How I see the depth chart:

CB: Martel Hight/Tyson Russell/Taco Wright
CB: Kolbey Taylor/Truedell Berry/Jaylin Lackey
FS: CJ Taylor/Marlen Sewell/Steven Sannienola
SS: Dontae Carter/De'Rickey Wright/Jalen Gilbert

Comments:
- On the whole, I feel like the secondary is a good bit better. Now, this time last year, you had receivers running through the secondary like it wasn't there, and that ended up being a much bigger indictment on the DBs than it was a statement about their WR corps, but it was nothing like that this August. We'll see when they play someone else.
- Some of these competitions were close; I think Hight beats out Russell but I'm not sure. I think Sewell is second-team but Sannienola was out there a good bit also. I think Carter beat out De'Rickey Wright but wouldn't be shocked to see De'Rickey get the first start due to experience.
- I feel like Kolbey Taylor's a pretty nice upgrade at one of the corner spots. But it's hard to say until I see it against someone else.
- Watch out for Jaylin Lackey. I know he played really well when Billy and Joey were at practice (I didn't see as much) but I could see him passing Berry either when the depth chart comes out, or maybe within a few weeks.

The depth chart as I see it:

LB: Patterson/Cowan/Rinaldi
LB: Longwell/Kollie/Curtis
Star: Fontanette/Ugochukwu/Hampton

Thoughts:
- Overall, I think this is the team's strongest bunch. When you start naming "guys who could play at other SEC schools" this feels like the best place to start.
- Patterson is what you know him to be; my guess is he or Fontanatte lead the team in tackles.
- Fontanette is the real deal and I could see him being a CJ Taylor-type player in that he makes stuff happen.
- I like their depth here. I've said it a million times before but I wish they could find another home for Cowan. Kollie could get some starts but I think Longwell is ahead of him. Rinaldi is a quality depth piece also.
- Hampton got a decent amount of action in the fall and I could see him playing some.

https://vucommodores.com/conquer-and-prevail/

"Vanderbilt’s proceeds of the sale of Conquer and Prevail Pale Ale and merchandise will go to Opportunity Vanderbilt, the university’s no-loan financial aid program, which provides a wide variety of awards, including full-tuition scholarships for households with income of $150,000 or less. A portion of the proceeds will also be directed to the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research."

These are obviously some note-worthy causes that athletics benefits from, but why isn't this going to NIL? Seems like it makes sense in a changing landscape, but I really have zero insight. Candace doing Candace things? or is it just a bad NIL idea with little chance to make a dent in funding? I note that there are several collectives with beer or alcohol offerings that directly fund NIL. These are just the ones I can find quickly.

Volunteer Club Vodka - UTK
Country Road Trust - WVU
Swarm Golden Ale - IU
Horseshoe Golden Ale - BSU
Cincy Lite: UC
State Lite: PSU (of course Franklin is on it)

I mean if I have to start home brewing "Chubby V Lite" - all funds to NIL, I'm going to make it happen.

The hype around the teams in ‘12 and ‘13 were obviously different, but why did we not try to make this a Thursday night game?

Everything about this weekend is working against us crowd wise. A big chunk of Vandy fans are likely traveling for Labor Day weekend, VT fans can make the easy drive over to Nashville for the long weekend, it’s a sleepy 11am game, and neutral nashville CFB fans would rather sit on the couch and watch a full slate of games. If this was a Thursday night kick, people would still be in town, and those Nashville sports fans would happily come to a game just to see some CFB that doesn’t conflict with their team. Was this an option or did we just not even try to make this happen? It’s too obvious.

Get ready for 30k VT fans on Saturday. Why would they not all come to Nashville for week 1?