Today on Rocky Top: Future Football Schedules, Alexis Johnson Micah Abernathy

Future Tennessee Football schedules, Alexis Johnson, and Micah Abernathy headline the Vols news for Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016.

We’re a day away! Tennessee football is finally about to start. Rocky Top is finally ready to get rocking. And college football fans everywhere can barely contain their excitement.

As we get set to bring you the news surrounding the Volunteers on Rocky Top today, everything is centered around football. There is an update on a recent player who was reinstated, a feature on a surprise starter, and news on future schedules.

Of course, very few people likely care about future schedules right now since their entire focus is on the start of the 2016 season, but it’s still interesting to look at.

As a result, we’ll start with that first.

Vols football adds seven home games to future schedules – UTSports

Home meetings with UTEP (2018), Chattanooga (2019), UAB (2019), Charlotte (2020), Bowling Green (2021), Ball State (2022) and Army West Point (2022) have all been added to the future games list.

With the addition of UTEP, Tennessee’s 2018 non-conference slate is now complete. The Vols meet UTEP for the third time when they welcome the Miners to Neyland Stadium on Sept. 15, 2018. That date marks, to the day, the 28th anniversary of UT and UTEP’s last meeting — a 56-0 victory on Sept. 15, 1990.

Micah Abernathy earned starting job through ‘consistency’ – Ryan Callahan of 247Sports

Tennessee sophomore Micah Abernathy has made the most of his move from nickelback to safety earlier this year.

Abernathy will make his first career start Thursday night when the ninth-ranked Vols open their season against Appalachian State at Neyland Stadium, and coach Butch Jones said this week that Abernathy earned the starting job alongside junior Todd Kelly Jr. by being “a model of consistency.”

Alexis Johnson able to play in opener – Patrick Brown of the Chattanooga Times Free Press

Coach Butch Jones on Monday said Johnson, along with defensive tackle Shy Tuttle (leg) and wide receiver Jauan Jennings (knee), would be available to play in the opener against Appalachian State.

“He has to go earn his way into our football program,” Jones said of Johnson. “He continues to be work in progress, still taking it one day at a time. He still has a little bit more work to do to be completely game-ready, but I’ve liked his attitude and I’ve liked everything that we’ve seen so far from him.”