Tennessee running back Ty Chandler spoke to the media on Wednesday ahead of 2019 spring football practice #4.

Rachel Wammack revealed via Twitter that she got engaged on March 11.
“I’m going to be Mrs. Noah Purcell,” said Rachel, in part, along with a pic of her fiancé and new ring.
Rachel, 24, is a native of Muscle Shoals, Ala. She released her four-song debut EP in April 2018, which featured her debut single, “Damage.” Rachel was a member of CMT’s Next Women of Country class of 2018.
Congrats to the happy couple.
I’M GOING TO BE MRS. NOAH PURCELL!!!!!!! ♥️💍 3•11•19 pic.twitter.com/MisncZNn1t
— Rachel Wammack (@RachelWammack) March 13, 2019
photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
Trisha Yearwood celebrated the 20th anniversary of her Grand Ole Opry induction with an appearance on the Opry on March 12.
A number of artists attended the show to help Trisha celebrate, including Ricky Skaggs—who surprised Trisha with the invitation to the join the Opry 20 years ago; Emmylou Harris, who Trisha cites as her musical hero; and, of course, husband Garth Brooks. In addition, Kelly Clarkson, Reba McEntire and Brenda Lee shared video messages.
Trisha’s set list included a cover of Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams,” “Wrong Side of Memphis,” a duet with Ricky on “Two Highways,” a duet with Garth on “Whiskey to Wine,” and “She’s in Love With the Boy.”
Trisha, who was inducted into the Opry on March 13, 1999, by Porter Wagoner, cites the occasion as one of the seminal moments in her storied career.
“It’s been a really emotional day for me—I think maybe more emotional for me than when I was inducted 20 years ago,” said Trisha. “And I think it’s because as much as I thought I ‘got it’ then, I really get it now. It’s been such a wonderful day.”
I’m lucky that she’s in love with the boy. @TrishaYearwood the @opry is lucky to have you… and so am I!! love, me pic.twitter.com/AgcwIadPKi
— Garth Brooks (@garthbrooks) March 13, 2019
photo courtesy Grand Ole Opry/Chris Hollo
Scotty McCreery will try to score his third consecutive No. 1 single with the release of “In Between” on April 1—no foolin’.
Penned by Scotty, Frank Rogers, Jessi Alexander and Jonathan Singleton, “In Between” follows previous No. 1 single “Five More Minutes” and “This Is It.” All three songs are from Scotty’s 2018 album, Seasons Change.
“‘In Between’ is a song that kinda talks about where I was at in life when I was writing it,” says Scotty to NCD. “I feel like a lot of folks can relate to it.”
With lyrics like “I’m in between / Friday night wild / And quiet Sunday morning / Between / Done after one / And keep on pouring / Ain’t too high / Ain’t too low / Just holding down the middle / I’m steady as I go,” the tune conjures up references to those years in your early 20s when many people are trying to transition from their teenage years to the full-fledged responsibilities of adulthood.
Listen to “In Between” below.
photo by Nash Country Daily
The United States Basketball Writers Association announced its 2018-19 All-District Teams Tuesday, and Tennessee swept both major awards in District IV.
Junior forward Grant Williams was named District IV Player of the Year, while Rick Barnes repeated as District IV Coach of the Year.
Joining Williams on the 11-man All-District IV Team were senior wing Admiral Schofield and junior point guard Jordan Bone.
The USBWA’s District IV includes all Division I programs in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi.
Williams leads the Vols and the SEC in scoring this season with a career-best 19.3 points per game. He is also Tennessee’s team leader in rebounding (7.7 rpg) blocks (1.5 bpg) and steals (1.2 spg).
Tuesday’s USBWA award adds to Williams’ growing list of postseason honors. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native also has been named SEC Player of the Year and a first-team All-SEC performer—both for the second straight season. Williams also was named to the SEC Community Service Team and is a Sporting News first-team All-American.
This is Barnes’ fourth career USBWA District Coach of the Year honor. In addition to earning the District IV award last season, he received the District VII award while at Texas in both 1999 and 2001.
Barnes—who is also a semifinalist for the Werner Ladder Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year—has guided the Volunteers to a 27-4 mark. That impressive record includes a school-record 19-game winning streak and multiple victories over top-five opponents.
The Vols spent four weeks atop the Associated Press Top 25 rankings, and for the first time in program history, Tennessee spent the entire season ranked among the top 10.
Schofield and Bone—both of whom earned All-SEC recognition following outstanding regular seasons—stand as Tennessee’s second- and third-leading scorers, respectively. Schofield averages 16.3 points while shooting .476 from the field and .404 from 3-point range. Bone dishes out 6.1 assists per game, owns a 3.0 assist/turnover ratio and adds 13.4 points per game.
UT Athletics
California native Devin Dawson announced a new tour, dubbed the California Smoke Tour, which gets its name from lyrics in his current single, “Dark Horse.” All proceeds from the six-date run in California will go straight to the California Fire Foundation, aiding them in providing emotional and financial assistance to firefighters, their families and the communities they protect.
“One of the reasons I’m stoked about this tour is because, as a California native, it’s a place very close to my heart, so I always jump at the chance to be back there,” said Devin. “I don’t get to visit my family who still live there as often as I’d like, much less have an opportunity to play multiple shows throughout the state. The fact that all the proceeds from these shows will also go toward helping people affected by the California wildfires makes it that much more special to me.”
Devin Dawson Tour
March 14 | Brisbane, AUS | Willowbank Raceway
March 18 | Lismore, AUS | Town Hall
March 19 | Brisbane, AUS | Old Museum
March 21 | Marrickville, AUS | The Factory Theatre
March 22 | Canberra, AUS | The Abbey
March 23 | Melbourne, AUS | Athenaeum
March 26 | Auckland, NZ | The Tuning Fork
March 30 | Tokyo, JP | Blue Note
April 4 | Green Cove Springs, FL | Clay County Fair
April 13 | Des Moines, IA | Wells Fargo Arena
April 24 | San Luis Obispo, CA | The Fremont Theater*
April 26 | Indio, CA | Stagecoach
April 27 | Bakersfield, CA | Buck Owens Crystal Palace*
April 29 | Sacramento, CA | Ace of Spades*
April 30 | Santa Cruz, CA | The Catalyst Atrium*
May 1 | San Francisco, CA | Slim’s*
May 2 | Chico, CA | Senator Theater*
May 25 | Boston, MA | House of Blues
June 1 | Hobart, IN | Brickie Howl
June 16 | Santa Rosa, CA | Country Summer Music Festival
July 13 | Chicago, IL | Windy City Smokeout
July 19 | Atchison, KS | LakeFest
July 26 | Tooele, UT | Country Fanfest
July 27 | Cheyenne, WY | Cheyenne Frontier Days
Aug. 24 | Grand Island, NE | Nebraska State Fair
*California Smoke Tour
photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
For the second year in a row, Tennessee enjoyed an impressive hardware reap in the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball postseason awards distribution, winning Player of the Year and having a trio of players earn All-SEC recognition.
After an All-America season, junior forward Grant Williams repeated as SEC Player of the Year, becoming just the 10th player in conference history to win the award in back-to-back years and the first since Arkansas’ Corliss Williamson did so in 1994 and 1995.
Others to have accomplished the feat include VFLs Bernard King and Dale Ellis and other all-time greats such as Williamson, Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal. Williams was also tabbed first-team All-SEC after finishing the regular season as the top scorer in the SEC with 19.3 points per game. He has been one of the nation’s most versatile and reliable players this season, averaging 7.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals per game, while shooting 57 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free-throw line.
Along with scoring, Williams ranked inside the league’s top 10 in field-goal percentage (2nd), free-throw percentage (3rd), rebounding (5th) and assist/turnover ratio (9th). The Charlotte, North Carolina, native posted seven double-doubles this season and eclipsed the 20-point margin on 14 occasions, including his career-high 43-point effort at Vanderbilt (Jan. 23). He led the Vols in scoring 15 times this season, 20 times in rebounding and 13 times in blocks.
Williams also was named SEC Player of the Year by the Associated Press Tuesday. He is the first Vol since Chris Lofton in 2007 to earn that distinction from league media. The AP also tabbed him first-team All-SEC, and he was the only player to earn unanimous selection.
Senior wing Admiral Schofield earned first-team All-SEC recognition from the coaches after averaging 16.3 points per game, which ranked second on the team and fifth in the SEC, to go along with 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Schofield ranked fifth in the conference in field-goal percentage, shooting .476 while leading the Vols in field-goal attempts.
The Zion, Illinois, native also led the team in shooting from beyond the arc with 59 3-pointers on the year. Schofield, a second team All-SEC selection by the AP, dropped a career-high six threes and 30 points to lift Tennessee to a win over No. 1 Gonzaga in December. The Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year finalist was named the 2018 Jerry Colangelo Classic Most Valuable Player and the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for his efforts against the Zags.
Jordan Bone rounded out the Vols’ All-SEC performers, earning a nod on the second team by both the coaches and the AP. The junior point guard led the SEC in assists per game (6.1), ranked second in assist/turnover ratio (3.0) and seventh in field-goal percentage (.475). On the year, he has dished out 189 assists, which stands as the fourth-most by a Vol in a single season. He ranks third on the team in scoring with a career-best 13.4 points per game.
The Nashville, Tennessee, native joined Tyrone Beaman (1982-83) and Rodney Woods (1974-75) this year as only the third Vol ever to record three points/assists double-doubles in a season, highlighted by a 24-point, 11-assist performance against Samford. In Tennessee’s victory over No. 4 Kentucky at home, Bone carried the Vols to a 19-point victory with a career-high 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting and five 3-pointers.
The trio has Tennessee bound for the NCAA Tournament later this month for the second straight year with a chance to earn the program’s first ever No. 1 seed. The Vols have been ranked in the AP poll’s top 10 for the entire season (first time in program history) and spent four weeks ranked No. 1 in the country. UT finished with one of its best regular-season records of all time, going 27-4 and 15-3 in the SEC.