Tennessee opens its season with Ball State on Thursday. The pageantry will be in full effect.
The Vols will have a newly refurbished stadium to showcase to the entire college football viewing world in primetime and well over 100,000 fans in the general vicinity to provide a proper kickoff to the 2022 season. Sorry, Nebraska-Northwestern just didn’t cut it.
The “proper” kickoff will come right after Tennessee tight end Jacob Warren’s favorite game day tradition. It won’t be televised extensively, but it’s incredibly important to Warren.
“I really enjoy the Vol Walk…It’s easy not to feel connected with the fan base if you don’t have something like that,” the senior said. “We’re trying to engage with the fans and with the people. Everyone is super excited obviously.”
Warren, who is from Knoxville, has been a part of the Vol Walk as a fan. He’s certainly been indoctrinated into his fandom considering his father and uncle both played for the Vols.
“I’ve walked down that road (thinking) ‘Man, this is crazy.’” Warren said.
The real craziness begins when the Vols kick off at 7 p.m. Tennessee is about a 35-point favorite against the Cardinals. It has become trite to say a team would like to come out fast. Who wouldn’t? No team likes to come out slow. However, with the preseason expectations, an offense that can run with the best in the nation and a primetime spotlight, it would be nice for the Vols to come out fast and play well early.
“That’s how we play,” Warren said. “That’s kind of our identity. Going into Week One, is to come out hot, show everyone what we’ve been working on with all the timing being perfect. Running backs hitting holes and just picking up a lot of yards, making it really exciting for the first game of the season and kind of show everyone what it’s going to be like when we get rolling for the whole season.”
Fast is scary. Fast with great timing, execution and consistency is lethal. That’s what Warren wants Tennessee to be right out of the gate.
“We’re playing fast,” Warren said. “That’s what we do. We’re trying to score as many points as possible. Scoring drives, the first three drives, we’re trying to score touchdowns.”
It all starts with the Vol Walk.
“This is a dream,” Warren said. “I’m super blessed to be able to do this.”
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