Vols-UAB recap, hoops talk, etc.

GoVols247’s full staff — Wes Rucker, Patrick Brown, Ryan Callahan and Grant Ramey — convened from various homes in the Knoxville area through the magic of Al Gore’s Internets to discuss Tennessee football’s 30-7 win over UAB and the start of Tennessee basketball season.It wasn’t the prettiest performance Saturday night at Neyland Stadium, but there’s no such thing as an ugly win for Tennessee football at the moment, and the Vols’ 30-7 win over UAB got them one step closer to securing bowl-eligibility — something that didn’t seem plausible when the team stumbled to a 1-4 record heading into the teeth of its schedule.Tennessee’s offense never really clicked against an UAB defense that’s ranked near the top nationally in most major categories, but Tennessee’s defense and special teams more than made up for that. The Vols forced four turnovers — three of them interceptions from sophomore cornerback Bryce Thompson — and got a huge performance from junior kicker Brent Cimaglia, and they had a 30-0 lead before backing off and playing reserves for practically the entire fourth quarter.An overall game recap — the highs, the lows and everything in between — is the main focus of the first segment.Quarterbacks — who else, right? — take center stage in the second segment, as the Vols’ odyssey with Jarrett Guarantano, Brian Maurer and J.T. Shrout took another interesting turn against the Blazers. A discussion on all things quarterback and where the Vols go from here with that is the primary talking point.This also was a big weekend for Tennessee recruiting, though, with some really important visitors — including five-star Las Vegas tight end Darnell Washington — in town for official or unofficial visits. Ryan, as usual, has the latest scoop on all things recruiting to cap the second segment.After a brief concussion on football chatter to start the third segment, basketball takes center stage down the stretch. Tennessee clearly is furious with the NCAA consistently throwing up roadblocks for 7-foot-1 redshirt freshman Uros Plavsic to play this season, but the Vols are still fighting for the big Serbian and plan to exhaust every appeal to get him on the court. Tennessee’s reasons for being so adamant that Plavsic be allowed to play this season are discussed in detail, and then discussion shifts toward what the Vols need to do if the NCAA doesn’t cave at the last minute and allow the big man on the court.With or without Plavsic, Tennessee’s regular season tips off Tuesday night against UNC Asheville, so there’s plenty of basketball to discuss, and this episode does just that.The next GoVols247 Podcast episode will be released Thursday morning, unless breaking news occurs before that point.