Craig Morgan shared a touching ode to his late son, Jerry Greer, with the release of “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost” on Aug. 30. The new tune, which Craig penned and produced, honors Jerry, who passed away after a boating accident in July 2016 at the age of 19.
“As difficult as this song was to write and as difficult as it is to sing, it gives me strength in my faith in God,” says Craig via Twitter. “My hope is it does the same for others.”
Before releasing the song, Craig performed the toughing tribute on the Grand Ole Opry stage, most notably on the night of Luke Combs’ induction on July 16
Watch Craig’s Opry performance of “The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost” below.
Miranda Lambert shared a new song, “Pretty Bitchin’,” from her upcoming seventh studio album, Wildcard, which drops on Nov. 1.
Miranda co-penned the fun-loving tune with Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby and Jon Randall.
“[This song] is so much fun,” says Miranda. “Everything in it explains me . . . it talks about Airstreams, Tito’s, having a band and awesome fans. It’s a good thank you to life for being amazing and for getting to live this dream. It’s definitely pretty bitchin’.”
Tennessee Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer recently promoted longtime UTAD staffer Dr. Michael R. Allen to the role of Assistant Athletics Director for Player Relations and Development.
Known as “Mikki,” Allen was a four-year football letterman at UT and a member of the 1998 National Championship team. Allen has faithfully served his alma mater for more than a decade in various leadership capacities.
Allen now joins the UTAD Senior Staff and will oversee the department’s comprehensive VFL programming initiatives. Highlighting those efforts is a comprehensive development assistance system for Tennessee football student-athletes that guides them from enrollment through their transition to post-football professional careers.
“We’ve already got outstanding support mechanisms in place that are comprehensive,” Fulmer said. “Mikki’s presence will ensure that the impact of our VFL support programming is maximized to benefit our student-athletes, setting a new standard for student-athlete development in the Southeastern Conference.
“Under Mikki’s leadership, our student-athletes’ time at Tennessee should serve as a launchpad that exposes them to countless growth opportunities and allows them to really take off and achieve success in life long after their collegiate careers conclude.”
Allen also is responsible for managing VFL engagement and working with the Thornton Athletics Student Life Center. His collegiate athletic experience, entrepreneurial background, academic achievements and years of strategic planning and development as a director for the Tennessee Fund make him uniquely qualified for this role.
“Coach Fulmer has an extraordinary but attainable vision for our VFL programming efforts,” Allen said. “It requires deliberate collaboration with campus and strategic networking with many external constituencies. We’ve always offered tremendous support—academic, mental health, sports medicine, internships, professional development personal branding—for our student-athletes. I’m excited to really tie everything together in a way that maximizes its impact on the young men in our program.
“My goal is to have a positive impact on our student-athletes that aids their transition into life after competitive football. Additionally, my No. 1 goal in this role is for Knoxville to always feel like ‘home sweet home’ to both current and former student-athletes, regardless of where they came from.”
Allen will manage a comprehensive program that cultivates leadership while providing a designed platform that promotes professional development. The program will provide football student-athletes with networking opportunities with influential professionals in technology, sales and marketing, entrepreneurship, supply chain/logistics, music, management and other fields.
A native of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Allen joined the Tennessee Fund staff in 2009 and excelled during multiple record-breaking fundraising years. As Director of Athletics Development for Middle Tennessee in recent years, he built many meaningful relationships.
Prior to returning to Rocky Top in 2009, Allen co-founded and managed 29*34 Vintage Sportswear, an award-winning collegiately licensed apparel company with fellow VFL Steve Johnson. The upstart company, which employed only former UT student-athletes, enjoyed significant success, generated millions in revenue and received 2003 NCAA Collegiate Licensee Company of the Year acclaim.
Following his entrepreneurial endeavors, Allen returned to the University of Tennessee to pursue a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership and Administration (2016) to supplement his master’s degree in Sports Management and Administration (2007).
Allen’s wife, Jekia, is an administrator with the Knox County School System. They have two children, Mikenzie Rae and Jansen Michael.
Maren Morris dropped by Late Night With Seth Meyers on Sept. 4 to chat with the titular host and perform her new single, “The Bones.”
Maren, who co-penned the tune with Laura Veltz and Jimmy Robbins, croons the chorus: “When the bones are good, the rest don’t matter / Yeah, the paint could peel, the glass could shatter / Let it break ’cause you and I remain the same / When there ain’t a crack in the foundation / Baby, I know any storm we’re facing / Will blow right over while we stay put / The house don’t fall when the bones are good.”
Currently, the song is No. 47 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart after two weeks. “The Bones” is the second single from Maren’s 2019 album, Girl, following the title track, which reached No. 1 in August.
Watch Maren perform “The Bones” on Late Night With Seth Meyers.
Knoxville, Tenn. – After the Tennessee football team forced only one turnover in week one, Vols’ head coach Jeremy Pruitt is seeking more takeaways this Saturday against BYU inside Neyland Stadium.
Following Tennessee’s third practice of the week on Haslam Field, Pruitt said the key to creating turnovers is fundamentals.
“The first way to create turnovers is to hit people,” Pruitt said. “There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned hit. We’ve all seen it. We probably saw some on Saturday. We need more old-fashioned hits — legal, good, clean football where you knock the ball off somebody. And then when you get a bunch of people to the ball, you knock the ball off, you rip the ball off. It’s awareness. And then when the ball is in the air, whether it’s getting your hands up and tipping some balls or finishing in the back end, when you effect the quarterback it seems like there’s more turnovers there, so we need to be more aggressive, play aggressive, tackle aggressive in our approach.”
Pruitt liked what he saw in the midweek practice, noting high energy and competition he felt throughout the afternoon.
“We had a pretty good practice out there today, had a lot of energy,” Pruitt said. “Both sides of the ball, a lot of competition, so that’s good. I said it before between the first week and the second week is when you usually have your most improvement as a football team and we certainly have a lot of areas that we can improve at. Our guys are kind of sticking their noses to the ground and going at it as hard as they can. That’s what they’ve got to do and that’s what everybody’s got to do.”
The Vols are only looking forward, not back. Pruitt added that round one is over, and the team is looking towards round two.
“Everybody has gone back to work,” Pruitt said. “It wasn’t like we went into last week and didn’t have good practices. We’ve had good practices all camp. I’m talking about effort, trying to do it the right way.”
New Guys Make Impact
Pruitt noted that newcomers had an impact in Saturday’s game against Georgia State. Six Vols made their first career starts in the opener: freshman cornerback Warren Burrell, redshirt freshman defensive lineman Greg Emerson, freshman linebacker Henry To’o To’o, junior defensive lineman Darel Middleton, freshman offensive lineman Wanya Morris and junior defensive lineman Aubrey Solomon.
“Several guys played for the first time,” Pruitt said. “A lot of those guys played better than their peers. We have War Daddy boards and several of those guys were on there. They played pretty well.”
To’o To’o recorded four solo stops and ended the game with seven total tackles and half a tackle for loss. Solomon racked up six tackles and a quarterback hit. Emerson’s stat line included five total tackles and a half tackle for loss. Burrell and Middleton both recorded three tackles.
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Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Post-Practice Press Conference Transcript – Sept. 4, 2019
Opening statement:
“We had a pretty good practice out there today, had a lot of energy. Both sides of the ball, a lot of competition, so that’s good. Said before between the first week and the second week is when you usually have your most improvement as a football team and we certainly have a lot of areas that we can improve at. Our guys are kind of sticking their noses to the ground and going at it as hard as they can. That’s what they’ve got to do and that’s what everybody’s got to do.”
On the status of LB Daniel Bituli and his chances of playing this Saturday:
“He was out there today. Done a little bit today, so he’s close. There might be a chance that he could give us some snaps, very similar to Trey (Smith) last week. Trey played 30 snaps, so Daniel will definitely be close.”
On the energy Jauan Jennings brings to practice and if anyone else had shown that this week:
“You know, Jauan has always been a really good practicer. The guy just really loves ball, he really loves ball. Loves to practice, loves to compete. (We) usually have to slow him down at practice, especially when he was injured a little bit. He kind of had a little bit of a measuring stick on yards there from the GPS and he was always way over it every day. I’ve said it before, I wish you could coach a team full of guys like Jauan. I’ve had the opportunity to coach a lot of really good players in my career, and guys that try to do it the right way and Jauan is one of those guys.”
On the team’s response as a whole after last week’s performance:
“Everybody has gone back to work. It wasn’t like we went into last week and didn’t have good practices. We’ve had good practices all camp. I’m talking about effort, trying to do it the right way. We lack some experience at certain positions, turn the ball over – I mean I can go through the whole thing all over again – so it’s not like we didn’t have good practices leading up. We didn’t have good execution on game day and that’s where it counts, it’s those 60 minutes, so it’s what we got to do. We’ve got to take it from the practice field to the game field.”
On what Kurott Garland did in his absence to be able to play the amount of snaps he did Saturday:
“He was a guy who played last year in four games. We decided to redshirt him along with several other guys because we felt it was best for the program for the next three to five years. We felt like he played really well last year for a young guy and he can continue to improve. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to go through spring practice with a little medical issue. Coming back from that, there is a lot to it. When he put his name in the portal, I told him that the door was not closed yet. I was in constant communication with his family. The guy is one of our better players and he has a lot of potential. He is a guy that missed all of spring and a lot of fall camp. He has a lot of upside and he works really hard. He is going to continue to improve and get better.”
On the younger guys applying what they learned Saturday to practice:
“Several guys played for the first time. A lot of those guys played better than their peers. We have War Daddy boards and several of those guys were on there. They played pretty well. With freshmen, it’s interesting, when you’re in high school you are usually better your senior year than you are when you are a freshman. When you get to college, you are going to be better your senior year than when you first get to college. Some guys are ready to play faster. It really doesn’t have a lot to do with ability in my opinion. Maybe it depends on the program that you come from and if it prepared you for the daily grind that is going to happen in college. Maybe you went to a school where the academics were really tough, and it prepares you for college and you have an advantage there. I have seen a lot of guys play early on because they were ready. Some of their peers that played the same position and never played as a freshman became the best player. It comes with continuing to coach them up and developing them as football players. These guys are working hard. We have two young outside linebackers in (Quavaris) Crouch and (Roman) Harrison that practice and make plays all over the field. I told those guys that they are a little bit away from being ready completely. They are close and hopefully we get the chance to play those guys more this week.”
On the players-only meeting after Saturday’s game:
“It’s their team. If you’re invested in something and you have passion about something, you confront people. That’s what leaders do. So that’s good to see.”
On finding a set offensive line:
“Well, we’ve only practiced two times since the last time I got this question, so we’ll keep working until we figure out who the five best guys are. We’re going to play as many guys as it takes for us to have success, whether it’s five, it’s 10, it’s eight, that’s what we’re going to do.”
On if he saw opportunities to create turnovers after re-watching Saturday’s game:
“The first way to create turnovers is to hit people. There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned hit. We’ve all seen it. We probably saw some on Saturday. We need more old-fashioned hits — legal, good, clean football where you knock the ball off somebody. And then when you get a bunch of people to the ball, you knock the ball off, you rip the ball off. It’s awareness. And then when the ball is in the air, whether it’s getting your hands up and tipping some balls or finishing in the back end, when you effect the quarterback it seems like there’s more turnovers there, so we need to be more aggressive, play aggressive, tackle aggressive in our approach.”
On Aaron Beasley moving to running back and Jerrod Means moving back to wide receiver:
“We have three running backs and Tim Jordan has a turned ankle, so now we have two. Fred Orr and Chip Omer have given us some looks back there and are doing a nice job. There are a couple positions we have where we’re thin, so when we took Jeremy (Banks) and moved him to inside linebacker, it made us thin at that spot, so we lost a guy. Aaron Beasley is a really good football player, that’s why we wanted him here. He’s a team guy, he wants to contribute to the team. He called me and asked to move to running back, so there might be some other guys go there. And because we thought Baylen (Buchanan) wouldn’t be able to play earlier on, so we wanted to give Jerrod (Means) a look to see. We are thin at that position. If we move a few guys around, maybe at wide receiver, it opens some spots there, so we moved him back. He went through the whole summer there, so he is familiar with it.”
On what he wants to see from Jarrett Guarantano on Saturday:
“It is every week. We want to be efficient. The biggest mark of a quarterback is taking his team, whether you start on the 20-yard-line, 50-yard-line, wherever, and where does that position end up? That is what you get measured by. Sometimes it’s by handing the ball off 10 times a possession and sometimes it’s throwing it 10 times a possession. Whatever it is, just being efficient and getting the offense to play at their best.”
On where K’Rojhn Calbert stands in the offensive line rotation:
“He missed some days last week early on at the beginning. He is back in there now and we will see in practice this week.”
On if he expects Trey Smith to play more snaps this week:
“Trey will always be week-by-week to see where he is at and how the other guys are playing. It will be a game-time decision on what we do there.”
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — For the fifth year in a row, the Tennessee Volunteers will team up with Curing Kids Cancer to promote that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month during their game against BYU.
Head coach Jeremy Pruitt will wear a lanyard with a gold whistle for the second straight year.
Teams from across the country will wear helmet stickers and wristbands while coaches wear wristbands, gold whistles and lanyards to represent their support for pediatric cancer awareness. Many of these teams are not only spreading awareness, they are helping their local children’s hospital receive funds to better provide innovative treatment at its pediatric cancer center.
The campaign is becoming a staple for many of the teams as all of this year’s teams have participated before. Each team gives back on a national and local level by promoting childhood cancer awareness.
Taking on pediatric cancer and their opponents will be:
Alabama
Georgia
South Carolina
Tennessee
Duke
Vanderbilt
More information can be found at the web site curingkidscancer.org.
Tennessee will also be partnering with the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital through the Beads of Courage and Special Spectators programs to provide an unforgettable gameday experience at this Saturday’s game for children battling severe illnesses.
The children will receive star treatment from KPD with a police escort from ETCH to their exclusive tailgate in Tennessee Park, where there will be a catered tailgate with food and Vols swag bags for the kids. The children and their families will enjoy a premier view of the Vol Walk prior to taking the field to meet the University of Tennessee Spirit Squad, Smokey, Smokey X and to watch the Vols during warm-ups.
After the pregame sideline experience, the children and their families will get the chance to cheer on the Vols with complimentary tickets. Through the Beads of Courage program, members of the football team and spirit squad will carry or wear “Acts of Courage” beads during the game. The beads, orange with a white Power T, are then given to kids after a particularly tough treatment or when they need an extra boost of encouragement.
Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt held his weekly Wednesday post-practice press conference to preview the upcoming game. This week, UT hosts BYU on Saturday. Our Cumulus Broadcasting Knoxville sports department staff was there covering it. Watch it, in full, below.
Vols HC Jeremy Pruitt / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
The Academy of Country Music announce the addition of seven new ACM Decade Awards: Song of the Decade, Album of the Decade, Artist-Songwriter of the Decade, Breakout Artist of the Decade, Single of the Decade, Songwriter of the Decade and Music Event of the Decade.
The ACM Song of the Decade has been awarded to Miranda Lambert and songwriters Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin for “The House That Built Me.” The tune earned Miranda her first No. 1 single in 2010.
The ACM Song of the Decade Award recognizes a song that has impacted country music over the decade. The factors considered include success at radio, commercial media, sales and streaming, creative integrity, artistic merit, ACM Award recognition and more. Miranda is the most-awarded artist in ACM history, with a total of 34 wins. “The House That Build Me” won three ACM categories, including Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year.
The remaining Decade Awards will be announced in the coming weeks.
Jason Aldean was named ACM Artist of the Decade in April.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 2020 Southeastern Conference women’s basketball schedule was released Wednesday by the league office in Birmingham, Ala., finalizing dates for Tennessee’s SEC games.
Conference play will begin on Thursday, Jan. 2, and run through Sunday, March 1. The schedule consists of a single round robin (10 games) and home and away with one permanent opponent (2 games) and two rotating opponents (4 games).
The league’s permanent opponents for women’s basketball are Alabama-Auburn, Arkansas-Missouri, Florida-Georgia, Kentucky-South Carolina, LSU-Texas A&M, Ole Miss-Mississippi State and Tennessee-Vanderbilt. UT’s two rotating foes this season are LSU and Ole Miss.
This marks the 11th year of the 16-game schedule for women’s basketball and the eighth with 14 teams. Each team will play eight home games and eight away games.
The regular season will be followed by the 2020 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament, which will be held for the fourth time overall and second consecutive season at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. The tournament will include all 14 teams and begins on Wednesday, March 4, and concludes with the championship game on Sunday, March 8.
The women’s basketball television schedule will be announced at a later date, as will tip times for all games.
The Lady Vols open SEC action at home vs. Missouri on Jan. 2 before hitting the road for back-to-back games at No. 13 Kentucky and Ole Miss on Jan. 5 and 9, respectively.
In addition to its battle vs. UK, Tennessee will face ranked SEC foes in home games vs. No. 9 Mississippi State (Feb. 6) and No. 10 Texas A&M (Feb. 16) as well as road contests vs. No. 7 South Carolina (Feb. 2) and No. 19 Arkansas (Feb. 10).
The remaining home schedule includes Georgia (Jan. 12), Alabama (Jan. 20), LSU (Jan. 26), Vanderbilt (Feb. 23) and Ole Miss (Feb. 27).
Other SEC road trips include stops at Florida (Jan. 16), Vanderbilt (Jan. 30), LSU (Feb. 13) and Auburn (March 1).
Tennessee released its non-conference slate on June 5. The Lady Vols host Carson-Newman in an exhibition game on Oct. 29. After opening the regular season on the road at East Tennessee State on Nov. 5, UT plays eight of its next 11 on Rocky Top. In addition to a Dec. 8 showdown with perennial rival #14 Texas, the Big Orange women play host to Central Arkansas (Nov. 7), Tennessee State (Nov. 14), Stetson (Nov. 19), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Nov. 26), Air Force (Dec. 1), Colorado State (Dec. 11) and Howard (Dec. 29).
The rest of the non-conference road slate isn’t for the faint of heart. UT travels to defending NCAA runner-up and No. 20 preseason Notre Dame (Nov. 11) in the earliest-ever match-up between the schools. The Lady Vols also play at No. 4 Stanford (Dec. 18) and Portland State (Dec. 21) and renew a storied rivalry with No. 3 UConn (Jan. 23) at Hartford in a contest that will benefit the Pat Summitt Foundation and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The Lady Vols return six letterwinners, including two starters from last season’s squad that finished 19-13 overall and made its 38th-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Rennia Davis, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, averaged 14.9 ppg. and 7.7 rpg. en route to All-SEC Second Team and WBCA Honorable Mention All-America accolades, while 6-0 sophomore guard Zaay Green put up 9.4 ppg. and 4.0 rpg. on her way to SEC All-Freshman status.
UT’s No. 9-ranked freshman class is led by 6-2 guard Jordan Horston, ranked as the No. 2 player overall and No. 1 at her position in the nation. She was the MVP of the 2019 McDonald’s All-America Game. Also included in that top-10 rookie group are 6-5 posts Tamari Key and Emily Saunders, ranked as a five-star by espnW HoopGurlz and a four-star by ProspectsNation.com, respectively.
UT also added 5-foot-6 three-point ace Jessie Rennie from Bendigo, Australia, and 6-3 forward Jaiden McCoy, a Knoxville native (Farragut H.S.) who played at Northwest Florida State College and earned All-Panhandle Conference honors last season.
Graduate transfer Lou Brown from Washington State also is back after suffering a knee injury during 2018-19 preseason practice and sitting out the entire year. She was ranked No. 2 by prospectsnation.com in its International Elite Top 25 for 2014. She averaged 6.4 ppg. and 6.0 rpg. in 2017-18 while hitting 29 threes in a return to action following an injury-shortened 2016-17 campaign in Pullman.
In 15 seasons as a head coach, Harper is 285-208 and is one of only 11 coaches to lead three different women’s programs to NCAA Tournament appearances (Western Carolina/NC State/Missouri State). She has rebuilt and directed teams to 12 postseason appearances (5 NCAA/7 WNIT).
Harper was 118-79 at MSU in six seasons, earning 2019 Kay Yow Coach of the Year and 2019 MVC Coach of the Year accolades.
LADY VOL SCHEDULE NOTES
Tennessee is slated to play nine regular-season games vs. teams ranked in Charlie Crème’s espnW Way-Too-Early Preseason Top 25, including three at home and five against squads ranked in Crème’s top 10.
Those games are vs. No. 3 UConn, No. 4 Stanford, No. 7 South Carolina, No. 9 Mississippi State, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 13 Kentucky, No. 14 Texas, No. 19 Arkansas and No. 20 Notre Dame.
Tennessee has won three straight over UConn, two in a row over Texas and two of the past three from Stanford.
The Lady Vols will play 13 regular-season games vs. teams that saw postseason action in 2018-19.
UT plays two teams that made it to the 2019 NCAA Final Four, including NCAA runner-up Notre Dame and semifinalist UConn.
In addition to Notre Dame and UConn making the NCAA Final Four, Mississippi State and Stanford were 2019 Elite Eight teams, while South Carolina and Texas A&M advanced to the Sweet 16 round.
Other opponents making the NCAA field in 2019 were Missouri (Second Round), Kentucky (Second Round), Texas (First Round), Portland State (First Round) and Auburn (First Round).
Arkansas (Third Round) and Stetson (First Round) played in the postseason WNIT last year.
Tennessee will play eight of its first 12 games at home, including a stretch of six straight from Nov. 14 to Dec. 11.
UT is meeting Air Force, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Colorado State, Howard and Portland State for the first time ever.
The Lady Vols will host a lone exhibition game for the sixth straight year and will face Carson-Newman in an exhibition contest for the 16th-consecutive season.
