ATLANTA – Zay Green now has bragging rights over future Lady Vol basketball teammates Amira Collins and Jazmine Massengill. The Tennessee signee helped her West team to an 82-79 victory over the East on Wednesday night in the McDonald’s All American Game at Philips Arena.
Green, a 6-0 guard from Duncanville, Texas (Duncanville H.S.), started for the West squad and played 17 minutes. She finished with six points on 3-of-8 shooting and tallied four steals, three assists and a rebound.
Massengill, a 6-0 point guard from Chattanooga (Hamilton Heights Christian Academy), and Collins, a 6-3 forward from Waldorf, Md. (Paul VI Catholic H.S., Fairfax, Va.), came off the bench for the East.
Massengill contributed four points on 2-of-5 shooting, adding two rebounds, a block and an assist in 17 minutes. Collins, meanwhile, connected on one of three field goal attempts and hit a free throw to finish with three points in 13 minutes. She also added three rebounds and a steal.
The trio has another all-star game coming up. They will head to Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 8, where they are scheduled to play in the Jordan Brand Classic at the Barclays Center.
New York Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher and Chattanooga wrestling coach Heath Eslinger join an impressive list of speakers that also includes Peyton Manning, Mike Vrabel and Phillip Fulmer
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt announced additional speakers for the Vols’ 2018 Coaches Clinic on Wednesday.
New York Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher is scheduled to speak on Saturday, April 7, while renowned speaker and Chattanooga wrestling head coach Heath Eslinger will lead the FCA Breakfast earlier that morning.
The event is open only to high school coaches and attendees will have the opportunity to attend Tennessee’s practice on April 5 and a scrimmage on April 7 at Neyland Stadium.
Reigning NCAA III national champion Mount Union head coach Vince Kehres
Members of the offensive staff at Texas A&M Commerce – the reigning NCAA II national champions.
“I’m fired up about our Coaches Clinic,” Pruitt said. “One thing about our staff is that there is seven of us who started out as high school coaches. There have been a bunch of high school coaches who have already come to our practices and it’s going to be open door practices to high school coaches all the time. It helped me as a high school coach. People were good to me and gave me an opportunity to go watch practice, to set meetings, to grow as a coach. We want to do the same thing here. We want to be the most accessible program to high school coaches in all of the United States.
“We want to make our Coaches Clinic the best in the country. Like everything else we are starting over. I’m very thankful. We have number of really good guys coming to speak. Peyton (Manning) is coming her to help us. Coach (David) Cutcliiffe, Coach (Mike) Vrabel) – we are going to have a bunch of great guys coming in here to share. I’m excited about that and I’m thankful these guys are doing it for us.”
The event is open only to high school coaches and attendees will have the opportunity to attend Tennessee’s practice on Thursday, April 5, and a scrimmage on Saturday, April 7, at Neyland Stadium.
For information and to sign up, visit TennesseeSportCamps.com.
Tennessee forward Grant Williams received All-American Honorable Mention honors Tuesday as The Associated Press (AP) released its 2017-18 All-American Teams.
En route to unanimous AP First-Team All-SEC honors, Williams led the Vols in scoring (15.2 ppg), finished second in blocks (44) and rebounding (6.0 rpg) and was fourth in assists (66) on the season. During conference play, the SEC Player of the Year ranked ninth in the SEC in scoring (16.1 ppg) and shooting percentage (.463) despite being regularly double-teamed by opponents.
Just a sophomore, Williams has already established himself as one of the best to ever suit up for the Big Orange. So far in his short career at Tennessee, he joined Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Bernard King as the only Vols to earn SEC POY distinction as underclassmen and holds UT’s freshman records for blocks (61) and offensive rebounds (94), which rank second and sixth for single-season marks in program history, respectively.
With 933 career points, Williams is only 67 points shy of becoming the 49th Volunteer to reach the 1,000-point club. He currently stands just outside of the top 10 for UT’s career rankings, sitting at 14th in offensive rebounds (175) and 15th in blocks (105).
Williams was one of four players from the SEC to be named honorable mention, joining Kevin Knox (Kentucky), Yante Maten (Georgia) and Collin Sexton (Alabama).
The 23rd annual Key West Songwriters Festival on May 9–13 in Florida will feature some of country music’s most talented singer/songwriters, including LANCO, Tyler Farr, Robert Earl Keen, Wade Bowen, Bruce Robison, Ashley McBryde and more.
While attendees of the summer festival enjoy five days of sun, fun and music, they may also notice a rebuilding effort as a result of the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma, which hit the Florida Keys and Caribbean in September 2017.
To help further the rebuilding effort, Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, Morgan Wallen, RaeLynn and more will headline the Keys Strong Hurricane Relief concert during the Key West Songwriters Festival on May 9.
“Not many people know that when FGL first started playing shows, we would pile in to [Brian Kelley’s] Tahoe and head south to perform in the bars and clubs all around Key West,” says Tyler Hubbard. “So this place is a really special one for us.”
“We believe that music is healing and are beyond blessed to bring our Nashville community to Key West in support of the relief efforts,” says Brian Kelley. “Spreading the love to a place that first welcomed us and our music completes the circle in a way. We’re looking forward to being back.”
Grant Williams became only the ninth player in Tennessee history to be named SEC player of the year.
He averaged 15.2 points and 6.0 rebounds. He shot 47.3 percent from the field. He made key baskets to help win several games. He even made a clutch goal to give the Vols a one-point lead over Loyola Chicago before the Ramblers bounced in a game winner in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
While Williams was a better player as a sophomore than as a freshman, he didn’t show improvement across the board. He averaged 12.6 points and 5.9 rebounds last season, but, a year ago, he had more blocks (61 to 44) and more steals (26 to 21), shot a better percentage from the field (50.4 percent to 47.3 percent) and made 12 of 32 from 3-point range, compared to 3 of 25.
One puzzling part of Williams’ game was rebounding. Although only 6-foot-6, he is strong, has great length and plays in the low post. Yet, this past season, he had seven games with 3 or fewer rebounds and 11 with 4 or fewer rebounds. Wing player Admiral Schofield actually averaged more rebounds per game than Williams.
This past season, Williams averaged only 12.6 points in the last five games and had a four-game stretch in which he scored in single digits three times.
For Williams to truly be the best player in the SEC, he must improve his rebound totals, be more consistent on mid-range jumpers and stay out of foul trouble.
But that’s not all.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes focused on other elements that could make Williams better.
“Conditioning,’’ Barnes said. “I think that is a major part of what he needs to do and he obviously needs to continue to work on his skill.’’
But conditioning is the primary deal.
“He needs that more than anything,’’ Barnes said. “and if he does that, it will help him in a lot of areas. It will help him guard the ball better on the perimeter, allow him to play harder longer, allow him to rebound more consistently.’’
Williams play much of this season with a hip injury. Bu Barnes shrugged that off, saying most players late in the season “deal with something.’’
Grammy for Best Country Album. CMA Entertainer of the Year. ACM Entertainer of the Year. Grand Ole Opry Induction.
Some awards and honors bestowed to artists in the country music industry are on another level. They mean more, not only to the artists, but also to the industry execs, media members and fans who are invested in the genre.
The biggest honor is election into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
On March 27, the Country Music Association announced the Country Music Hall of Fame class of 2018: Ricky Skaggs (modern era), Dottie West (veteran era) and Johnny Gimble (musician).
Garth Brooks gets choked up announcing the 2018 Hall of Fame inductees. photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
As a teary-eyed Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood announced the class of 2018 in the CMHOF rotunda, it dawned on me once again that two of this year’s inductees—Dottie West and Johnny Gimble—weren’t present to enjoy the honor. Dottie died in 1991, while Johnny passed away in 2015.
In their steads, teary-eyed—just like Garth—family members accepted the honors on behalf of both Dottie and Johnny. The same scenario played out in 2017 when one of my favorite artists, Jerry Reed, who died in 2008, was elected. Again, in 2015, Grady Martin (dead since 2001) and Jim Ed Brown (who was deathly ill) were elected. In 2014, Hank Cochran (dead since 2010) was elected.
Their bodies of work hadn’t changed significantly, if at all, before their elections. The only thing that changed? Their bodies were no longer with us.
Since 1961, the CMA has elected 136 members to the Hall of Fame in its five categories: Modern Era, Veteran Era and Songwriter/Musician/Non-Performer (this category rotates every year). For the most part, what the CMA has done each year is elect one to four new members based on its own set of criteria.
Election to the Country Music Hall of Fame is solely the prerogative of the CMA. New members, elected annually by an anonymous panel of industry leaders chosen by the CMA, are formally inducted in special, invitation-only ceremonies held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum does not participate in the election. Through a licensing agreement with the CMA, the Museum exhibits the bronze plaques commemorating membership in a space and fashion befitting the honor.
2001 was the exception, when there were 12 inductees, including Waylon Jennings, Bill Anderson, The Everly Brothers, Webb Pierce and more.
I wrote all of that so I could write this: there are a number of people who deserve induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. They should be elected while they are still alive so they can enjoy country music’s biggest honor. If that means electing 10 or 12 people in one year again, so be it.
Can you imagine Jerry Reed giving his own induction speech? The “Guitar Man” would have been entertaining, to say the least.
After not meeting since the 2012-13 campaign, Tennessee and Memphis have agreed to a three-game contract featuring showdowns in each of the next three seasons.
The Volunteers will travel to face the Tigers at the FedEx Forum on Dec. 15, 2018. In 2019-20, Memphis visits Knoxville for a clash at Thompson-Boling Arena on a date yet to be determined. The contract concludes with an in-state, neutral-site meeting at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in December 2020.
Tennessee leads the all-time series with Memphis 14-11, dating to 1969. The programs met annually from 2006 through 2013. The Tigers won the most recent meeting, posting a 85-80 triumph on Jan. 4, 2013 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Vols own a 7-4 advantage when the series is played in Knoxville. When the teams meet in Memphis, the series is tied, 6-6. The series also is tied when contested at neutral sites, 1-1.
The most memorable game in the series took place at the FedEx Forum on Feb. 23, 2008. The Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the country, and the Vols were ranked No. 2. In a nationally televised thriller—which drew 5.28 million viewers and was the most-watched men’s college basketball game in ESPN history at the time—Tennessee prevailed, 66-62, and went on to earn the program’s first-ever No. 1 national ranking.
Tennessee (26-9, 13-5 SEC) won the regular-season SEC Championship this season and spent 14 straight weeks in the AP Top-25 poll. Under the direction of third-year head coach Rick Barnes, who earned SEC Coach of the Year honors, the Vols advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. With only one senior on its roster this season, UT is expected to return the bulk of this year’s team next year.
Memphis finished with a 21-13 (10-8 AAC) record this season and hired former Tigers great and NBA All-Star Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway as the program’s new head coach on March 20.
Other non-conference opponents for the Volunteers next season include Georgia Tech and Wake Forest—both in Knoxville. Tennessee also will join Kansas, Louisville and Marquette in New York City for the NIT Season Tip-Off at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Jason Aldean released a new video for “Gettin’ Warmed Up,” a tune from his upcoming album, Rearview Town, which drops on April 13.
Written by Jaron Boyer, Josh Mirenda and Cole Taylor, “Gettin’ Warmed Up” is a fist-pumping, arena-rocking anthem that Jason says his fans have come to expect to hear at his live shows.
“Anytime we release an album, I think fans have come to expect some pretty high-energy stuff on the record, and if I don’t have those kinds of things on the album, I miss that,” says Jason to NCD. “We try and find—early on—the big tempos, so we can focus on the rest of the album. The tempos are the hardest to find—the good ones. That, to me, is a staple on our records.”
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Jobs are wide open and position battles continue as the Tennessee football team began its second week of spring practice on Tuesday at Haslam Field.
UT head coach Jeremy Pruitt told media following the Vols’ second practice in pads, and fourth overall, that everything a player does on the field is being evaluated.
The new staff has given each Vol an opportunity for a fresh start. Some players are even experimenting at new positions for the first half of the spring session.
Everybody has an opportunity to play – they just have to prove it on the field.
“Every day we evaluate all four groups,” Pruitt said. “We don’t have any starters. We don’t have any second or third team guys. We have a rep chart. Everything is being evaluated.”
Pruitt said the team will scrimmage twice before the DISH Orange and White Game on April 21 (2 p.m., SEC Network) – giving the Vols three chances to replicate what a game will be like this fall.
It’s clear, he wants to test his young team.
“(The coaches) are not there to encourage you,” Pruitt said about scrimmages. “They’re not there to correct you. You’re playing just your 11 guys on one side of the ball, so that in itself is new. You definitely have to do that. It’s kind of like a test. You go to class for a certain period of time, you get the information and then they test you on it to see what kind of knowledge you’ve retained. That’s what a scrimmage is.
“To me, when you have the Orange and White game, you add the element when you create a game-like atmosphere. There’s a little more excitement, a little more anxiety, a little more pressure, butterflies. Some guys perform better in those situations, some guys perform worse.
“We need to find out who those guys are.”
Offense “Kicks Defense’s Tail”
Pruitt said he was ‘ticked off’ walking off the field, but didn’t know if he was mad at the whole team or just the defense because “the offense kicked the defense’s tail.”
A defensive coordinator the last five years at Alabama, Georgia and Florida State, Pruitt is used to only coaching the defense and adjusting to managing the entire squad.
Still he knows effort when he sees it and the Vols’ coach wants more out of his team.
“One thing I did notice today was that we had a lot of guys that had two days off and did not respond the right way,” Pruitt said. “We have to fix that….I wish we had 30 of them (spring practice) so we could, but we only get 15. I’m not sure everyone took advantage of their opportunities today. We will watch the tape and see if that’s right or not.”
Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt Press Conference Transcript – March 27, 2018
Opening Statement:
“It was an interesting day out there today for me. Coming off of the field I was ticked off, I don’t know if it’s because I am mad at the way the whole team practiced or if it’s because the offense kicked the defense’s tail. I haven’t figured it out yet, so I have to watch tape and see. One thing I did notice today was that we had a lot of guys that had two days off and did not respond the right way. We have to fix that. We need to be having spring practice every day. I wish we had 30 of them so we could, but we only get 15. I’m not sure everyone took advantage of their opportunities today. We will watch the tape and see if that’s right or not.”
On the offense making big plays against the defense today:
“Sometimes you get beat because the other guy is better than you. Sometimes you get beat because you don’t execute the right way. If the other team beats us because they are better than us, that’s one thing. When you make mental errors, it’s another. We made a lot of mental errors out there today. It was not very focused in the meetings. We did not take what we went over in the meetings onto the field. That probably contributed to some of it.”
On the progression of the players who are testing different positions:
“We will look at their whole body of work. We are still installing. We will install for five days before we really slow it down. We will see after seven days if we want to let those guys scrimmage on the ninth day or if we should go ahead and move them back to their original position. They are learning both right now.”
On preparing for the Orange and White game:
“Every day we evaluate all four groups. We don’t have any starters. We don’t have any second or third team guys. We have a rep chart. Everything is being evaluated. There is only so much pressure a coaching staff can put on guys to see how they respond in adverse situations. When you go to a scrimmage, I have seen guys that practice really well, then go to a scrimmage situation so it’s new and they have anxiety so they don’t perform well at the stadium. You have guys that perform fine in all of the practice situations and then go to the stadium and there is 102,000 people in the stadium and they have anxiety there and they don’t respond in the right way. Sometimes you find guys who rise to the occasion. I want to create a game like situation for the team to see who the competitors are. That’s one of the things we talked about going into spring practice, it was finding the guys who love to compete when the game is on the line. The only way to figure that out is to put them in a game like situation and pick sides and let’s go. My goal is to treat it just like it’s a game for us. We want to prepare and get used to our expectations because everything is new. Everything is new to what these guys have been accustomed to. I don’t want our first time to be when we are heading to Charlotte. We want to get it the way it’s going to be the night before a game. That’s what we are going to do.”
On if there are any position groups that have stood out:
“I’d say every group does some things well at times and then some things poorly at times. That’s really the thing you’re trying to do is kind of create a standard, be detailed about what we want to get done and try to get the guys to do it over and over again. A lot of our guys are trying to figure out exactly what the standard is. We’re improving and they’re willing, but we’ve gotta continue to make strides and we’re definitely not good enough to go backwards in a day.”
On what he hopes to learn from scheduled scrimmages:
“Your practice is kind of like you go in there and have meetings, you go over what you’re gonna go over and then you go out to practice and you do walkthroughs, then you make your individual practice around the things that you plan on doing that day. Then you have, whether it’s half-line, tray drill or man to man drills, so you kind of take the next step. Then, whether it’s seven on seven, it kind of works its way into teams. From there, that’s practice. There’s a little difference when you go out there and the coaches aren’t out there on the field with you, and you gotta make the calls, you going get lined up. They’re not there to encourage you, they’re not there to correct you. You’re playing just your 11 guys on one side of the ball, so that in itself is new. You definitely have to do that. It’s kind of like a test. You go to class for a certain period of time, you get the information and then they test you on it to see what kind of knowledge you’ve retained. That’s what a scrimmage is. To me, when you have the Orange and White game, you add the element when you create a game-like atmosphere. There’s a little more excitement, a little more anxiety, a little more pressure, butterflies. Some guys perform better in those situations, some guys perform worse. We need to find out who those guys are.”
On if there are any position groups that are better than when he originally evaluated the team:
“When I watched the film when I first got here, I’m just trying to get an idea, first of all how to kind of go about the recruiting class, to have an idea. Can you move guys around? Can other guys play different positions? Because certain guys that were recruited here might not necessarily fit what I want to do with them. I didn’t really look at it as a group. I just kind of looked at it from an individual basis.”
On what he is looking for from defensive backs:
“We need all our defensive backs to be able to play more than one position. First of all, it helps them create value in themselves. If you’re going to play five defensive backs, you want your sixth best defensive back to be the first guy in the game if one of those five guys gets hurt. So, if your left corner gets hurt, and you got 10 guys, and it just so happens that the backup left corner is the 10th best player, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to put the 10th best guy in before you put the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth guy in. We want all our guys to learn multiple positions, and we teach things by concepts, so we’re working a lot of guys there.”
On how the process of installing new schemes has gone through four practices:
“I think the big thing for our guys is the meetings. I think the meetings are a little different than what they’re accustomed to. I do think the guys are trying hard to grasp it. Obviously it’s a different defense, so there’s not a lot of familiarity when you cross over. It’s a lot of new concepts, but it’s no different in any other place I’ve been. When you start in the spring and you start installing for the guys, if you have freshmen out there, which everybody’s like a freshman because it’s the first time they’ve ever heard it, usually it’s the second time through in the second week before they kind of start grasping everything.”
On who has stood out on offense:
“When we do a good job protecting, our guys have made some good throws. When we step in the right direction and play with good pad level up front, all of our runners are capable of creating positive plays. It’s hard to single anybody out, but when everybody is on the same page, good things have happened.”
On special teams:
“We are doing a lot of drills right now, a lot of fundamentals. For us to go out there and do a certain amount of teams as far as first team, second team, third team, we don’t even know who the best football players are yet. We don’t know who’s going to get on the bus and go to the first game, so for us, we need to teach as many fundamentals as we can. Stay with the basics, whether it’s how to protect and punt or hold up in punt return, how to stack kick-off return, how to press the ball in the cover game. We’re doing as many things as we can that way, and then as we build after the next couple of practices, we’ll get into more teamwork.”
On behind honored in his hometown of Rainesville, Ala. with the key to the city:
“I have a lot of pride in where I’m from, and I think the people in our community do. I was fired up about it and very appreciative of it, but the main thing I was fired up about is my old high school team won the state championship in basketball. That was a big deal to me and our community.”
On what he does to show his team they are picking up in things:
“Offenses create a lot of multiples when you talk about the defensive side and the way they move around. That’s the way the game is in college. Everybody is going fast, snapping the ball. You get a lot of rocket motions and unusual formations. You have to recognize formations, splits, backfield locations, whatever it is, so they’re creating multiples. The more multiples you have and the more multiples they have, it just becomes a lot of stuff. Communicating is a big deal. You have to be a good communicator if you’re going to play good defense, because the first thing nowadays is you have to get lined up, and everybody has to be on the same page. We’ll tell a lot more of that. There may be guys out here right now that can make the calls, do this and do that, but when we roll out there the first time to scrimmage, they may not can do it. When we have the Orange and White game, and hopefully we have the crowd that I’m expecting, the may excel or they may not. We’ll see, but we need to know that.”
![Jason Aldean Says “Gettin’ Warmed Up” Is the High-Energy Song His Fans Have Come to Expect [Listen]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/1446/2017/10/03184355/Jason-Aldean2.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
