless. Maxwell, 6’2″, 180 out of Houston, looks like he’ll be an excellent player for us as well, but he’s developing. Ejike, out of Ashburn, VA., is built like Fort Knox at 6’9″, 230. He’s an impressive looking player and is going to give us a lot, hopefully this season. Like these three additions very much.

After winning our first game handily over Austin Peay, we ran into kind of a Perfect Storm Monday Night at Belmont. This Belmont team is pretty high quality and could very well be a tournament team. They defeated us 69-60. Our defense was fine, we held them to 22-of-54 from the field, 41%, and 6-of-27 from triple, 22%. But our offense wasn’t there. We sank only 17-of-48 shots, 35%, and 4-of-23 trifectas, 17%. So a tough night shooting the ball. We out-rebounded them at 39 to 33, we turned it over 15 times to their 10, but it really just came down to our shooting. We’ve got to get more of an inside presence from Djery, Clevon, Jeff Roberson, Joe Toye, and even Matthew Fisher-Davis to set up shooting for MFD, Riley, Jeff, Joe, Larry, Payton, and the freshmen. Ejike would be an asset if he could develop this season. Belmont played hard and their gym was rockin. They really wanted to take us down. We’re fine though. Believe in Riley, MFD and Jeff, our senior leaders. They’ll get it going. Like our juniors, Joe and transfer Larry Austin, Jr., and our sophomores Clevon and Payton. We have 6’10”, 235 Yanni Wetzell and 6’8″, 209 Matt Ryan sitting on the bench as transfers from St Mary’s University in Texas and Notre Dame respectively. Both are talented and can add toughness in the post and good scoring ability, so in 2018-19 we’re going to be stacked.

But this season is what it’s all about and I believe Riley, MFD and Jeff with all of their experience and talent, can lead us to some great things all season long. Monday Night was an aberration. This team is going to be very good. Bryce is still trying to sort out a rotation of around 8-9 guys. We have so much talent and depth, that it’s difficult to decide who plays. At the end of the game Monday Night, Bryce had Saben, Riley, Joe, MFD and Jeff in there. That’s a pretty good group. But we need to get our chemistry right. Bryce’ll get it done. Believe in that firmly. We have UNC Asheville Friday Night at Memorial for a 7 PM tip. SEC Network+ will broadcast on the computer.  UNC Asheville is 1-1, having lost to Rhode Island on the road, 84-60, and defeating Lees-McRae at home, 92-60. They played in the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and have won quite a few Big South regular season championships recently. They have been to the NCAA Tournament 4 times in 2003, 2011, 2012 and 2016. Their coach, Nick McDevitt, in his 5th season, has done an excellent job. So we’ll need to be ready to play on Friday. Need to rebound from Monday Night.

Women’s Soccer doin some serious work

The women’s soccer team went on the road last Friday Night and defeated the 14th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State was the 4th seed overall in the tournament. It was tremendous. Nia Dorsey scored our first goal off assists from Leila Azari and Lydia Simmons, and Stephanie Amack headed in the game winner off a corner kick by Azari. This is our first NCAA Tournament victory in 19 years and there is great optimism that we can keep going deeper in the tournament. I’m not as familiar with how the Women’s Soccer NCAA Tournament works as far as the mechanics, but I believe there’s a field of 64 with a Sweet 16, an Elite Eight and a Final Four. Getting in touch with our super coach Darren Ambrose to find out more. Will let you know before our game starts Friday. We play Santa Clara in the second round of the tournament on Friday at 2 PM in Columbia, SC. The game will be broadcast by SEC Network+. I’m pretty pumped up for our women. 

Some great news, also; Stephanie Amack was named National Player of the week by Top Drawer Soccer. Huge stuff for Stephanie. She actually scored in the 89th minute of regulation. Soccer games are 90 minutes for regulation, so Stephanie was super clutch.  Wow. Super stuff from Coach Ambrose, Stephanie and the team. Will keep you posted on our soccer team’s progress Friday. Compelling stuff from the Women.

Men’s Golf

Coach Scott Limbaugh and his experienced, talented men’s golf team captured the East Lake Cup at famed East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta about a month ago. East Lake is where the PGA Tour plays the Tour Championship, the penultimate event for the Fed Ex Cup and the $10 million dollar paycheck that comes with it.

It was another super job by our team that has a very good shot to go a long way this season after a superb Final Four season last year. We defeated Illinois in the Finals, 4-1, after defeating Oregon in the semis, 4-1 in the Cup. We’ve got stellar senior Theo Humphrey, stellar juniors Patrick Martin and Will Gordon, and sophomore John “Clutch” Augenstein all back. Freshman Harrison Ott is the fifth player in our talented starting 5. Golfweek has us ranked 4th in the country, and Golfstat has us 5th, but the final rankings are all that matters, and this team’s got a shot to do some major things this season under the great Scott Limbaugh and with our talented, deep roster that Scott has assembled. Will talk to Scott in January, as our first match for the spring season is February 17th-18th at the Suntrust Gator Invitational in Gainesville, FL. I’m pretty ecstatic over what our team can accomplish this season, but we’ve got a lot of work to do starting now and heading into the season. Scott will have our guys ready. 

Some other super news; Brandt Snedeker is playing this weekend in the RSM Classic in Sea Island, GA., the Seaside course. Brandt has been sidelined for about 6 months with an injury to his sternum, but he feels good, says he’s hitting it very well, he always chips and putts very well, and he’s ready to go tomorrow. Really excited to see B get back out there. He says he’s had to change his diet and give up French Fries which he’s pretty disappointed about. That would be tough for me, too. That’s a rare treat in my household. My wife tries to keep me healthy. But B is dedicated, so he’s changed his diet to play some more exceptional golf. The 8 time tour winner is back.

Jon Curran will also be playing this weekend in Sea Island. Good to see JC get back out there, after battling some injuries last season that kept him on the shelf for the most part of last season. Luke List has been playing very well and is 26th in the Fed Ex Cup rankings. Luke is close. He is not playing  this weekend, but will be back soon. Luke plays a lot.

Ready to see Brandt capture a major and Luke and Jon win out there and build toward that kind of stuff that Brandt always has a shot at. Would really like to see Brandt play well this fall and get ready for the 2018 season that starts in Hawaii. Brandt loves Augusta National. It’s his dream to win there. Maybe it can happen in 2018. 

Football

It’s been tough sledding for our football team, but we’re 4-6 and we’ve got 2 games left that we can win. We host Missouri this Saturday at 6:30 PM CT on the SEC Network. Missouri is coming off a 50-17 victory over Tennessee. We’re coming off a defeat to Kentucky. Our defense needs to step it up and we’ve got to take care of the football better and make more explosive plays offensely. Still very much believe in Coach Mason, Coach Andy Ludwig (OC), Coach Cameron Norcross (Offensive line), Coach Cortez Hankton (wide receivers), Coach Chris Marve (Inside backers), and Coach Warren Belin (outside backers), all our coaches. I also unequivocally support Ralph Webb, Kyle Shurmur, Trent Sherfield, C.J., Kalija Lipscomb, Oren Burks, Emanuel Smith, Ryan White, and Joejuan Williams, and all our players. We’ve still got a very good group. I told a friend of mine before the season, who is an Auburn fan, that we could have a good team and only win 5 games. We do have a good team, but the SEC is outrageously tough year in, year out. Hopefully we can make it 6 victories. It starts Saturday versus Missouri. 

The football players did an incredible thing last Saturday in honoring our veterans and wearing  Medals of Honor patches on their jerseys. Kicker Tommy Openshaw spearheaded the movement, and he Caleb Scott and Oren Burks did a ton in supporting our veterans. At halftime of the basketball game Monday Night, there was a very moving piece featuring Tommy, and talking to Oren and Kyle about our military and what they mean to them. The women who runs the program was so appreciative of Tommy and the players. It was pretty amazing really and very much made me proud of our football players, and of course, our military. The lady whom they interviewed is a terrific person.  Really appreciate our players so much for the effort and passion they put into our football program. These guys deserve the best as does our military always. Maybe we can win a couple for our vets this Saturday and next Saturday.

In the NFL, Jay and the Dolphins had a tough time Monday Night, losing at Carolina, 45-21, but Jay put up some pretty good numbers. He was 22 for 37 for 213 yards, 2 TDs and an int. His rating was 82.4, which is pretty decent. The Phins need to regroup this week against Tampa Bay at home. 

JMatt caught 1 pass for 14 yards in the Bills loss to the Saints. JMatt will get it going. Casey Hayward and Spencer Pulley played well for the LA Chargers in a tough loss Jaguars. Both are doing good things for the Bolts.  Andre Hal and Zach Cunningham played well for the Texans though they lost. Feel sorry for Andre and Zach in Houston because they had a super team with a chance to go serious distance this season, but they lost all world defensive end J.J. Watt for the year in the first game of the season, along with outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus. Then, maybe the most devastating blow came in practice about 3 weeks ago when stellar rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson tore a ligament in his knee and was lost for the season. Even without J.J, and Whitney, the Texans had a shot because Deshaun was playing so well. But the loss of Deshaun has been just too much for the Texans to overcome. But if the Texans can just see how they can do the rest of the season and be as competitive as possible, with Deshaun, J.J., Whitney and those talented players around them back next season, Houston will be a serious contender for the Lombardi Trophy. Like where Andre and Zach are, and they’re both firmly entrenched as starters for the Texans at safety and inside linebacker respectively.

Wesley Johnson did well for the Jets and is doing a super job at center for them, and Adam Butler is playing extremely well at defensive tackle for another stellar New England Patriots squad. Adam is right there in the middle of the Pats rotation. He’s on another epic Bill Belichick-Tom Brady team. Super to see Adam playing for this elite organization and performing at a high level. 

Baseball

We have the top ranked freshman class in the country on campus, Corbs has the top ranked classes in 2018, 2019 and the second ranked class in 2020 also. We can be No.1 in 2020 by the time it’s all said and done and solidify 2018 and 2019 as well. Every one of the players from this freshmen class is playing on our baseball team. You combine that with guys like Patrick Raby, who most likely will be our Friday Night starter and who is stellar, outstanding first baseman Julian Infante, super shortstop Connor Kaiser, stellar second baseman Ethan Paul, super utility infielder Alonzo Jones, and excellent infielder-outfielder Harrison Ray, and we’ve got the makings of an elite team. I’ll be very interested to see what Corbs and Pitching Coach Scott Brown do with left handed pitcher Jackson Gillis. Jackson showed signs of being an elite pitcher for us in the postseason last year out of the bullpen. He could be a starter or a closer. A lot of super material to work with on this baseball team. I’d say Corbs is an all time good coach in college baseball history.

We’ve got a shot to do some serious work in 2018 and beyond that with these recruiting classes Corbs is assembling. Our 2017 class, the freshmen, has 18 players, our 2018 class has 22 players committed, our 2019 class has 15 commits, and 2020 has 7 commits at least. Wow.  Corbs, Associate head coach Brown, new hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Mike Baxter, a several year veteran of the majors who just recently retired, and former player David Macias are doing serious damage in recruiting and coaching up these guys. Will talk to Corbs in January and get the low down for this riveting 2018 group and the prospects for the season. We open up the season at home versus Duke for a weekend set, Feb. 16th-18th, so a good start to the season. Florida, LSU, all the heavyweights of the SEC will be waiting on us, but that’s fine. We’ll be waiting on them too.