Just another day at the office

We'll, another signing class is in the books for the Commodores.

You know, I've always wondered what Signing Day is like for the coaching staff as they wait on each prospect to send in their National Letter of Intent.

I can't help but remember the scene from the movie Office Space when the office printer breaks down.

"PC Load Letter??!! What does that mean?"

Since it probably didn't go down like that, I thought I'd find out the real answer straight from Coach Johnson.

“We stared at the fax machine for about thirty minutes out of every hour,” Johnson quipped, “just waiting for a fax to come over.

“It’s kind of a relief. It’s kind of an excitement. You look forward to getting those guys in here because you have spent a lot of time with them. But it’s also the start of next year’s (recruiting), so you just continue on.

“You do have a lot of pride and satisfaction in bringing in a class that we think is very good. Our coaches work extremely hard at it. I can’t even tell you how many letters have been written, film has been watched, and games have been attended. It’s just a good feeling when you put all that work in and you get a guy that you really like. We really like all of these guys.

It was written in the stars

Stars. Stars. And more stars.

That's all you really seem to hear about on National Signing Day.

Was he underrated? Overrated? A steal? A stretch?

It's nice to speculate about the potential of the new signees, but you never truly know what you're going to get until they arrive on campus. You could get a diamond in the rough like Chris Williams, who was given a two-star assessment by Rivals.com, and ended up being a first-round pick in the NFL Draft last year.

And sure, this might end up being Coach Johnson's best class yet... and there's good reason to be excited, especially since he received 12 3-star commitments, the most in his tenure on West End.

But the star ratings really don't matter until the new bunch hits the field and tries to make that big jump from high school to college.

"It doesn't carry much significance with me," Johnson said of the star ratings at Wednesday's press conference. "It just matters how many stars that we got out of them when they get here. Their performance here is going to be the key. I think all of them have five-star capabilities.

"When you look at it, a lot of guys that come out of high school never get better, and a lot of guys come out and prove a great deal. I think we've probably had a bigger history of getting guys coming out and getting better here and thriving in our systems and taking advantage of the coaching they get here and they get better. We're looking for the stars when they get here."

Tate's a Commodore

(Photo credit: Chris Lynn / Hendersonville Star News)

Here's a picture of Pope John Paul II tailback Wesley Tate signing on the dotted line to play for Vanderbilt next season. Tate averaged 6.1 yards per rush while producing 3,045 career rushing yards and 42 TDs during his prep career.

"Wesley is a prototypical SEC tailback," said Jeff Brothers, Tate's high school coach. "He gives them (Vanderbilt) a very powerful running back, an explosive, downhill runner. When teams played us, Wesley was our marquee player on offense.

"Wesley is also a young man of the highest character, very coachable, and willing to do anything and everything to help the team succeed."

Click here for Tate's full bio with video.

Also, here's an article on the Commodores' overall signing class by Maurice Patton of The Tennessean.

Buy your Brick today and support VU Athletics

Construction is underway at the Gate 2 area of Vanderbilt Stadium near the intersection of Natchez Trace and Jess Neely drive. The area is being prepped for renovations that will feature a beautiful brick facade, new signage and wrought iron gates.

Now you can be part of these remarkable transformations by purchasing a customized brick that will be laid in the new plaza to show your support of Vanderbilt Athletics. All proceeds will go to support the athletics facilities campaign.

This is your opportunity to Pave the Way and help build Vanderbilt's newest tradition. Order your brick today!

Johnson's upcoming radio

Bobby Johnson is scheduled to comment of the Commodores' 2009 recruiting class in several Nashville area radio appearances today and tomorrow. Here's the tentative list (CT):

Wednesday

4:45 p.m. George Plaster, Willy Daunic and Darren McFarland at 104.5-FM The Zone.

5:15 p.m. Thom Abraham at 106.7-FM The Fan

5:30 p.m. Bill King and Joe Biddle at WNSR AM-560

Thursday

7:25 a.m. Greg Pogue and David Colemen on WNSR AM-560

8:10 a.m. 104.5-FM The Zone’s Morning Show with Mark Howard, Kevin Ingram and Frank Wycheck.

Signing Class is Official

Vanderbilt football's 2009 signing class is official. Check out complete bios of each new signee with video highlights, photos, quotes and more. Fans can also watch a live webcast of Coach Johnson's news conference at 4 p.m. CT today. CLICK FOR SIGNING DAY CENTRAL

Video: 2008 recruiting class

More video has been uploaded on our Signing Day Central site.... Check out clips of last year's recruiting class - click here.

2009 Signing Day will start at 8 a.m. CT Wednesday morning, so make sure you log onto VUcommodores.com for minute-by-minute updates after each NLI comes in.

Baseball media guide online

With the season less than three weeks away, take a minute to study and memorize the 2009 Vanderbilt baseball media guide at VUcommodores.com. Click here!

Video: 2007 Recruiting Class

We just uploaded video of Vanderbilt football's 2007 recruiting class on VUcommodores.com. Check it out at our Signing Day Central site - click here.

National Signing Day Wednesday

VUcommodores.com, the official source for Vanderbilt Athletics, will present complete coverage of National Signing Day for Commodore football fans on Wednesday, February 4, beginning at 8 a.m. CT. Visit this page for the most up-to-the-minute information on the 2009 class including video highlights, player bios, Coach Johnson's Live Press Conference, and much more. VUcommodores.com - the place to be on National Signing Day.

NOTIFICATIONS STARTING EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING
Once a National Letter of Intent (NLI) is received from a signee, VUcommodores.com will provide immediate notification and the time that the letter was received. (Please note that an VU compliance official must review all NLI's before we can release the prospect's name.)

WATCH COACH JOHNSON'S LIVE PRESS CONFERENCE AT 4 P.M. CT
VUcommodores.com will broadcast a free live webcast of head coach Bobby Johnson's news conference at 4 p.m. CT on signing day. Register for Commodore Nation All Access to watch!

FREE VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF EACH SIGNEE
In addition, the popular highlight videos for every new Commodore will be posted.

FULL PLAYER BIOS WITH QUOTES
Check out official signee bios and pictures plus quotes from high school head coaches.

PREVIOUS SIGNING DAY COVERAGE
2008 Signing Day
2007 Signing Day

Stallings' Call-In Show Tonight

Kevin Stallings' Call-In Show airs live from 6:30-7:30 p.m. CT Monday night at the Commodore Grille. Listen locally on 104.5 the Zone or online on VUcommodores.com. For more info, Click Here.

Vanderbilt (13-8, 2-5 SEC) will host two games this week: Thursday vs. Alabama at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2, and Saturday vs. Ole Miss at Noon CT on CBS.

Whisenhunt talks about Vanderbilt days

Jim Wyatt has a great article in today's Tennessean about Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt. Whisenhunt, who began his coaching career as the special teams/tight ends coach at Vanderbilt in 1995, is preparing to coach the Cardinals in their first ever Super Bowl appearance Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Whisenhunt reflects on his time with the Commodores in the story... click here to read. He also talks about how Bill Marinangel's fake punt against Alabama originated (video below).

More Chunk

You asked for it and you got it.

Check out this video of Chunk (Jeff Cohen) on an episode of Kids Incorporated in 1984... before The Goonies and his scene-stealing truffle shuffle. You can tell he had star written all over him.

So, what has he been up to since his glory days?

Here's what IMDB.com says:

Graduated from UC Berkeley. Is an Entertainment Lawyer in Los Angeles, California. He was the President of the Associated Students of UC Berkeley and used to do the Truffle Shuffle on the sidelines during football games.

Simply amazing. Also, check out a few other celebs in the KI video.

Sammy gets the boot

You have to see it to believe it.

Rice University's mascot, Sammy the Owl, got ejected from the team's basketball game against Tulane on Wednesday for bumping an official. And after Sammy hit the showers, it was all downhill for Rice. The Owls ending up losing to the Green Wave on a buzzer-beating layup.

Anyways, watch the clip of the day below.

Lights... Camera... Anderson

Former Commodore great Chantelle Anderson (1999-2003) joined Dave Neal and Debbie Antonelli as an analyst during last night's Fox Sports Net women's basketball broadcast of Vanderbilt's 72-61 overtime win over Arkansas.

Anderson currently plays for the WNBA's Atlanta Dream, but will continue to serve as a college analyst during the current offseason. She still stands as Vanderbilt women's basketball's all-time leading scorer and only two-time Kodak All-American. She was also inducted into Vanderbilt Athletics' inaugural Hall Of Fame last September.

Read More about Anderson's experience on television last night in an article by Mike Organ of The Tennessean.

(Photo above is of Anderson and Antonelli -- taken by John Russell)

Langford to play in all-star game Saturday

Senior safety Reshard Langford is scheduled to participate in the The Western Refining Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Game Saturday at 2 p.m. CT in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

Langford will suit up for The Nation, coached by Florida Atlantic's Howard Schnellenberger, in the third annual senior showcase event. Professional scouts and team officials will be on hand to evaluate players as they prepare for the 2009 NFL Draft.

Check out the entire roster for both teams by clicking here.

Fans will have several ways of following the action. The game will be televised to a national audience via CBS College Sports Network (DirecTV channel 613; Dish Network channel 152), and that television feed also will be available as a live online video pay-per-view at a cost of $7.95. For information on the availability of CBS College Sports in your area, click here.

Basketball Articles Galore

Check out today's listings of men's and women's basketball articles from The Tennessean, The City Paper, and the Vanderbilt Hustler. The men's squad will next travel to Auburn Saturday (1 p.m. CT) while the women will host Alabama Sunday (2 p.m. CT)

Women's Basketball
Vanderbilt women outlast Arkansas
Vanderbilt owns Arkansas in OT
Anderson works game as analyst

Men's Basketball
Commodores' defense disappears
Vanderbilt maintains healthy attitude
Q&A with coach Kevin Stallings
Friday conversation with Festus Ezeli
'Resilient' Commodores staying focused

Definitely Good Enough

Thank you Cyndi Lauper for combining two of the greatest things from the 80's -- The Goonies and WWF -- into one spectacular music video that has stood the test of time.

My only complaint is that Chunk and Data should have gotten more air time. Would a "truffle shuffle" have been too much to ask for??

And I'm sure Corey Feldman ("Mouth") is on the horn with his agent about getting another Goonies movie done. I mean, he deserves it after giving a riveting performance in the Lost Boys sequel that surprisingly didn't win him an Oscar nomination (what a travesty).

Also, see if you can name all the former wrestling stars in the clip (led by Captain Lou Albano).

Finally, at the 6:55 mark you'll see why Steven Spielberg stuck to producing and directing rather than acting. Good call, Spielberg.

Close, but no...

Vanderbilt gave a valiant effort in its 86-76 loss at South Carolina Wednesday night, but found out you’re not going to win road games in the SEC by losing the turnover and free throw battles by significant margins.

The Gamecocks converted 22 Commodore miscues into 25 points and also outscored VU by 11 at the foul line on 49 attempts. Both statistics ultimately made the difference in the final outcome, sending Vanderbilt (12-8, 1-5 SEC) to its fourth straight loss in SEC play.

"It was a very physical game on both ends of the floor,” said freshman Jeffery Taylor, who had a career-high 23 points but was one of three Commodores to foul out. “I guess we never really adjusted to how the game was called."

Give Vanderbilt credit for charging back to take the lead with a 16-3 run to start the second half after trailing 42-30. Junior George Drake also contributed another solid effort, scoring a career-best 18 points to make it three straight games for him in double figures.

At the end of the day, it's still another mark in the loss column. And sure, it would be easy to point to the team’s health problems and youthfulness as the main factors for the current skid, but you won’t hear any excuses like that coming from the Commodores' locker room.

"Our players have great character and they're not guys that are going to give in,” head coach Kevin Stallings said. “They're going to keep fighting. I feel terrible for them right now because I want to help them get back in the win column. They're fighting and practicing hard and continuing to have great attitudes. If they do that, we'll come out of this at some point."

Vanderbilt will hit the road once more with a 1 p.m. CT tilt at Auburn Saturday.

Drake, Ezeli to start tonight at USC

Joe Fisher and Tim Thompson just announced on their pregame radio show that Festus Ezeli and George Drake will be in the starting lineup for the Commodores tonight at South Carolina.

Ezeli will replace sophomore A.J. Ogilvy, who's battling a bruised right heel as well as an upper respiratory virus. Drake will start in place of freshman Brad Tinsley.

"George has played well and given us a spark in the last few games," said head coach Kevin Stallings.

This will be the Commodores' eighth different starting lineup on the year. It will be Ezeli's fifth start and Drake's third. Junior Jermaine Beal and freshman Jeffery Taylor have been the two constants in the lineup.

Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT. The game won't be televised, but you can listen to the action live on vucommodores.com.

Register for Summer Camps

Do you have a child that's interested in attending one of Vanderbilt's summer camps? Then check out a variety of options - click here

Video: 2009 baseball commerical

Look up and down the Commodores' 2009 baseball roster and you'll see plenty of new names that will take the diamond at Hawkins Field for the first time.

The overall freshman class was tabbed No. 2 overall by Baseball America. Some of these newcomers -- Sonny Gray, Jason Esposito, Navery Moore, Joe Loftus and Matt Marquis -- were featured in this year's season ticket commercial.

Watch the video spot below.

And don't forget, the season is less than a month away. Reserve your seats by purchasing season tickets starting at $75. Click here to order or call 615.322.GOLD.

More Australian Open Results

Here's another photo from the Australian Open in Melbourne... sent in by a Vanderbilt fan.

Former Commodore Julie Ditty (pictured) participated in the doubles portion of the Grand Slam tennis event. Ditty and partner Carly Gullickson dropped their first round match to the No. 14 pair of Sorana Cirstea and Monica Niculescu, 3-6, 6-2, 3-6.

Bobby Reynolds, another former Vanderbilt star, and teammate Rajeev Ram advanced to the third round of the tournament before falling to the second-ranked brothers tandem of Bob and Mike Bryan, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6.

SEC Basketball Tournament Tickets On Sale

From the Vanderbilt Ticket Office

Tickets to the 2009 Men's and Women's SEC Basketball Tournament are on sale now. The women's tourney is scheduled for March 5-8 in North Little Rock, Ark., while the men's tourney will be held from March 12-15 in Tampa, Fla.

All seating will be based on National Commodore Club Priority. Purchase price includes all games in the tournament and all sales are final. Fees apply to all internet and phone orders.

Click here to order online or call 615.322.GOLD.

C.M. Newton Interview

In the latest Commodore History Corner, Bill Traughber talks with former Vanderbilt basketball head coach C.M. Newton.

Please take some time to read this incredible interview - click here

Newton discusses a variety of topics from his storied career including the infamous tennis ball incident against Florida in 1989 that kept the Commodores from winning the SEC title:

"There was no way we were going to lose. It was crazy to call that technical. It could have been somebody from Florida that threw the tennis ball out there. If you had 30 tennis balls thrown on the court or barrage at Florida then that would have been different. But to have one tennis ball thrown out there and for the official John Clougherty to act that way was inexcusable.

"I think he just overreacted. (Frank) Kornet fouled out and now we've got to go through overtime with (Dwayne) Schintzius still in the game and our center fouled out. At the time I told Clougherty, "John, I've always been a forgiving person, but I don't think I will ever forgive you for that.'"

Stallings on Gottfried

We just posted the 104.5 Wake Up Zone's Tuesday morning interview with Kevin Stallings on vucommodores.com.

In today's segment, Stallings discusses the resignation of Alabama's Mark Gottfried and also tells a story about how former Commodore Matt Freije had to spend an entire day with him.

Click here to listen to the interview.

McGugin's Biggest Loser Off and Running

It's a long athletic year, especially when you are winning. To fight the malaise that often comes with cycling through seasons, it often becomes necessary to find things to offset having to work so many hours. This winter, I decided to bring back McGugin's Biggest Loser which was started two years ago by Cal Cook of the National Commodore Club. The 2007 rendition was a bunch of guys who were mainly concerned with making jokes at each other's expense while trying to get into better shape. Needless to say, most are back for another rendition having found themselves back at square one.

This time around has seen much more interest as we have split 41 total contestants into two teams. Teams are co-ed and composed of various Vanderbilt athletic staff members and a few coaches. Team Gold has solid leadership under Lori Alexander (Associate Director of Student Athletics) who is herself often seen running the steps of Dudley Field. Team Black has the fortune (or misfortune) of having me as defacto leader. My only claim to fame in fitness seems to be that I was runner-up in the 2007 version.

This past Monday's weigh-in resulted in each team losing about 1% of their total initial weight. Team Black lost 41 lbs and Team Gold lost an equally impressive 39 lbs as a unit. Each team also sported two individuals that lost 8 lbs! Joanne Eskreis (Administrative Assistant) and Brett Wulke (Operations) anchored Team Gold while whispers of bulking up prior to the initial weigh-in marred the dietary exploits of Jason Silvers (Marketing) and me.

The plan here is to have some updates on McGugin's Biggest Loser here in the blog and hopefully introduce you to some of the people here at Vanderbilt that you might only know as that "girl I talked to on gameday" or possibly "the dude who picked up your keys in the gym after a game." The contest runs through March 30 with the winning team having bragging rights.

Animal cruelty

When is eating a cupcake a crime?

I saw this clip featured on last week's episode of The Soup.

Poor Pup.

Don't break my stride

With the eighth youngest team in Division I men's basketball (according to KenPom.com), as well as the departure of four seniors from last year's 26-8 squad, you knew there would be a few bumps in the road with Vanderbilt's 2008-09 team.

So how do you rebuild confidence among a team that has (a) only two upperclassmen and (b) lost three-straight conference games by an average of 15 points? Coach Stallings answered the question during Monday's SEC teleconference.

"I think that we have to continue to try to be positive with them to help them learn. I think it can come from them holding each other more accountable. But, I think the biggest way that confidence comes is by knowing what to expect and seeing success. We just don't have anybody playing at a level right now that is giving confidence to the other players.

"Generally speaking, when things are going decently you have one or two guys who you can garner your confidence from if you're another player. You have confidence in yourself, but you know this guy is going to do his part, or he's going to do well, or he's going to create opportunities for the rest of us. We just don't have any of that going on right now. "

Vanderbilt will have to regroup against an experienced South Carolina team that features eight upperclassmen under first-year coach Darrin Horn. The Gamecocks (14-4, 3-2 SEC) are undefeated in SEC home games this year with victories over Ole Miss, Florida and Auburn. And while the Commodores have won three straight in Columbia (and six of the last seven in the series), Stallings knows everything must be earned in order for the Commodores to get back on the right track.

"South Carolina seems to be playing extremely well and very confidently. Like every other opponent in our league, you get no free nights. Nothing comes easily in this league."

Ogilvy Update

During Monday's SEC coaches teleconference, head coach Kevin Stallings told the media that sophomore center A.J. Ogilvy was under the weather leading up to the Florida game.

"A.J. had been in the student hospital a couple days prior to the game and is still sick," Stallings said about Ogilvy, who was already battling a bruised right heal since late December. "He wasn't playing effectively, and there was no sense in leaving him out there because he was only getting worse as time went on. So, I chose not to play him, and I feel badly for him. He tried. He wasn't feeling well."

Ogilvy ended up with a season-low four points in 15 minutes (14 of which were in the first half) against the Gators Sunday. Combine those numbers with the Tennessee loss and he's only shooting 2-for-11 from the field in his last two outings, making it the only times all year he's been held to single digits in scoring. Even Florida head coach Billy Donovan commented that Ogilvy was not himself.

"I know he has been dealing with some things health wise," Donovan said after the Gators' 94-69 victory. "It's hard when your best player is going through some physical ailments."