Midland’s Mark Wystrach, Cameron Duddy and Jess Carson are continuing to forge their own path in country music with the release of an elaborate new video for their current single, “Burn Out.”
Directed by TK McKamy (“Craving You,” “May We All”) and Midland’s Cameron Duddy, the video was filmed in one continuous shot at Forth Worth’s famed honky-tonk Billy Bob’s. The three-minute-plus clip features a long take with intricate actor blocking and plenty of camera movement—from a filmmaking standpoint, it’s a visual work of art.
Written by the band with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, “Burn Out” is the new single from the group’s debut album, On the Rocks, which spawned No. 1 hit, “Drinkin’ Problem,” and Top 15 hit, “Make a Little.”
Kudos to Midland, especially Cameron, and their team, including TK, on the visually stunning video. Watch the new video below.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The 10th seeded Tennessee Lady Vols look to earn a berth in the Women’s College World Series when they travel to Athens this weekend to take on No. 7 seed Georgia in the NCAA Super Regional.
After sweeping its regional at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium last week, Tennessee (48-12) now turns its attention to the Bulldogs (46-11) for a best two-out-of-three series to determine which team advances to Oklahoma City. Game 1 of the series will take place on Friday, May 25 at 5 p.m. ET at Jack Turner Stadium.
Game 1 of the series will be broadcast live on ESPNU, with the second game airing on ESPN. Game 3 will also be on ESPN if necessary. Alex Loeb will be on the play-by-play call for each game, with Megan Willis alongside for color analysis.
Radio coverage for all Tennessee games will be carried on Sports Radio WNML (FM 99.1 or AM 990) and UTSports.com. Live stats will be available for every game on the Tennessee softball schedule page at UTSports.com.
Game Schedule
View the full NCAA Athens Super Regional schedule below:
Friday, May 18th: Game 1 – 5:00 p.m. (ESPNU)
Saturday, May 19th: Game 2 – 3:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Sunday, May 20th: Game 3 (if necessary) – 3:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Scouting Report
Tennessee Lady Volunteers
No. 10 National Seed
The Lady Vols advancement to this weekend marks the 10th Super Regional appearance in program history. UT has now made it to a Super Regional in six of the past seven seasons, and seeks its eighth trip to the Women’s College World Series. Tennessee is 16-8 all-time in NCAA Super Regional games.
The Big Orange are traveling for a Super Regional for the fourth time. Tennessee went to Palo Alto to defeat Stanford in 2005 and then Ann Arbor to take down Michigan in 2010, but fell to Oklahoma in Norman in 2014.
The Lady Vols and Bulldogs faced off earlier this season in Knoxville. UT picked up a 1-0 win via a walkoff hit-by-pitch in the series’ opening game, but Georgia would claim the next two by scores of 9-1 and 8-0. Tennessee, however, maintains the all-time series lead against Georgia, 40-32.
UT will rely on offensive production from its top three hitters in Athens. Meghan Gregg, the reigning SEC Player of the Year, hit two home runs and recorded five total RBIs at the Knoxville Regional last weekend. Gregg leads the team with 18 long balls on the year, and she is also the NCAA active career leader in RBIs with 263. She is currently seven RBIs away from tying Auburn’s Kasey Cooper for the most all-time in the SEC.
Complimenting Gregg is Tennessee’s model of consistency, Aubrey Leach. Leach, who earned All-SEC honors for the first time of her career this season, currently leads the SEC in batting average (.447) and runs scored (79), while ranking second in hits (80) and on base percentage (.571). Her 79 runs scored are the most in a single season in program history.
Sophomore Chelsea Seggern has also added secondary hitting behind Gregg. Seggern’s seven home runs are the third most on the team, and her 66 RBIs rank seventh in the NCAA. She drove in four RBIs at the Knoxville Regional, including a two-run home run in a win over Monmouth.
Caylan Arnold leads the Lady Vols in the circle with a 2.11 ERA and a 26-4 record. Arnold had two complete-game wins last weekend, recording 15 combined strikeouts along the way. Her 222 strikeouts on the season are good for second in the SEC.
Georgia Bulldogs
No. 7 National Seed
The Bulldogs put together perhaps the biggest turnaround in college softball this season, posting a 46-11 record and finishing second in the SEC standings after not making the conference tournament a year ago. Georgia swept the Athens Regional last weekend, defeating Northwestern and Harvard twice each while outscoring opponents 27-9.
Cortni Emanuel leads Georgia offensively with a .437 batting average, good for second in the SEC behind Leach. Emmanuel also leads the conference in hits with 87.
As a team, Georgia leads the SEC in batting average (.338), slugging percentage (.528) and hits (511). The Bulldogs have six players who are batting .300 or better.
Mary Wilson Avant comes into the weekend with 11 wins and a 1.74 ERA. Avant has pitched six complete games this season.
The Bulldogs last met the Lady Vols in the NCAA Tournament in 2012, when UT won two of three in the Super Regional at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium to punch a ticket to the Women’s College World Series.
What’s Next?
The winner of the NCAA Athens Super Regional will advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City beginning Thursday, May 31.
VFL Al Wilson with Vols Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt / Credit: UT Athletics
ATLANTA – When Al Wilson speaks, people listen. It was that way when he was the Vols’ captain during the 1998 national championship run, and it’s that way today.
The former Tennessee All-America linebacker was on hand at the latest Big Orange Caravan event on Tuesday night at SunTrust Park.
Wilson spoke at the event, and his message was clear: He’s excited for this fall and the direction Tennessee football is headed.
Inside the Atlanta Braves’ stadium, Wilson said the hires of Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer and head football coach Jeremy Pruitt are home runs.
“Coach Fulmer is my guy,” said Wilson, who played for Fulmer from 1995 to 1998. “We’ve been through a lot together over the years and it’s great to see him where he is now, having an opportunity to become the athletic director and to get this program back to where it’s supposed to be. I’m super excited for Coach.”
Wilson was the heart and soul of the 1998 Tennessee team, registering 77 tackles and four sacks despite missing three games due to injury. He was a first round pick by the Denver Broncos in 1999 and went to five Pro Bowls over eight seasons.
He now lives in the Atlanta area and visited with Pruitt for the first time at Tuesday’s event.
“I’m super excited for the way he’s trying to bring Tennessee football back and the direction in which he’s going,” Wilson said. “He’s getting some good quality players to come in, and at the end of the day that’s what we want.”
Fellow 1998 national champion Fred White was also in attendance at SunTrust Park in addition to several former Tennessee football players. Wilson and White posed for photos with fans and signed autographs throughout the event.
“I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since we had a chance to win that national championship, but I’ll tell you, it’s a good feeling to know that Tennessee fans still adore and have love for what we did 20 years ago,” Wilson said.
Men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes and women’s basketball coach Holly Warlick joined Fulmer and Pruitt at SunTrust Park, posing for photos with fans, signing autographs and participating in a Q & A program with Bob Kesling to cap the night.
The UT Knoxville Office of Alumni Affairs awarded a scholarship to Noah White during what was another fun event for fans and alumni.
The Big Orange Caravan wraps up for 2018 on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Tri-Cities at the Meadowview Conference Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport, Tenn.
TRI-CITIES BIG ORANGE CARAVAN INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, May 24
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Meadowview Conference Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport
Address: 1901 Meadowview Pkwy, Kingsport, TN 37660
The NCAA on Wednesday announced its 2016-17 NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rate data, and Tennessee’s APR numbers once again rank among the most impressive in the 14 years in which the data has been published.
Every Division I sports team across the nation calculates its Academic Progress Rate each academic year, like a report card. Scholarship student-athletes each semester earn one point for remaining eligible and one point for staying in school or graduating. Data released for this multi-year cohort includes scores from the 2016-17, 2015-16, 2014-15 and 2013-14 academic years.
Four Tennessee sports, including baseball (979), football (972), men’s golf (993) and women’s swimming & diving (994) posted or tied its best multi-year APR in program history. And women’s basketball (995) posted its second-best multi-year APR score and its best in six years.
Four programs also earned perfect 1,000 multi-year APR scores for this cohort. Those programs were men’s cross country, women’s golf, women’s tennis (for the ninth consecutive year) and women’s track & field. In the single-year APR, eight Tennessee sports earned a perfect score of 1,000.
Five sports—men’s cross country, women’s golf, rowing, women’s tennis and men’s track & field—posted the best multi-year APR score amongst their respective SEC peers. The five first-place finishes were the third most among SEC institutions.
From a multi-year standpoint, 11 of Tennessee’s 18 measured sports (for APR purposes, scores for indoor and outdoor track & field are computed together) tied or improved their APRs from last year. And 14 of those 18 programs have a multi-year APR equal to or higher than the national average of all Division I schools within that sport.
“It’s a great time to be on Rocky Top,” Senior Associate Athletics Director & Assistant Provost Joe Scogin said. “I could not be more excited about the APR performances that we continue to see. APR was created to provide a real-time snapshot of the culture of an athletic department. Seeing these championship level results shows how our coaches, administrators, Thornton staff, and student-athletes have invested in creating a culture of excellence every single day. I firmly believe that these results are just a by-product of the holistic student-athlete experience we strive to provide at UT. It is very special to see this work manifest itself in so many ways, one of which is the APR performances we’re seeing today.”
Tennessee Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer, who was named to his current post in December, has been pleased with the internal culture of achievement that has yielded outstanding academic results for the Big Orange in recent years.
“Seeing the way our young men and women take care of their academic responsibilities has been one of the things that has impressed me most during my first six months as AD,” Fulmer said. “This data serves as proof that our overall athletics program is thriving academically, and we are effectively preparing our student-athletes for success once they leave our campus. I again feel compelled to compliment our senior leadership team, our coaching staffs and our incredible Thornton Center staff, led by Dr. Joe Scogin. But the biggest stars are our student-athletes.”
Wednesday’s APR data release continues a string of impressive academic news for the Vols and Lady Vols.
In addition to some great team performances, we’ve had a number of individuals recognized for their academic achievement. Football player Parker Henry won the prestigious McWhorter Award as the SEC’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year (softball player Meghan Gregg was a female McWhorter finalist). Rower Katie Porter earned distinction as a “Torchbearer,” which is the highest student honor conferred by the University of Tennessee. Fellow rower Jennifer Davis was awarded an NCAA Ethnic Minority & Women’s Enhancement Scholarship. And Nico Mascia was named the SEC Baseball Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year.
In addition, 27 undergraduate student-athletes received Chancellor’s Citations for Extraordinary Academic Achievement at the 2018 Chancellor’s Honors Banquet.
Funeral Arrangements for former Tennessee football letterman William “Buck” Buxton are below.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Former Tennessee football defensive lineman and member of the program’s 1997 SEC Championship team William “Buck” Buxton died earlier this week.
Buxton lettered for UT in the 1996 and 1997 seasons, playing on the defensive line and helping lead the Volunteers to a 21-4 overall record in that span. Buxton played in 11 games, making 16 total tackles and recorded two sacks during the 1996 season in which UT went 10-2 and defeated Northwestern, 48-28, in the Citrus Bowl.
The Girard, Ga, native was also a member of the Vols 1997 SEC Championship team, recording 13 tackles and a tackle for loss that season. During his two seasons on Rocky Top, Buxton made 29 total tackles while registering had four tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble.
Funeral services for Buxton will be held on Saturday, May 26, at 11 a.m., at Waynesboro Deliverance in Waynesboro, Ga. Family viewing will be held Fridaymorning with guest visitation from 12-7 p.m.
In April, Thomas Rhett dropped a new EP that features four versions of “Leave Right Now,” a tune from his 2017 Life Changes album that he co-wrote with Julian Bunetta, Edward Drewett and John Henry Ryan.
The highlight of the four-song collection is a reimagined version of “Leave Right Now” with Martin Jensen, a platinum-selling European DJ who gives the song an electronic bolt of energy. The EP also features an album version, radio version and a Nashville Remix of “Leave Right Now.”
“Writing ‘Leave Right Now’ really pushed me outside of my comfort zone creatively,” said ThomasRhett. “A lot of times for me, that’s when you grow the most as an artist and end up making the best music. It ended up being one of my favorite songs I’ve recorded, so we decided to mix it up a little and just have some fun with this song.”
Thomas Rhett released a new video for the Martin Jensen version of “Leave Right Now.” The new clip, directed by Justin Clough, features TR searching for his love interest throughout the Frist Art Museum in Nashville.
The NFL Draft is coming to Nashville in April 2019.
NFL owners approved Nashville as the host city, besting bids from Las Vegas, Cleveland, Kansas City and Denver.
The three-day event on April 25–27 will mean a multi-million-dollar boon for Music City, as the Draft draws around 20,000 tourists and is watched by more than 45 million people via television and streaming.
Tim McGraw, who has been a vocal supporter of bringing the Draft to Nashville, teamed with former Nashville Titan Eddie George to make the NFL Draft announcement via Instagram.
“The 2019 NFL Draft is coming to Nashville,” said Tim, in part. “The future is now.”
Kane Brown teamed with finalist Spensha Baker to sing his 2017 No. 1 hit, “What Ifs,” during the Season 14 finale of The Voice on May 22.
While the Team Blake Shelton member ended up finishing fourth, she performed a rousing rendition of the song in place of Lauren Alaina, who was featured on the album cut. The tune, which was penned by Kane, Matthew McGinn and Jordan Schmidt, was the third single from Kane’s 2016 self-titled debut album.
After a record 34 weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” was dethroned by Kane’s “What Ifs” in October 2017.
Most any coach that takes over a program says he must change the culture.
Doesn’t matter if the previous team won 10 games or made it to the Final Four – the new coach believes he has to alter the mindset of his players.
With that in mind, Tennessee’s first-year coach Jeremy Pruitt is tasked with turning around the fortunes of a program that endured its first-ever eight-loss season and didn’t win an SEC game for the first time in school history.
How long does it take to change the culture? A spring practice? Summer workouts? And entire fall season?
“Each program is a little bit different and some of it probably has something to do with leadership,’’ Pruitt said. “When you change the culture, I don’t think sometimes it’s measured in wins and losses.
“It’s the `buy in’ factor. It’s people trying to do it the way you want it to be done.
“If you look over the history of guys taking jobs, it seems like lots of times you can look from Year One to Year Two and you see a big jump. I think that’s part of guys (coaches) having the opportunity to change the culture.’’
You saw that jump at LSU from the first to the second year under Nick Saban. You saw it again when Saban took over at Alabama. You saw it with Mark Richt at Georgia and Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and Kirby Smart at Georgia.
But you wonder if Saban or Richt or Stoops or Smart faced at their new schools what Pruitt faces at Tennessee.
During the spring game, Pruitt said several players “flat-out quit.’’ That’s not a good sign. If a player quits during the spring game, will he quit when adversity strikes during a real game or when he’s at practice or in the weight room or in the classroom?
“One thing that don’t take any ability is the effort that you give,’’ Pruitt said. “Effort and toughness has nothing to do with ability and I think it’s the habits that you create.
“Sure it (players quitting) bothered me, but at the same time, it’s a learning lesson. I would rather teach the lesson in April than have to learn it the hard way in September and October.’’
Is that part of changing the culture?
“To me, I think it’s a really good measurement of who you are,’’ Pruitt said. “Who you are as a competitor. When things don’t go your way, how are you going to respond? It’s easy to play at your best when the sun is shining and everyone is cheering for you. But sometimes it gets a lot tougher when you’re on the road and things aren’t going your way. You got to find a way to change the momentum.’’
And in Pruitt’s case, he’s got to find a way to change the culture.
![Midland’s Ambitious New “Burn Out” Video Is a Visual Work of Art [Watch]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/1446/2017/12/04140322/Midland.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
![Thomas Rhett Mixes It Up in New “Leave Right Now” Video [Watch]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/1446/2018/05/22114837/Thomas-Rhett.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
