Anchor Drop, August 5, 2019: 26 Days to Kickoff

Good morning.

We are 26 days away from Vanderbilt football’s season opener against the Georgia Bulldogs. #26 for the Commodores is safety Anfernee Orji. The younger brother of sophomore linebacker Alston Orji, Anfernee is a 6’2”, 222-pound freshman from Rockwall, Texas, who was the highest-rated recruit (per the 247 Sports composite) in Vanderbilt’s 2019 recruiting class. Some recruiting services see his future at linebacker — and at 222 pounds, that might be accurate — but he’s listed as a safety for the time being.

We have a practice report! Okay — so it’s just vucommodores.com with a quote from Derek Mason that he liked the energy level at Sunday’s practice, but it’s better than nothing. (Also in that article: Dore Jam is Saturday.)

Two Vanderbilt golfers open the U.S. Women’s Amateur today — sophomore Auston Kim tees off at 9:05 AM (I’m assuming that’s Central time), and junior Morgan Baxendale starts at 1:35 PM. The tournament is being played at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi.

Off the West End

Tom Brady is gonna play until he’s about 50, I guess.

The U.S. men’s basketball team claimed the bronze in the Pan American Games on Sunday.

We missed this, but at SI, Eric Single has the SEC offseason report for basketball. We’re just gonna have to get used to seeing Vanderbilt picked last. (Uh, we don’t disagree...)

CBS Sports has five overrated teams from the first coaches’ poll of the season.

Washington’s Chris Petersen is not a fan of 9 AM kickoffs. File this under “no shit.” We don’t pay a ton of attention to the Pac-12 around here, but this has to be one of the absolute stupidest ideas I’ve ever heard.

From The Athletic ($): State of the Hoops Program: LSU.

Scoreboard

MLB: White Sox 10, Phillies 5 ... Orioles 6, Blue Jays 5 ... Indians 6, Angels 2 ... Rays 7, Marlins 2 ... Reds 6, Braves 4 ... Mets 13, Pirates 2 ... Astros 3, Mariners 1 ... Twins 3, Royals 0 ... Cubs 7, Brewers 2 ... Rangers 9, Tigers 4 ... Rockies 6, Giants 2 ... A’s 4, Cardinals 2 ... Dodgers 11, Padres 10 ... Diamondbacks 7, Nationals 5 ... Yankees 7, Red Sox 4.

PGA Tour: J.T. Poston shot a final-round 62 to claim the Wyndham Invitational, his first win on Tour.