NASHVILLE – Nearly 1,000 Tennessee fans ignored an outside storm and packed the concourse at Nissan Stadium on Thursday night for the 52nd Annual All-Sports Picnic – the third stop of the 2018 Big Orange Caravan.
Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer, head football coach Jeremy Pruitt, head men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes and women’s basketball assistant coach Sharrona Reeves posed for photos with fans, signed autographs and took part in a Q & A program with Bob Kesling at the event.
“I tell you what, this is a nice crowd,” Pruitt said to the fans during the program portion of the event held at the Tennessee Titans’ stadium. “First of all I want to say this, I’m excited to be at Tennessee. It seems like everywhere we go there are more and more people that turn out. You don’t have to be around the Tennessee fanbase very long to feel the passion, the energy and excitement. I’ve said this before, but everywhere I go I get a little more inspired and a little more fired up for the season to get started.”
The UT Knoxville Office of Alumni Affairs awarded a pair of scholarships to Nashville natives Zoe Babyar and Amanda Boeing at the event, which also featured face painting, corn hole, prizes, free food and a silent auction.
“It’s awesome to receive this scholarship and to see the love everybody has for this school,” said Babyar, who plans to major in computer science at Tennessee. “I’m really excited to go to UT. This will help me out a lot. College is really expensive. To be a women in STEM is a cool opportunity and this will help me with that.”
The Big Orange Caravan continues next week in Atlanta at SunTrust Park on Tuesday, May 22, before wrapping up on Thursday, May 24 in the Tri-Cities at the Meadowview Conference Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport.
Registration for all stops is open at BigOrangeCaravan.com.
Admission to all Big Orange Caravan events is $5 per person in advance or $10 at the door. Students and youth will receive complimentary admission. Proceeds from admission benefit the scholarship funds of the local UT Knoxville Alumni Chapter (these donations are non-refundable).
UT Athletics
