Feb. 1, 2007
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Recruiting Press Conference Webcast Live
on Wednesday, February 7, 2007
The biggest day of the year on vucommodores.com is going to be much bigger this time around! Next Wednesday (February 7) is the first day high school football stars can sign their national letter of intent. Since the advent of the internet, this always means a huge spike in on-line traffic as fans and recruits surf the net to get an early glance at the incoming freshman classes.
Brandon Barca, our talented on-line editor, has been teaming with football media relations contact Larry Leathers and our video department to bring an entirely new dimension to the material we will offer. We believe it will be one of the most comprehensive offerings anywhere in college sports.
We will stream Bobby Johnson’s recruiting press conference live at approximately 4:00 p.m. CT Wednesday. This is the first time Coach Johnson is permitted to make specific comments on our new class. This will also be archived for later viewing. As per our policy, which differs from almost all other major conference members, this main event will be offered free of charge as is all of our web video. (Nearly all major schools charge a subscription fee.)
During the day, as soon as we receive a signed national letter (signees fax them so we have the hard copy the NCAA requires), we will post that student-athlete’s biography, photo and – new this year — a video highlight clip. All this should prove to be very interesting, informative and indicative of the quality of material we strive to present on a regular basis on this site.
Make it a point to check in on this. Here’s a link to our official National Signing Day sight – click here
Cassen’s Coat Drive Big Hit
Last week we discussed “Cassen’s Coats and Caps for the Counties”, the collection drive for new and high quality used winter apparel. Football tailback Cassen Jackson-Garrison was the honorary chairman for this effort in conjunction with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. The goal line in this case was to help school nurses equip kids in neighboring counties with coats and caps.
As Cassen signed autographs and shook hands at Memorial Gymnasium’s south entrance prior to our two basketball games last week, Commodore fans dumped hundreds of coats, sweat shirts and caps into the containers. What a tremendous sight to see our fans coming through in such a winning fashion!
Many of those donations were brand new, tags still attached. And on cold mornings such as we have today, what a warm feeling to know that nearby some kid is going to show up for the first time in a properly fitting winter coat.
Talks are already underway to repeat this good deed at a football game next fall so if you didn’t get to participate last week, plan to pitch in later. We’ll get the word out.
Fun Halftime Coming Saturday
If you are attending the Georgia men’s basketball game Saturday (Feb. 3), stick around and watch a fun and very different halftime performance.
“Dancing with the `Dores”, our version of the hit tv show “Dancing with the Stars”, takes place with Nashville television news personalities dancing a three minute tango and cha-cha with professional dance partners from Dance World.
The four anchors represent all four Nashville networks: Steve Hayslip, morning anchor for News Channel 5, Demetria Kalodimos, long-time WSMV Channel 4 co-anchor, Allison Hatcher, who anchors weekday evening news for WKRN and Ashley Webster, co-anchor of the Fox News at Nine, have all been taking lessons for the past week or so in preparation for this performance.
Think about it, would YOU be willing to ballroom dance with a pro in front of 13,000 fans?
