KNOXVILLE – Dominick Wood-Anderson is from California, but the Tennessee junior tight end said Tuesday that he grew up watching the Tennessee-Florida rivalry.
“The Pac-12, they take it serious,” Wood-Anderson said. “But I think the Southeast takes football more serious.”
Wood-Anderson, who is in his first season with the Volunteers after transferring from Arizona Western College, will get his first taste of the rivalry Saturday night when the Vols host the Gators at 7 at Neyland Stadium in front of an expected crowd of more than 100,000.
Tennessee’s Dominick Wood-Anderson (4) catches a touchdown pass in front of West Virginia’s Dylan Tonkery (10) in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)“The players have been telling me it’s going to be wild,” Wood-Anderson said. “Really, you’ve just got to stay level-headed. You can’t get too high. I think that players can tend to get rattled by a huge crowd. So I feel like you’ve just got to stay calm and stay focused.”
Wood-Anderson said he was mainly a Southern California fan growing up.