Anchor Drop, July 5, 2019: 57 Days to Kickoff

Good morning.

We are 57 days away from Vanderbilt football’s season opener against the Georgia Bulldogs. #57 for the Commodores is defensive tackle Josiah Sa’o. The 6’2”, 295-pound redshirt junior from San Diego has seen action in fourteen games as a backup the last two years, notching three solo tackles last season.

(We’ll also point out now that the official roster has been updated for the 2019 season. Unfortunately, this means we missed #62 Julian Hernandez, #69 Brayden Bapst, #70 Donald Fitzgerald, #84 Justin Ball, #85 Joel Decoursey, #88 Jayden Harrison, and #96 Nate Clifton in our countdown.)

Per Yahoo Sports, Stephen Scott has signed with the Boston Red Sox. No word on the signing bonus, though as a 10th-round senior sign it’s probably not substantial.

Well, the Memphis Grizzlies’ official media are hyping Simi Shittu a bit, which might be a good sign for his ability to, uh, find a spot on the Memphis Hustle.

The Sporting News named Jared Pinkney a first team preseason All-American.

Per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Vanderbilt QB commit Ken Seals is training over the summer and also recruiting for Vanderbilt.

Off the West End

Per SI, Clemson isn’t going anywhere.

CBS Sports has a list of things to look forward to this college football season.

College Basketball Talk has the offseason reset for the Pac-12.

From our sister blogs: Roll Bama Roll loves Eggbeater Jesus in Huntsville ... Alligator Army mourns a Florida superfan ... A Sea of Blue remembers Jared Lorenzen, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 38 ... Rock M Nation notes the stability in SEC football coaching entering this season (but you know it won’t last) ... Garnet and Black Attack podcasts for like the first time in forever ... Rocky Top Talk gets weird, comparing Tennessee football coaches to Stranger Things characters (I shit you not) ... Good Bull Hunting plays Elite 11 QB or Bro Country Star.

From The Athletic ($): State of the Program: Kentucky, which of course is subscriber content, but is the closest thing to Bill C.’s previews that you’re gonna get now that he’s at ESPN.

Scoreboard

MLB: Nationals 5, Marlins 2 ... Indians 8, Royals 4 ... Tigers 11, White Sox 5 ... Reds 1, Brewers 0 ... Cubs 11, Pirates 3 ... A’s 7, Twins 2 ... Cardinals 5, Mariners 4 ... Yankees 8, Rays 4 ... Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 7 ... Braves 12, Phillies 6 ... Rangers 9, Angels 3 ... Dodgers 5, Padres 1.

(By the way — whoever had the bright idea to not have all 30 MLB teams playing on July 4 needs to be fired.)

PGA Tour: Scott Piercy shot a first-round 62 to lead the 3M Open by two strokes.