KNOXVILLE—Welcome to our weekly column, “The State of the Vols.” Here we summarize and analyze the previous week’s action while looking forward to the coming week for Vol football, basketball, and Lady Vol basketball. Check back next Monday for volume 7.

Football: It was a busy week for Vol head coach Butch Jones. The Tennessee staff is prepping for spring practice, which starts March 9th, and working hard to make the 2014 Vol recruiting class a good one. Over two dozen prospects were on campus this weekend for one of the several junior days this staff has planned. Current Vols raved about the weekend activities, with several saying junior day was the best they’ve ever experienced. Even more importantly, numerous recruits left impressed with the Tennessee staff and program, and a constant theme emerged: This staff is nothing like the one that presided over the worst three years in Tennessee history.

Both current and prospective Vols spoke repeatedly about the staff’s energy and their ability to convince players to buy in to their philosophies. Recruits who visited UT before Jones arrived commonly spoke of how this staff places a bigger emphasis on relationships than when they last visited. Overall, the vast majority of visitors communicated that they think Jones is going to win big at Tennessee, and left excited about the state of the program. It’s tough to imagine junior day going any better for the Vols.

Jones hasn’t won a game at Tennessee, but is certainly doing all the right things in the offseason. There’s a palpable energy around the program; one that recruits, players, and media have acknowledged. It’s been some time since there was this amount of positive buzz around Tennessee football, and it’s going to be an exciting spring. Check out part two of our visitor spotlight series for information on two 4-star visitors.

Also of note, yesterday was General Robert Neyland’s birthday. Many things stand out about Neyland, but one of our favorite quotes regarding the legendary coach comes from the mouth of another legend.

“People think I’m the greatest damn coach in the world, but Neyland taught me everything I know.”—Bear Bryant

Coming up this week, we’ll regularly add prospects to our Vol targets page, plus start a spring practice primer series.

Basketball: Tennessee went 2-0 last week with a 58-46 road victory over rival Vanderbilt and a record 88-58 rout of then No. 25 Kentucky. Vol point guard Trae Golden was the story of the week with 36 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists, and just 2 turnovers in 68 minutes of play.

“We got better with our offense, the floor really opened up and I think that all starts with Trae Golden,” Cuonzo said after the UK game. “When he plays the way we expect him to play, everything falls in line and it becomes a fun game. We had great crowd support, tremendous energy, so it was fun to be a part of.”

When Golden plays well, the Vols are clearly a dangerous team. Tennessee is 10-3 when he scores in double-figures, and 7-0 when he scores more than 11 points.

The Vols host LSU (15-8, 6-6) Tuesday at 7 p.m. (TV: ESPNU), then face Texas A&M (15-10, 5-7) on the road Saturday at 4 p.m. (TV: SEC Network). Tennessee stands at 69th in the RPI and certainly has work to do in order to climb back into contention for an NCAA Tournament bid. Though they probably don’t have to run the table to get in, Tennessee needs to take care of business this week and go 2-0. If they lose either game, they’ll need to sweep Missouri and Florida to remain in serious contention for a spot in the field of 68. Don’t count the Vols out, they seem to be peaking just in time.

Several 2014 basketball recruits were at the game Saturday. We’ll have more information on them midweek when we launch our basketball recruiting page.

Lady Vols: Tennessee emerged victorious over Vanderbilt in their only action of the week. For images from Sunday’s “Live Pink, Bleed Orange” game, click here. The Lady Vols played exceptionally well offensively Sunday, shooting 55% for the game, but struggled at times defensively. Vanderbilt’s speedy point guard, Jasmine Lister, repeatedly exposed the Tennessee defense, and led all scorers with 24 points.

“I don’t think it’s about effort, it’s just discipline – getting on the help side and helping. It’s not getting beat on a backboard because you’re standing up when you should be in a basketball stance. It’s standing on your feet when someone has a shot fake. I think ours is that they know what to do, it’s just at the moment, they have a lapse and they are undisciplined and that’s our job as coaches. I think this is one of our most consistent defensive teams, we just get a little impatient at times and get out of our stance. We just have to go back and go over things and stay with it,” Warlick said.

The Lady Vols will have to show more discipline if they’re going to make a deep March run.

Tennessee hosts Auburn Thursday at 7 p.m. (TV: SportsSouth), then plays on the road at Arkansas, Sunday at 2 p.m. (TV: WVLT). The Lady Vols are tied atop the SEC standings with Texas A&M. Look for them to go 2-0 this week and maintain at least a share of the conference lead.