Anchor Drop, August 10, 2019: 21 Days to Kickoff

Good morning.

We are 21 days away from Vanderbilt football’s season opener against Georgia. There are two Commodores who wear #21. One is redshirt junior LB Kenny Hebert who, after seeing minimal playing time in his first two years at VU, broke out in 2018 with five tackles for loss and four sacks, including two in the MTSU game.

The other 21 is true freshman Keyon Brooks. The 6’1”, 202-pound RB from Powder Springs, Georgia, switched from Arkansas State to Vanderbilt shortly before signing day in December.

With the season opener being just three weeks away, Vanderbilt will host its annual Dore Jam festivities today from 3-5 PM in the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility on campus. If you’ve been before, you know the drill: free schedule posters that you can get signed by the team.

In the least surprising news of fall camp, the competition for first-team WR spots is fierce. Obviously, Kalija Lipscomb is going to be the first receiver, but the group competing to get on the field with him includes C.J. Bolar, Chris Pierce, Cam Johnson, Amir Abdur-Rahman, and Harvard graduate transfer Justice Shelton-Mosley ... and probably a couple of other guys I’ve missed.

Speaking of Abdur-Rahman, he doesn’t watch his touchdown catch against Tennessee on YouTube. We, however, highly recommend that you do.

VandySports.com has interviews with some of the WRs:

They also talked to Chicago Tribune writer Bob Narang about Northern Illinois.

And, here’s Khari Blasingame scoring a touchdown in an NFL preseason game:

And finally, in “will that guy please just go away,” Brandon Vandenburg’s appeal got smacked down by the Tennessee Criminal Appeals Court.

Off the West End

It’s still weird to see Bill Connelly at ESPN. Yesterday he wrote about the year 2 leap, and why is this not on S&B Nations dot com.

From our sister blogs, because it’s been a bit: Roll Bama Roll says Nick Saban tried to tell y’all about the 2018 coaching staff ... Florida picked up Georgia transfer Brenton Cox, per Alligator Army ... A Sea of Blue writes that AJ Rose is ready to take over for Benny Snell ... And the Valley Shook presents A 2019 Football Glossary ... Rock M Nation writes that Missourah has approved alcohol sales, because why wouldn’t they? ... Red Cup Rebellion writes about getting banned from Twitter.

From The Athletic ($): Candidates for a breakout 2019 ... the immediate eligibility debate ... State of the Hoops Program: Michigan State.

Scoreboard

MLB: A’s 7, White Sox 0 ... Astros 3, Orioles 2 ... Blue Jays 8, Yankees 2 ... Red Sox 16, Angels 4 ... Tigers 5, Royals 2 ... Mets 7, Nationals 6 ... Braves 8, Marlins 4 ... Reds 5, Cubs 2 ... Cardinals 6, Pirates 2 ... Brewers 6, Rangers 5 ... Indians 6, Twins 2 ... Diamondbacks 3, Dodgers 2 ... Padres 7, Rockies 1 ... Rays 5, Mariners 3 ... Phillies 9, Giants 6.

NFL Preseason: Steelers 30, Buccaneers 28 ... Vikings 34, Saints 25.

PGA Tour: Dustin Johnson shot a 67 on Friday to take a one-shot lead over Jordan Spieth going into the weekend at the Northern Trust.