Baseball struggled over the weekend with Georgia and is really hampered by injuries. Having Tate Kolwyck out, our outstanding second baseman, along with right fielder Isaiah Thomas, and left fielder Cooper Davis, and now with stellar pitcher Sam Hlboki injured on Saturday, we’re struggling with the injured list. Hope we can get these guys back soon, particularly Tate, Isaiah and Sam. No real timetable yet. Tate may be at the beginning of May if not sooner, Isaiah is day to day and could be back this weekend against Tennessee. Cooper not sure on, and Sam’s injury from Saturday has not been specified, but looked kind of bad when it happened. They’re key players for us. Sam looked like it could be a pretty serious arm injury. He’s a really excellent pitcher, so that would be a blow. Need the other 2 guys’ bats and Cooper hits it pretty well and is a senior and provides very good leadership. So we need to get healthy. We’re now 25-5 overall and 9-3 in the SEC after losing 2 of 3 from Georgia. Kumar had a rough Thursday, and we committed 4 errors Thursday Night. Friday, Jack pitched well and we hit it well in the bottom of the 8th. Saturday was another forgettable game. I still like our team. We are ranked No.2 in the country by D-1 baseball behind Arkansas. We’re 6 by Baseball America. Collegiate Baseball News has us at No.2 and the USA Today Coaches Poll has us at No.2 also behind Ark. We play Eastern Kentucky tomorrow night at 6:30 at the Hawk at 6:30 CT on SEC Network+. They’re 10-20, but we need to play a lot better starting tomorrow night. Then we go to Knoxville Friday through Sunday to play now No.5 Tennessee. UT is 27-6 overall and 9-3 in the SEC, tied with us for first place overall with Arkansas. Friday Night’s game is at 6 PM CT on ESPNU, Saturday’s game is at 3 PM CT on the SEC Network, and Sunday’s game is at 12 PM CT on SEC Network+. So huge week for the team, hopefully with some guys back. Will find out what the story is on the injuries in the weekly call with Corbs probably on Wednesday.
The 2 basketball commits for 2022 are excellent, Five star center Lee Dort, 6’11’, 240, and 4 star shooting guard Noah Shelby, both from Grennhill School in Addison, Texas. That’s tremendous. Didn’t love the fact that Stack interviewed with UNC. He needs to be committed, and get this basketball team to the tournament. Kevin Stallings, despite some of his flaws, got us to the tourney several times. I believe that Bryce would have if he had been given more of a chance. He lost Darius Garland after 4 games in the 2018-19 season and Garland just scored 37 for the Cleveland Cavaliers a week ago. He was a phenomenal talent and was the chassis that drove our team. Without him, we were a shell of ourselves. I thought Bryce got a raw deal. His brother just won the national championship, so good coaching is in his genes. Stack needs to commit and he’s got plenty to prove. He’s shown he can develop players, but we need to do a lot better in the win-loss column. Ready to see major progress next season. No reason we can’t go to the tournament. Scotty PIppen Jr has declared for the draft, but has not hired an agent, so we’ll need to get real lucky there. Isaac McBride is transferring. Not sure why. He was going to be an important player for us. Dylan Disu should come back. We’ll have good talent. I want to trust Stack and know he’s going to be at VU for a long time, but he’s got to gain that trust by committing to the University. I’ll be behind him if he does. He’s assembling an awesome 2022 class, so if Stack will stick with us, he can excel. We are 3rd in the country in recruiting for 2022 and first in the SEC.
Football progressing well on the practice field. Like the effort and enthusiasm of the team under Clark. From all I’ve read and seen, including interviews with the assistants, I really like this coaching staff. We’ve got 5 commitments for 2022, and just anded tight end Cole Spence, an 85 3 star, 6’6”, 220, who is a stud catching the ball and blocking and quarterback in 86, 3 star Drew Dickey. Drew threw for 28 TDs last season, is highly accurate with a strong arm and ran for over 700 yards and 8 TDs. He’s the complete package. Cole is from Alpharetta, GA. and Drew is from Austin, TX. They join 87, 3 star LB Langston Patterson from CPA, Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville, 85, 3 star defensive end Linus Zink, from Rabun Gap, GA, and 86, 3 star linebacker B J Diakite from Pinson Valley High School in B’ham, the same school that produced our all time great linebacker Zach Cunningham, who is excelling for the Houston Texans in the NFL. We are ranked 30th in the country for 2022 in the 247 sports recruiting class rankings and 9th in the SEC, which is an awesome start.
Defense is looking pretty solid in practice and Temple running back transfer Re’Mahn Davis, at 5’9”, 210, is having a stellar spring camp. Ken Seals and Mike Wright have both looked solid at QB. Both sides of the trenches are solid and deep. Like what I’m seeing and hearing out of the offensive line. We’ve got 3 guys who opted back in this season and some really good size and talent. On defense, there are some frontline players who are really coming into their own like Malik Langham, a former 4 star, Daevion Davis, a high 3 star, Derek Green, another high 3 star, and Raashaan Wilkins has looked very solid. Still need to keep developing depth, but there is some real good potential for the dline to be a force. Rutger Reitmaier is another former 4 star who can be a force. Langham transferred from Florida, Green from Oklahoma and Reitmaier from Oregon, so all those schools liked them. They are big talented players. There are some more guys. Linebacker is coming along. Ready to see the Orji brothers, Alston and Anfernee, have big seasons for us in 2021. Ethan Barr showed signs of being a really good LB his freshman year in 2020. He’ll be a key player for us in the fall. And we need to get Elijah McCallister healthy and he is now. He can be a force rushing off the edge. Really like De’Rickey Wright. De”Rickey, who lost his mother last December to cancer, sadly, is a committed young guy with a lot of talent and can be kind of an Oren Burks player for us as a safety or linebacker, the Anchor position in Clark’s 4-2-5 defense. Oren, by the way, is on the Green Bay Packers and has a bright future for the Pack.
Secondary looks very promising. Allan George is back at a corner, and fellow Andalusia, Alabama teammate BJ Anderson will join him in the fall. BJ was knocked out last year with a torn ACL, but will be back in August and I really like those 2 together though Gabe Jeudy-Lally is making a strong case to start. High 3 star John Howse IV from Brentwood Academy, and solid 3 star corner Tyson Russell are early enrollees and doing very well in camp. Donovan Kaufman is going to be stellar. The former 4 star from New Orleans is an exceptional safety and kickoff/punt returner unless the electric Cam Johnson gets punt returning duties. Really excited about Donovan. Max Worship has always impressed me as have Justin and Brendon Harris at safety. DaShaun Jerkins is a super talent on the back end. One of the strengths of our team is the secondary. The great Ben Bresnahan and Gavin Schoenwald will be stellar at tight end and we have depth there. Cam Johnson, Amir-Abdul-Rahman, and Chris Pierce, Jr. are a superb trifecta at WR. Tyrell Alexander is back and he was a high 3 star out of high school and played at Oklahoma State,. He has promise. Devin Boddie is quick, and can add some explosiveness. Logan Kyle and Will Sheppard are young guys who can be stellar. Like what they can bring to the table. And we have high 88 , 3 star by 247 and 4 star by Rivals, Quincy Skinner Jr. from St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale coming in along with high 3 star James Ziglor III from Kennesaw, GA., solid 3 star Gamarion Carter from Taccoa, GA., along with lightning fast 3 star slotback Ezra McAllister. So, wide receiver is another position of strength. Along with Re’Mahn Davis, Ja’Veon Marlow and Rocko Griffin give us excellent speed at running back. Both are talented and can make house calls. Ja’Veon has had issues with injuries through the years, but when he’s healthy, has shown flashes of brilliance running the ball. Rocko looks like he could be a big time stud as well.We lost Keyon Henry-Brooks to transfer, and that’s a blow, but we’ve got good talent still on the roster, and should absorb the loss and be very effective running the ball in the fall. We’ll have freshmen Dylan Betts-Pauley and Patrick Smith coming in. Both are promising. Betts-Pauley, from Hoover High School in B’ham, is a power runner at 6’0,” 215, and Smith rushed for 1,700 yards and over 20 TDs out of Abescon, New Jersey. He’s a speedster. So like the running back room
Finally, Ken Seals is going to be exceptional this season. Mike Wright will be, too. They are battling it out for the No.1 job at QB. Ken is poised to have a tremendous year, but Mike is giving him a run for his money for the starting nod. Ken has strong arm and is accurate and runs a little, while Mike can throw it well and has exceptional wheels. The Spring game performances of both is a start to telling the coaching staff as to whom will be under center in the fall. Jeremy Moussa is doing a good job behind Ken and Mike.
So, I like this team a lot. We’ve got some freshmen who can come in and help, and we’ve got excellent veterans. Coach Mason recruited some very good players. I just thought he never had a prolific staff. He had 3 or 4 good coaches each season, but never a solid, complete staff. I really like the staff Clark has assembled. Hoping Coach Mason has great success as defensive coordinator at Auburn. He was dedicated to Vanderbilt and gave it a super effort. Just wasn’t his time as a head coach. Down the road, I hope he gets another shot because he showed signs of being potentially a very good college football coach. He should do well at Auburn and hopefully that’ll lead him to another head coaching job.
And I like what we have in Clark. Super guy. He was in the stands Saturday greeting all the fans. He just loves it. He needs our support. He’s going to do some excellent things at VU.
Spring game is this Saturday at 11 AM CT on SEC Network+ on the computer, Iphone or Smart TV. I’ll have a report on Monday.
Our 13th ranked Men’s Golf Team finished 4th at the Collegiate Invitational at the Country Club of Birmingham (AL.) last week. Clemson won it at +2, Tennessee was +8, North Florida was +11 and we were +17. The first day we finished +3, day 2 we had a rough day at +13, but day 3 we finished +1, so finished strong. William Moll finished tied for 6th at +1 and Reid Davenport finished tied for 11th at +2. Coach Limbaugh was pleased with our hanging tough in some tough weather conditions in day 2 and playing solid golf in day 3. We need to get out of the gates a little quicker. Next up is the SEC Championships starting next Wednesday, April 21st through Sunday, April 25th at Sea Island, GA. So, we need to be prepared to battle, and finally reach our potential. Coach Limbaugh has been encouraged with the team’s competitiveness throughout the season and believes in the guys. Hoping we can put it together at the Ocean Course in Sea Island next week. The NCAA’s start Monday, May 17th, and will be played at Kingston Springs, TN. That could be a slight advantage for us. The NCAA Championships start Friday, May 28th in Scottsdale, AZ, and run through Wednesday, June 2nd. The first 3 days are stroke play, then the Elite Eight, the Final Four and the Championship are all match play. We reached the Final Four twice under Coach Limbaugh in 2017 and 2019. No reason to believe we can’t do that again this year, and we have the top 2 players in the country coming in next season in Birmingham, Alabama stud Gordon Sargent and Pinehurst, N.C. stud Jackson Van Paris. So this year AND the future look exceptionally bright.
Our 21st ranked Women’s Tennis team won a key match on the road @ No.41 Mississippi State, 4-0. Christina Rosca and Emma Kurtz won at No’s 1 and 2 respectively, and Marcella Cruz won at 6 and we won the doubles point. We’ve been really good at doubles this year, just struggled some at singles lately. Still, an excellent way to finish off the regular season for our team. The team now heads to the SEC Tournament in Tuscaloosa next Monday, April 19th through Friday, April 23rd. We need to play like we did on Saturday. We’re capable. The NCAA’s start Friday, May 7th at a site to be determined.
Our 10th ranked women’s soccer team tied No.7 Duke, 0-0, at Durham, N.C. yesterday. Freshman goalkeeper Kate Devine came in for the second half and made 2 critical stops on Duke shots. So, good effort from the women. Now it’s the NCAA Tournament played at various sites in North Carolina starting Tuesday, April 27th and Wednesday, April 28th. The College Cup, the Final Four of Women’s Soccer, will be played Thursday, May 13th with the championship game Monday, May 17th. in Cary North Carolina. We’ve got a very good team with potential to do well this year, and with a lot of talent returning next season, a chance to excel next season as well. Will let you know where we are going and when we play when the NCAA puts out the 36 team bracket. Usually 48 teams, but, due to COVID, some teams opted out, so there will be a smaller field. We have a lot of our top players coming back next season as well, so we should be stellar in 2021-22 also.