Construction Underway at MacDonald Stadium

The scheduled renovation and replacement of the turf at MacDonald Stadium is officially underway. Trucks, graters, and other equipment has begun the work of removing the natural grass field that has graced the stadium since 1968, with a new FieldTurf surface and track area scheduled for completion before the fall school semester.

Here are some photos taken today of the field work. We'll try to update progress on the stadium as it happens.

Orange and White Game Highlights

Here is a slideshow consisting of photos that I took at Neyland on Saturday and some stats at the end. I hope you enjoy! -Matt

Vikings Fall to Freedom on Diamond

The Avery baseball team lost a close non-conference home game on Monday with Freedom, falling by a 6-3 final score.

Freedom picked up an early two-run lead, only to see Avery scrap back to tie the contest at 2 runs each. Junior right-hander Sutton Stanley got the start for the Vikings and gave the club a good outing, pitching 5 1/3 innings. John Hensley came on in relief to finish the contest. Reggie Washington picked up the victory for the Patriots, hurling a complete game.

Avery takes on Hendersonville this afternoon in an important 1A baseball matchup. The Bearcats took the first matchup between the teams by a 4-2 final in Hendersonville.

From the Student Section: Orange and White Game

Hola!!! I hope all is well for everyone. I am sitting the Culp Center delaying working on homework again, and I thought I would take another look at some observations from the Orange and White game.

• Jonathan Crompton was down right impressive. I know he was against the second string defense and that led to some open recievers, but he threw accurate passes almost everytime in windy conditions. If there was any doubt that Crompton will be the starter, I think Saturday cleared it up as soon as he stepped on the field. His first play: a 74 yard touchdown pass to Denarius Moore. He ended the game 13 of 20 for 266 yards, threetouchdowns, and one interception.


• The first string defense was almost as impressive as Crompton. The UT secondary may be one of the best in the countries and showed it on Saturday. When they are healthy, look for the secondary to win UT a few games.


• Gerald Jones may be able to play just about any of the skill positions on the field. He caught 3 passes for 47 yards, threw a touchdown pass from 17 yards (his passing statline was 1 of 1 for 17 yards and 1 touchdown), and added 12 yards on just one carry. Jones is an offensive weapon , and new offensive coordinator Dave Clawson will make him an impact player.


• Walk-on Tanner Shamblin got a few snaps at quarterback for the Vols. All of the media people I talked to these weekend really liked Shamblin and his attitude. To recieve that praise from the those people is quite an honor.


• There was a huge crowd of around 28,000 to watch the game. They saw quite a lot of different things. It was a fun atmosphere that was worth the drive.

There is a quick look. I will have more later on in the week as time permits, possibly including a slideshow and other media that we are trying out here at the Journal. Anyway, have a great week and see you then!