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You'll hear me a minute or two in ask about Michael Doolin, who I did not write up in either the starter or reliever's write-ups. The reason for that was that I'd had a pretty good source tell me they thought Doolin would not pitch this year due to injury, but asked me to keep that under wraps for a while.

Well, I didn't want to write Doolin up in a way that begged questions, so I just wrote up the previews without mentioning him, thinking I'd get some sort of confirmation from Corbin that he was out. However, I asked Tim about it today and here's what he said:

"He had a setback a couple of weeks ago and so we're just bringing him along slowly. He's actually going to toss today. We'll see how he feels and see what happens but we've got to handle his arm with care," Corbin said.

Anyway, I'm not super optimistic he'll have a big role based on that setback, but that's the official word from the head coach and just wanted to set that part straight.

Thoughts? Personally, I hate 9 conference games because it is going to severely beat up rosters especially us. Hopefully, the non conference Power-5 game rule will be dropped. Anyways, I do like the idea of playing every team in the conference at home once every 4 years. Should be fun.

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Vanderbilt likes Scott as a defensive back. He visited Vanderbilt for junior day last month.

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Vanderbilt offered the interior offensive line prospect last moth. He plans to visit next month.

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Had a pretty funny exchange with him about halfway in.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Feb. 14, 2023)-----The Southeastern Conference will implement new initiatives and rules for the 2023 baseball season intended to reduce game times and elevate the fan experience. These changes apply to Conference vs. Conference games and the SEC Tournament.

The new rules include game clock initiatives for conference games. The game clock policies are a supplement to existing NCAA Playing Rules, which remain applicable.

• Between Batters Clock: A 30-second timer between hitters shall start at the conclusion of the prior play as indicated by the umpire’s final signal of “safe” or “out”, or other clear indication that the prior play has concluded. Consistent with NCAA pitch clock protocols, the batter shall be alert to the pitcher with 10 seconds or more remaining and the pitcher shall begin the motion to deliver the first pitch of the at-bat prior to the expiration of the 30-second clock.
• Mound Visit Clock: A 30-second timer on a mound visit shall begin when a coach exits the dugout or when a defensive player leaves their position to visit the pitcher’s mound. Unless the coach signals for a pitching change, the coach must leave the mound when (or before) the timer expires. The mound visit clock shall not operate when a doctor or trainer accompanies a coach to evaluate a medical issue. Upon expiration of the 30-second clock, the 20-second NCAA pitch clock shall commence.
• Pitching Change Clock: A 2:30 (2 minutes and 30 seconds) timer on a pitching change shall begin when a new pitcher who is entering the game, either at the start of an inning or as part of a mid-inning pitching change, crosses the warning track (or otherwise leaves the bullpen area if the bullpen is on the playing field). Upon expiration of the clock, the NCAA 20-second pitch clock shall commence.

The SEC will also implement a 10-run rule for conference games. The policy stipulates that a contest shall be stopped after seven innings if one team is ahead by at least 10 runs, in accordance with NCAA playing rules. The 10-run rule shall also be utilized for all non-conference competition with the consent of the coach of the non-conference opponent. If the coach of the non-conference opponent does not consent, the game shall be played in its entirety consistent with NCAA playing rules.

The SEC has also revised the inclement weather policy related to the final game of a conference series on Sunday when the visiting team does not have classes on the following day (Monday). The policy specifies if the visiting team’s institution does not have classes the following day (Monday), general curfew policies shall be waived. If the curfew is waived, no game may start after 10 p.m. local time or resume after midnight local time.

I caught up with Florida corner Cameron Keys about his Vanderbilt offer. Cameron picked up an offer from Tennessee tonight.

Vandy now has McCallie (Tenn.) QB Jeremy St-Hilaire in the fold for 2024, now we profile five targets who could potentially be the next commit for Vandy in this year's class

We're back! Apologies for the delay, Rivals was down all afternoon. Congrats to @VUMatt23 for getting the last post in.

This will be the game thread for tonight's game. Post thoughts in here.

Will be a big one for Vandy, much like the Ole Miss game in that what it has to lose is more important than what it can gain. A Q4 loss would throw any hope of an at-large bid out the window. With a win, Vanderbilt has a four-game win streak all of a sudden. A blowout win could help Vandy's metrics.

Think this one will be similar to the first one in that Vanderbilt has to work its advantage in the frontcourt and find a way to contain GG Jackson.

Vanderbilt is a five-point favorite.

A murder involving a basketball player and now the halting of a season for now.

New Mexico State suspends men's basketball program indefinitely over multiple reported hazing incidents

The decision reportedly has nothing to do with an incident last year in which an NMSU player allegedly shot and killed a New Mexico student.

sports.yahoo.com

Also, is it just me or did anyone else not realize Brian Thornton was commissioner of the Mountain West?

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First P5 offer for Kaiser. Missouri has shown some interest, but hasn’t offered. He’s related to Drew Lock, so that’s something to note.

Vandy clearly looking to take another QB in this class to go along with St-Hilaire.

Collierville (Tenn.) QB Aidan Glover is scheduled to visit Vanderbilt in March as well.

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Following a 57-point loss to Alabama, Jerry Stackhouse has spun off three wins in a row, including one over Tennessee and a road win at Florida. Chris Lee and Luke Wyatt discuss that, some football-related topics and add thoughts for the coming baseball season.

I need to nail down some details but I've talked to multiple parties connected within the league and this is what I'm hearing.

1. Huge changes to the bat inspection process. Umpires will run the testing now and will text each bat twice and place the stickers on the bats themselves. Sometimes this was being done by student managers and people who weren't paying a lot of attention to detail, although I think illegal bats were also getting through by other means (like storing extras in the dugout that weren't checked). And this time, rather than like last year, coming to the plate with no sticker gets the batter an automatic out.

This will be a big deal, I think the league knows/suspects that some teams and players were getting away with a lot last year.

2. Baseballs and gloves will be looked at more closely, too. I think there were some issues with those last year, though opinion seems to be that was a bigger issue in 2021.

3. They're trying to speed up the game. Mound visits will be timed, there will be a pitch clock (I'd heard 14 seconds in one place but haven't gotten that confirmed anywhere else). Time between innings will be lessened, too.

This is just what the SEC is doing. It sounds as if the NCAA still has its head stuck in the sand on some of this.

I will try to nail down more specifics here--intended to do this week, have run out of time--but wanted to give you an idea of what's coming.

Please keep this here, I'd like to break it in story form.

Huge game.

Sort of feels like the most important game in Stack’s tenure. Can you imagine the hate-fest if we lose?

If we do win, Auburn should be fun.

We need to play one of our best games of the year tomorrow night to be able to win on the road in the SEC.

Interesting article about Tulane football that appeared in The Athletic. I am not a subscriber, but thought it was well-written.

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Enter your game-related thoughts here.

seems like a lot of more favorable games in the coming weeks . What’s your final prediction?

Vanderbilt offers Virginia speedster Payton Lewis. He talks new offer, new Vanderbilt RB coach, and visit plans for this spring.

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Corbs was one of the coaches interviewed.

This is a great interview. Bernard does a good job with these. Some notable things that Lustig said:

"We're eyeballing postseason play. That's talked about every single day in this building. We are dead set on that, and we are going to get that done."

"We're excited about the quarterback position, not just A.J. Swann. We've got a lot of depth there. We've got a really talented wide receiver room, so you may see a Vanderbilt team that's throwing it around a lot more effectively. Excited about the offensive line we've got coming back. We've got some good young running backs, there's just a lot to be optimistic about on that side of the ball.”

"Defensively the thing that stands out to me is just Coach Howell and his maniacal pursuit of getting those guys to play hard.”

TE position: "We've got some young guys coming in that we're looking at to make a difference, two young men from Alabama (Kamrean Johnson and Josh Palmer) that we're excited about. And then we've got a transfer that we're working on right now, a grad transfer-- I can't really speak on him, but we're excited about the room."

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