Rachel Reinert, formerly of Gloriana, stopped by the Nash campus last week to chat with Elaina Smith for her Women Want to Hear Women podcast (you can listen here).
One of the podcast’s segments—“Play It Forward”—beckons the featured artist to perform a song from another female’s catalog.
For her Play It Forward, Rachel covered Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough,” a song Sheryl took to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994.
Watch Rachel’s performance below.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee will open its 2018 campaign on Saturday, Sept. 1 against No. 17/20 West Virginia in the Belk College Kickoff Game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
Kickoff for Saturday’s season opener is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS with Brad Nessler (play-by-play) and Gary Danielson (analyst) calling the action in the booth and Jamie Erdahl reporting from the sidelines. Vol Network radio affiliates will have a live audio broadcast with Bob Kesling, Tim Priest and Brent Hubbs. Sirius and XM satellite radio will also carry the game on Channel 201.
Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt will make his head coaching debut for the Volunteers after being named the program’s 26th head coach on December 7, 2017. This year’s season opener will mark the first time the Vols have opened the season on a Saturday since 2015 when they defeated Bowling Green, 59-30, on September 5 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
Belk College Kickoff
Located in the heart of college football country, and home to the newly renovated Bank of America Stadium, the city of Charlotte will play host to the third Belk College Kickoff Game this season. UT will look to improve the SEC’s record to 3-0 in the Belk College Kickoff Game as fellow SEC East member South Carolina came away victorious in the first two contests in 2015 and 2017.
This year’s battle between the Vols and Mountaineers will be the first-ever meeting between the two storied programs. Tennessee is 9-8 all-time against current members of the Big 12.
Tickets for the game can be purchased HERE.
Pruitt Era Begins
The Jeremy Pruitt era of Tennessee football officially begins this Saturday as the Vols travel to the Queen City to take on Dana Holgorsen’s West Virginia Mountaineers.
Pruitt was introduced as UT’s 26th head coach on December 7, 2017 after cementing himself as the nation’s top defensive coordinator during stints at Alabama (2016-17), Georgia (2014-15) and Florida State (2013).
Pruitt comes to Rocky Top with five national championships to his credit, including the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship victory he helped lead Alabama to a month after taking the UT job. He also was part of three national championships (2009, 2011, 2012) on the staff of the Crimson Tide from 2007 to 2012 and was the defensive coordinator during the Seminoles’ undefeated national championship season in 2013.
Pruitt was a standout high school coach before joining the Alabama staff as the Director of Player Development. He owns a 96-13 record (.881 winning percentage) as a collegiate assistant coach and is a two-time Broyles Award finalist in addition to being named National Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports in 2012. He has coached 44 NFL draft picks and 18 All-Americans.
Tennessee Winning Streaks
Tennessee enters Saturday’s game with a handful of winning streaks intact:
Smith Garners Preseason Honors
Sophomore offensive lineman Trey Smith has garnered some much-deserved preseason hype after a standout freshman season for the Vols in 2017 where he earned Freshman All-America honors by the FWAA and 247Sports and was named All-SEC second team by the coaches and the media. The Jackson, Tenn., native was the only UT offensive lineman to start all 12 games last season and became the first Vols’ freshman to start at left tackle in over 30 years.
This year, Smith has been tabbed a preseason All-SEC first team selection by the coaches and media as well as being named to the Outland Trophy watch list.
Big Orange Tailgate
The Tennessee Athletic Department and the University of Tennessee Alumni Affairs Office are partnering with Elevate Lifestyle to host the official Big Orange Tailgate in Charlotte on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET, prior to kickoff.
Admission is free, and food and beverage items will be available for purchase during the tailgate. Advanced event package options are also available for purchase prior to arrival at the event and quantities are limited. For more info click HERE.
-UT Athletics
Lauren Alaina canceled a pair of shows on Aug. 29 in Rochester, N.Y., and on Aug. 31 at the Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam in Panama City, Fla., due to a “family medical emergency.”
Lauren’s step-dad, Sam Ramker, has been battling Stage IV cancer since March. According to a Facebook post on Aug. 28, Sam was in the “ICU due to an infection in his lungs. Today they are going to be draining the fluid. Please keep us in your prayers. Treatment is going well. We just hit a speed bump in the road. Treatment will continue this week as planned. Thanks everyone for all the prayers and donations. Our family is so grateful”
Lauren and her teamed shared the cancellations via Twitter, saying, in part: “Due to a family medical emergency, Lauren Alaina will not be performing at this weekend’s Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam. She is grateful to all of the fans for the outpouring of love during this time and hopes to see you all soon—Team LA.”
— Lauren Alaina (@Lauren_Alaina) August 29, 2018
I’m really sorry I can’t be there. Love you guys. https://t.co/VhYXjovMcz
— Lauren Alaina (@Lauren_Alaina) August 29, 2018
On Aug. 28, Lauren was nominated for a CMA Award for New Artist of the Year. She posted a tweet following the announcment, saying: “God always shines some light in a time of darkness. It’s been a tough week for my family, but this brightened everything up a little. Thank you to all the people who made this nomination possible. You know who you are. @CountryMusic.”
God always shines some light in a time of darkness. It’s been a tough week for my family, but this brightened everything up a little. Thank you to all the people who made this nomination possible. You know who you are. @CountryMusic pic.twitter.com/0yQnuhUxyk
— Lauren Alaina (@Lauren_Alaina) August 28, 2018
photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – In three days, the Tennessee football team will kick-off the 2018 campaign in Charlotte, North Carolina in the Belk College Kickoff at Bank of America Stadium and head coach Jeremy Pruitt and the Vols are ready to close out the week strong.
“We try to close all the way until the game starts then try to take advantage of every opportunity that we have,” said Pruitt.
Finish the week was the message that Coach Pruitt preached today.
“There’s several guys that are competing out there. Jauan (Jennings) wasn’t there in the spring and he’s been banged up in fall camp. In the last week, from him, you’ve kind of seen a guy that’s hungry to play [because] he hasn’t played in a while,” stated Pruitt.
Despite playing just one game last season due to injury, Jennings is still considered a big-time player for the Vols. He has 746 career yards receiving with his breakout season coming in 2016 when he finished the year with 580 yards while scoring seven touchdowns.
“Marquez Callaway hurt his knee this summer, so he was a little bit limited early on in camp. Josh Palmer is a guy that’s taken a lot of reps. Brandon Johnson, Jordan Murphy, Cedric Tillman, Tyler Byrd — a lot of those guys have. So, I feel confident in our wide receivers. I think they compete really hard every day. They compete out on the perimeter and I’ve liked what I’ve seen in the last week.”
Johnson returns as the top receiver from a year ago after finishing with 482 total yards receiving, followed by Callaway who finished the year with 406 yards receiving and five touchdowns.
“From what I’ve seen, I like what I’ve seen out of our guys,” stated Pruitt. “From where we were at nine months ago to where we’re at today physically and mentally, I like the direction we’re headed.”
Following 23 fall camp practices the Vols are trying to close out the week strong before their big match up against No. 17/20 West Virginia on Saturday.
The game will be broadcasted live on CBS with Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson calling the action and Jamie Erdahl on the sideline. The game is slated for a 3:39 p.m. kickoff at Bank of America Stadium.
Jeremy Pruitt Post Practice Quotes (Aug. 29)
On having a couple extra days of prep:
“Yeah, I think the places that I’ve been and been fortunate to work at and the people I work with, I think we’ve always done a really good job from Wednesday to the end of the game. You do a lot of physical part on the front end of the week. On the back end, there’s a lot more mental. So today we had what we call ‘one reel’. A lot of people do it and we just kind of play the game on both sides of the ball, make calls, make checks. We do that on Wednesdays and Thursdays. We’ll do another one on Friday night. We try to close all the way until the game starts then try to take advantage of every opportunity that we have.”
On what sets West Virginia’s quarterback Will Grier and wide receiver David Sills apart:
“I think they, first of all, they’ve got a really good scheme. They keep you spread out. They’re balanced on offense. In their throw game they’ve got a lot of screens, a lot of RPOs. They’ve got max protections. They have traditional drop-back. They’ve got really good spacing. They have an understanding of how to protect the quarterback and you can tell the quarterbacks, whether it was [Will] Grier or any of the backups that played last year, they had an understanding of where the pressure was coming from, how they were being protected. They do a really nice job. That speaks to the coaching that Coach [Dana] Holgorsen’s done. On the outside they’ve got guys that have done a good job recruiting guys that can get open, can win 50/50 balls. They’re good after the catch. They’ve got a really good bunch of wide receivers and option quarterback does a good job.”
On if it’s an advantage to have started classes later than West Virginia:
“You know I’m not very familiar with when they started school. I think there’s a lot that plays into having an advantage when they get out for summer school because that’s different all over the country. I know there’s some schools that aren’t even in session right now. The schools are on quarters, but maybe they went through at the beginning of fall camp, so I don’t know. I‘m just going to worry about what we have here and how we can kind of optimize our potential.”
On if what a player does in a game is more important than what they do in practice:
“Well, most of the really good players, there’s some point in practice that you realize that they’ve got ability. In my time, most of the best players have been some of the best practicers. Very rarely do you see a guy that practices really bad, number one, that he gets an opportunity to play. Most folks that don’t practice very good, they don’t get to play so nobody ever knows what they can do. You do see some guys that maybe kind of respond and make some plays in the game.”
On the state of the offensive line:
“I think we have several guys that probably deserve to play, which is probably a good thing because that means we have a little bit of depth. I’m sure we’ll play more than five guys. We’ll probably need to, and I think we have guys who have earned the right to play.”
On the wide receivers’ performance in practice:
“There’s several guys that are competing out there. Jauan (Jennings) wasn’t there in the spring and he’s been banged up in fall camp. In the last week, from him, you’ve kind of seen a guy that’s hungry to play [because] he hasn’t played in awhile. Marquez Callaway hurt his knee this summer, so he was a little bit limited early on in camp. Josh Palmer is a guy that’s taken a lot of reps. Brandon Johnson, Jordan Murphy, Cedric Tillman, Tyler Byrd — a lot of those guys have. So I feel confident in our wide receivers. I think they compete really hard every day. They compete out on the perimeter and I’ve liked what I’ve seen in the last week.”
On the health of the team going into the season opener against West Virginia:
“In football, once you start, you never have a team that’s fully healthy. But everybody is going to play.”
On final preparations for the first game:
“I was talking to my brother today, he’s a head coach for the first time and they played last week. We were talking about his game, and he said that at 6 o’clock his principal came up to him and asked him if he had seen the officials. And he said, ‘no I haven’t’. And then the principal said ‘well you did call and make sure we had officials for this game, right?’. And he said ‘no, I thought you did that.’ So we kind of chuckled about that. I’m glad that I don’t have to set up the officials for this game.”
On the locations of the coaches during the game:
“We probably didn’t really settle it until the last couple days. There’s a lot of new rules. There used to be no rules, so you could put anybody anywhere that you wanted to put them and now we have rules that you can only have so many headsets, you can only have so many guys that can talk, you have to be a certain amount of years out of college to be in the booth. So it takes awhile to figure out all of the rules, but I think we have it figured out now.”
On the decision not to scrimmage last weekend or this week:
“Anywhere I’ve ever coached we’ve never scrimmaged the week before the first game. You’ve got two fall scrimmages, [then] you start prepping and then you have a normal practice week.”
On what he’s looking forward to most this week:
“I’m looking forward to seeing how well our staff has prepared our team. Is our team going to compete the way we want them to compete? Kind of all the intangibles that we’re looking for? You’ve been working for nine months trying to build a team … you kind of have an idea of what kind of identity you want them to have, but what they put out on the field, how they play, all that, it’s the first time they get a chance to show who they are, so I’m looking forward to seeing it.”
On how much more is on his plate as a head coach as opposed to being a defensive coordinator:
“I would day a whole lot. Just from a standpoint of travel, itineraries, dress, academics, the whole thing. If you’re in charge of an entire program there’s more to it than just those small parts. But I’ve got really good guys working for me. These guys do a fantastic job, which allows me to coach, which is what I want to do.”
On how he expects the team to handle adversity early on in the season:
“From what I’ve seen, I like what I’ve seen out of our guys. From where we were at nine months ago to where we’re at today physically and mentally, I like the direction we’re headed. ‘What am I going to see on Saturday?’ I don’t know. If I knew that we wouldn’t play the game probably. We’ll see. That’s the whole reason we do what we do. You get an opportunity and everybody gets to see when the lights come on how you’re going to perform, how you’re going to handle adversity.”
On if they have decided on a starting punter heading into Saturday’s game:
“I would say that both guys probably would kick.”
UT Athletics
Luke Bryan announced the lineup for his 10th annual Farm Tour: Chase Rice, Jon Langston, the Peach Pickers (Ben Hayslip, Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins) and DJ Rock.
The tour will make six stops this fall at farms in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia between Sept. 27–Oct. 6.
Over the years, Luke has awarded more than 50 college scholarships to local students from farming families within the communities the tour has played.
“I can’t believe we’ve been doing this 10 years,” said Luke. “Our goal was to bring big-city production concerts into these small towns across the U.S. giving those communities the opportunity to attend shows that would never come their way.”
Tickets for the this year’s Farm Tour are on sale now.
Luke Bryan Farm Tour 2018
Sept. 27 – Irwin, OH – Springfork Farms
Sept. 28 – Pesotum, IL – Atkins Farm
Sept. 29 – Boone, IA – Ziel Farm
Oct. 4 – Archer, FL – Whitehurst Cattle Company
Oct. 5 – North Augusta, SC – Misty Morning Farms
Oct. 6 – Ringgold, GA – Doug Yates Farms
photo by Jason Simanek
Jim Casey talks with Dylan Scott about:
Show Participants:
The inaugural Nashville Songwriter Awards—taking place on Sept. 19 at Ryman Auditorium—will feature star-studded performances from Darius Rucker, Kip Moore, Jewel, Lanco and more.
Awards recognized throughout the evening will include Song, Songwriter, and Songwriter-Artist of the Year, as well as the “10 Songs I Wish I’d Written” awards. Country legend Bill Anderson will receive the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Other artists participating in the first-ever event include Blake Shelton, Thomas Rhett, Jamey Johnson, Old Dominion, Brothers Osborne, Scotty McCreery, Bill Anderson and Brantley Gilbert. Tickets are on sale now.
The Nashville Songwriter Awards is presented by The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), the world’s largest not-for-profit songwriters trade organization that was established in 1967.
By Jimmy Hyams
Coaches who have worked for Nick Saban talk about how complex his defense is.
They’ve said it takes two years to learn the scheme, the nuances, the intricacies.
But that’s not the impression you get from Tennessee’s defensive players. They’ve complimented the coaching staff on making them smarter and teaching them how to defend.
First-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt said he has taught the team five concepts and coaches will pick and chose from those concepts the best plan of attack based on what the players know and the opponent.
So how will a defense that ranked among the worst in school history last year respond in the season opener against an explosive West Virginia passing attack, led by preseason All-American quarterback Will Grier (3,490 passing yards, 34 touchdowns in basically10 games last year)?
No one knows for sure. But a sure bet is the Vols will be more aggressive and better coached on defense than a year ago, according to players.
The coaching staff hopes so.
“I think at first when you come in,’’ said UT co-defensive coordinator Chris Rumph, “it (scheme) can be intimidating because you’re looking at the entire thing.
“It’s like a pie. You just take it slice by slice and take your time to eat it. Eventually you’ll eat the entire pie. But if you try to eat the entire thing (at once), you’ll make a mess.’’
Which piece of the pie UT uses against West Virginia – and other opponents – could vary from week to week.
“It all depends on the team you’re playing,’’ Rumph said, “the situation, the personnel, what they like to line up in and who they have on the field.
“We’re going to try to match it as best as possible. A lot of times it’s, `How can I get my best players on the field?’ because if you’ve got a defensive front or a defense that has got your two best guys on the sideline, that’s not doing you any good.
“So we’ll mix and match and try to come up with the best combination to get the best people on the field and get the best defense possible.’’
Rumph said he’s comfortable coaching a 4-3 or 3-4 scheme.
“I don’t want to sound conceited, like I’m some super coach,’’ Rumph said, “but at Florida, we were a four-man, at Alabama, we were a three-man, at Texas, three-man. At Clemson we were a four-man and when I first got started at Memphis, we were a three-man. So I’ve been in and out.’’
What scheme is best at stopping the run?
“It depends on your talent and it depends on what the other team is doing,’’ Rumph said. “So we’ll be multiple in our fronts and the things we do.’’
Rumph believes UT players have gained confidence in the defensive scheme.
“It’s tremendous,’’ he said. “It’s almost like you’re looking in the mirror every day saying, `I’m not losing any weight,’ and all the sudden, someone looks at you and says, `Look at you, you’ve lost a lot of weight.’
“Then you see a before-and-after picture and say, `Man, I have lost some weight.’’’
At outside linebacker, Rumph said he’s looking for “a guy that’s multiple,’’ that can over a wide receiver, play zone, match up against a tight end or rush the passer.
Rumph said UT is teaching its outside linebackers both weakside and strongside positions so they are interchangeable.
“You may be a Sam but the Jack goes out,’’ Rumph said. “The Sam may be better than the second Jack. But if you pigeon hole him as a Sam, then he can’t go over there. So now instead of having your best people on the field, he’s on the sideline.
“So we’ll sort of cross train them so we can get the best people on the field.’’
What is Rumph looking for on defense?
“First thing is, we got to be smart,’’ he said. “We can’t have stupid penalties. We can’t go out there and act like a bunch of renegades. We got to be smart. We got to play with toughness. And we got to play with great effort.’’
Whether that will be enough against 10-point favorite West Virginia remains to be seen.
Kickoff for the season opener is 3:30 p.m. on CBS from Charlotte.
Sponsored by Big Kahuna Wings: The wings that changed it all
Florida Georgia Line will headline the World’s Biggest USO Tour on Sept. 12 in Washington, D.C.
The performance will be live-streamed via USO.org as well as featured at watch parties at USO centers around the world for service members and their families. Actor Adam Devine and chef Robert Irvine will also be featured during the World’s Biggest USO Tour.
FGL’s Brian Kelley shared that the Tour is very near and dear to his heart, as he comes from a family of military service members, including his grandfather who was a POW and two-time Purple Heart recipient.
Check out the clip below to hear Brian and Tyler share the details.
JUST ANNOUNCED!!! This one is very near and dear to us. Excited to be a part of the “World’s Biggest USO Tour” 🤘 @the_USO pic.twitter.com/dEmHcHppip
— Florida Georgia Line (@FLAGALine) August 28, 2018
photo by Jason Simanek
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (August 28, 2018) – The Southeastern Conference will implement the use of a visible television timeout countdown clock on the field at all 14 SEC on-campus football venues for the 2018 season the conference announced on Tuesday. The on-field display will allow fans, game officials and both teams to view the remaining time during each television commercial stoppage from anywhere in the stadium.
“The use of a visible timeout countdown clock will provide fans in particular an opportunity to know when a game will re-start after a television timeout and hopefully give some definition to the perceived delays in a game,” stated SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “The clock will also give teams, game officials and event administrators more definitive information for time management in their respective areas of the game.”
The display is operated by the TV timeout coordinator, or ‘Red Hat,’ on the field during television commercial breaks and is turned off during routine game action. The time shown on the TV timeout countdown clock will be the official time remaining in a timeout. When the display reaches zero, the game officials will make the ball ready for play. This will require both teams to be ready on the field and the television production to be back from its commercial break.
The TV timeout countdown clock will also be utilized at three off-campus Southeastern Conference games played during the regular season including Georgia vs. Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., Arkansas vs. Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas and Ole Miss at Arkansas in Little Rock, Ark., as well as the SEC Championship Game on December 1, in Atlanta, Ga., at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The clock will not be used at neutral site games involving non-conference opponents, such as games to be played on opening weekend in Houston, Arlington, Atlanta and Orlando.
The SEC worked with Victory Game Clocks to develop the TV timeout countdown clock for the upcoming football season. The countdown clock is a variation of the company’s eDown digital product currently utilized at several SEC schools, the SEC Football Championship Game, and a number of bowl games. Both projects are a by-product of the Auburn University Economic Development Administration (EDA) program, where prototypes and final design were completed by a group of 16 Auburn students in the program.
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