Anchor Drop, July 1, 2020: 66 Days to Kickoff (allegedly)

Good morning.

We’re 66 days away from Vanderbilt’s scheduled season opener against Mercer. #66 for the Commodores is defensive lineman Cameron Robinson. The 6’0”, 290-pound senior walk-on from Mobile saw his first action in the ETSU game last season.

(For the record, we’re continuing the countdown until if/when the season opener is officially called off or rescheduled.)

Optional Musical Accompaniment

New Chancellor Daniel Diermeier is officially on the job.

Vanderbilt football got a new commitment, this time from Hoover (AL) running back Dylan Betts-Pauley, a three-star recruit who also had offers from Tennessee, South Carolina, Kansas, and UAB.

16 former Vanderbilt baseball players are in MLB teams’ new 60-man player pools for the truncated season that will start later this month. That includes some guys who have been around a while, but also includes JJ Bleday — the Marlins’ first-round pick in 2019 — and Zander Wiel.

Former Vanderbilt golfer Will Gordon earned his special temporary membership on the PGA Tour with a third-place finish at the Travelers over the weekend. I was sort of wrong about what this means: it doesn’t give him full playing privileges, but it does mean he can play on an unlimited number of sponsor’s exemptions. He also gets a spot in this weekend’s Rocket Mortgage Classic thanks to his top ten finish at the Travelers.

What does Gordon have to do to get his PGA Tour card? Well, basically, he has to finish in the Top 125 of the FedEx Cup points standings prior to the start of the TOUR Finals. Now, since he isn’t a PGA Tour member, he doesn’t officially get FedEx Cup points, but they’ll go through and see how many he would have earned were he a member. (Or he can win a tournament, which would grant him a PGA Tour card for two years.)

Also: today is Bobby Bonilla Day.

Updated: When are sports coming back?

Why am I suddenly hedging on the start of football season? Well, the TSSAA — that’s the governing body for high school sports in Tennessee, for those unfamiliar — announced on Tuesday that the start of its season will be delayed thanks to Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order that includes limits and restrictions on contact sports and activities.

In other words — well, Vanderbilt football is also located in Tennessee. That executive order is set to expire on August 29, though it could be extended.

Actual Sports on TV

More soccer from countries that actually have the virus under control. ESPN has a Serie A doubleheader: Bologna v. Cagliari at 12:25 PM CT, followed by Hellas Verona v. Parma at 2:30 PM CT, and ESPN2 has Lecce v. Sampdoria, also at 2:30. NBC Sports has Arsenal v. Norwich City (11:55 AM CT), followed by West Ham United v. Chelsea (2:10 PM CT.) And BeIN Sports has Alaves v. Granada at 12:20 PM CT, followed by Real Valladolid v. Levante at 2:50 PM. ESPN+ also has a few games which I’m not going to list out here, but here’s their schedule.

Meanwhile, the SEC Network is again getting weird: Colorado State vs. Arkansas at 11:00 AM CT, Southeastern Louisiana vs. Ole Miss at 2:00 PM CT, Alabama vs. South Carolina at 5:00 PM CT, Florida vs. Kentucky at 8:00 PM CT. Yes, these are all football games from 2019.