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So on instagram, looks like the black team in practice is Thomas, Manjon, Lawrence, Wright, Stute, and Robbins. I know that is 6. Don't know how significant. Some of this is seniority, surely. When I first saw the white team and saw Q and Smith and Dia, I thought that's a pretty good team there. That's probably the top 9, I would guess. Lewis and Dort were the other two on the white team.

A little humor on a beautiful Friday afternoon to get the weekend kicked off right for you....😀


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In addition to the media opportunity, we were allowed to see about 10 minutes of practice today. Here are a few things of note:
- Coach Jerry Stackhouse referred to freshman Malik Dia as "the most talented player on the team" today, though adding context that he's got a lot to learn. You can hear the exact comment in the video I uploaded.
- Freshman Colin Smith was playing out on the perimeter some today and even brought the ball up the floor a bit.
- The biggest highlight was Tyrin Lawrence getting a steal and a two-handed dunk on the other end. Stackhouse said that Lawrence has added 19 pounds of muscle since last season.
- I was impressed with Lee Dort physically. He's got a huge frame and big guys like that are prone to weight trouble, but Dort looked like he was in good shape and not carrying any bad weight that I could tell.
- This seems to be the healthiest the team has been in several years. To this point they've got all scholarship players available.

Now, for a site announcement: I am pleased to announce we are adding Joey Dwyer to our staff, with the primary responsibility of helping with hoops coverage. Joey is a freshman who will be majoring in journalism at Lipscomb with the aim of going into sports journalism, and the back story on how we got him is really cool.

Joey started covering Notre Dame hoops from his home in Atlanta as a 16-year-old (you can see his work here: https://www.breakingdownbreysboys.c...aff-put-together-practical-role-filling-class) and made enough of a splash that he developed relationships on the team and with the coaching staff.

Several months ago, Joey--who had decided by that time he was going into sports journalism--was making his college visits and his tour guide at Lipscomb was our man Sam Phalen, who covered hoops for us last season (Sam, BTW, just finished school and is now the Titans beat writer for A to Z Sports). So when Sam was telling his story of his experience getting into sports, he mentioned the work he had done with VandySports a year ago.

Well, that story piqued Joey's interest, at which point he told Sam, "I'd like to be able to do what you just did and cover Vanderbilt." I knew none of this at the time (and was also going through all my heart surgery stuff) and then Sam reached out to me last week and said, "I think I have a great replacement for you," and put me in touch with Joey.

In the meantime--and several weeks before I knew about any of this--Joey was watching Vanderbilt's summer overseas exhibitions and taking notes in hopes of landing work here. So after a two-hour lunch with Joey today, I extended him an offer to help us here.

I will be working with Joey for the first few games to break him in, at which point he will be our point guy for hoops coverage. We will be doing the usual--game coverage, 3-2-1s, that sort of thing--and plus Joey is going to hep with the podcast. We are also tinkering with the idea of some sort of postgame video coverage; whether that will be a podcast that we just get to you the night of the game, or something along the lines of a post-game show, I'm not sure yet.

I am in the process of getting Joey comped here, at which point I'll start a "welcome" thread, but anyway, I'm really pleased that we'll be adding him and I think you will be also.

This will also give me a bit of a break between football and baseball and allow me to spend more time focusing on the latter in the spring when the seasons overlap, which will be a good thing for our coverage since I can't be two places at once. Joey has also expressed an interest in covering some road games for us also, which is pretty much out of the question for me these days given my schedule with work and at home.

The podcast is brought to you by Dr. Jody Jones, DDS.

Today’s mailbag is sponsored by Sutherland & Belk, a family owned injury law firm. If you or a loved one has been hurt in an accident, give Taylor or Russell a call at 615-846-6200 to see what your rights are and if they can help.

The guest line is presented by Michael Kendrick of The Kendrick Group. Michael is a local carpenter and a lifelong Vandy fan. He builds bookshelves, cabinets, picture frames, furniture and made-to-order items, including a display case for my prized Dale Murphy jersey. I have seen Michael’s work and he’s a true craftsman. If you’re in the market for custom woodwork, give Michael a call at 615.830.9458.

Our man Seabass is slammed these days, but said he could do a podcast at 9 Saturday morning. So, we'll do one then.

I got to watch 10 minutes of practice and have post-practice video of Stackhouse and a couple of players I’ll post later tonight after I get home from my son’s baseball game…. Along with an announcement that will enhance our hoops coverage.

ISO of 3 for Gamecock game. Text 803-767-3628

@Sean_Williams , Is the staff currently recruiting any high schools QBs for this class? The staff has to realize that there is a strong chance that both Seals and Wright hit the portal after the season. Gotta figure any transfer QB worth adding won't consider us just to sit behind Swann. That could put us in a potentially rough spot next season, leaving us to start either Dickey or Walter Taylor if Swann were to get injured.

No doubt many of you have seen what happened to Tua and there's a lot of opinions and stuff flying around. My thing right now is, I buy the idea that players are gonna hide their concussions if they can, because not playing can mean diminished playing time/opportunity, which can correlate to being paid.

So, what's going on? Are current concussion protocols weak? Theoretically ok but not being executed well? What are better ways to solve this? Could every team have an NFL-employed (not by the team) concussion team that can flag a player and pull them out, and if they have to be kept from playing games they get a special designation that protects their pay in some way? IDK guys, this is the messy stuff from a game of violent hits.

Pacer.

This saddens me.

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Conley just picked up an offer from Vanderbilt last week. He told me he'll be in Nashville October 8th when Vandy hosts Ole Miss. Kansas has also offered and he just visited there. Conley said right now, he's planning to visit Ball State and Iowa State in October as well and check out Missouri and Duke later in the year. Said he's also hearing from Minnesota and Northwestern

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Is AJ trying to tell us they'll go 5-7 this year?

Sponsored by Sutherland & Belk, I’ll do this Thursday morning.

Lol they just can't stay away from the past
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It looks like Brandt has received a minor medical exemption for the 22-23 season and only is exempt for 4 events. Is that correct? I'm sure he can get some sponsor exemptions, but are we looking at the end of his PGA career?

That’s it. That’s the post. Every time I see the lack of talent on the field, I am engulfed with rage at how much I hate that man.