Around the Web - Thursday, July 2

Chris Low from ESPN.com takes a quick look at both hope and concern for the 2009 football squad.

Maurice Patton of The Tennessean gives an update on Sonny Gray's summer with Team USA. In the article, Gray receives some high praise from Elon Coach Mike Kennedy, the pitching coach for USA:

"(Sonny) has electric stuff. He pitched at 94, 95 (mph). He has a lot of life on the ball. The ball moves, cuts, runs. He's got a live arm.

"He's got great stuff, a great arm, and his makeup is such that you want that type guy around."

One of Kevin Stallings mentors, Vergil Fletcher, passed away Tuesday. Stallings played under the legendary coach at Collinsville High School in the late 1970's. Fletcher won a remarkable 747 games during his 30+ year career at Collinsville and was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2004.

"(Vergil) was easily, by far and away, the most influential nonfamily member of my life -- not only then, but still today," Stallings told the Belleville News. "I wanted to coach because of him. I thought, 'What a cool existence it would be to go through life and impact people like he impacted me.'"

Stallings reflected on Fletcher in these two articles:
Vergil Fletcher remembered
A brilliant teacher of life

Finally, an update on former Commodore Ryan Mullins, who pitches for Double-A New Britain... and Vanderbilt's Russell Brewer picked up a win for Chatham in the Cape last night.