Luke Combs and Nicole Hocking got married on Aug. 1 in Florida.
Luke revealed the news via Twitter on Aug. 2, saying: “Yesterday was the best day of my life. I got to marry my best friend. I love you @nicohocking, here’s to forever.”
Nicole added an Instagram post of her own on Aug. 2, saying: “Yesterday was the most special day!! I’m so happy to spend the rest of my life with you! Although we wish would could have had every single one of our family & friends there, we can’t wait to celebrate with everyone next year! So excited to share more of this day soon. much love!”
Luke and Nicole began dating in 2016. They got engaged in November 2018. Congrats to the happy couple.
KNOXVILLE, TN – OCTOBER 12, 2019 – Linebacker Daniel Bituli #35 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
Here’s another update on transactions in the NFL involving University of Tennessee players in moves announced by the National Football League.
Below is the full list of players currently on NFL expanded rosters. This year’s roster max needs to get down to 80 players by Aug. 16 from the normal 90. Until then, teams can either practice in full with 80 or split squad with 90.
You’ll also find below the list of players that were at UT at one time before transferring and finishing their careers elsewhere as well as players that have local ties to the Knoxville area that did not attend the University of Tennessee. The depth chart projections are from Ourlads.com.
Look for constant updates here on my blog “Vince’s View.” Bookmark my blog page and check back often.
Recent Roster Moves 7/30 – Lions placed DB Justin Coleman on the Reserve/COVID-19 List
8/1 – Rams released rookie LB Daniel Bituli
The numbers of UT players on active rosters continues to dwindle. 9 players (6 released and 3 inactives) have dropped off current rosters. Coleman becomes the second VFL to be added to the Reserve/COVID-19 List. Nigel Warrior of the Ravens is the other. Bituli was the last of the rookie undrafted free agents to sign-on with a team due to needing to get his medicals cleared. Hopefully, he did not have an injury setback. Regardless, it’s very difficult to find work this year after being released.
The current count, through Aug. 1, on overall NFL players impacted by the pandemic looks like this: Reserve/COVID-19 List – 76 Opt-Outs – 37
Notes and Numbers On UT Players
*28 U. of Tennessee players on expanded active NFL rosters
*3 other players are inactive (Warrior/Palardy) on Reserve Lists
*San Francisco & New Orleans have most current UT players with 3
*NFC West is the division most represented with VFLs with 5 total players
*DL is the largest position represented with 7
*18 of the 32 teams have a UT player on active rosters
*There are 8 players that were once at U. of Tennessee but then transferred (see full list below)
*There are 6 players that didn’t attend UT, but have Knoxville/East TN ties (see full list below)
*7 Vols are projected as starters right now, excluding special teams
*Rookies: 3 VFLs, 2 one-time Vols and 3 Knoxville area non-UT players on current rosters
*7 players went to high school in Knoxville area (B. Colquitt, L. Smith, H. Smith, R. Cobb, T. Higgins, N. Cottrell, N. Gilliam)
Tennessee Volunteers On NFL Rosters as of 8/2/20 (28) x = Rookie
AFC East (4) TE – Jason Croom (80) Buffalo Bills – 5th team TE
FB/TE – Jakob Johnson (47) New England Patriots – 6th team TE
WR – Josh Malone (83) New York Jets – 2nd team WR
DE – Kyle Phillips (98) New York Jets – 2nd team DE
NONE – Miami Dolphins
AFC North (3)
LS – Morgan Cox (46) Baltimore Ravens – Starting LS
NT – Dan McCullers (93) Pittsburgh Steelers – 2nd team NT
DB – Cameron Sutton (20) Pittsburgh Steelers – 2nd team NB
NONE – Cincinnati Bengals
NONE – Cleveland Browns
AFC South (2)
OG – Zach Fulton (73) Houston Texans – Starting RG
QB – Joshua Dobbs (1) Jacksonville Jaguars – 3rd team QB
NONE – Indianapolis Colts
NONE – Tennessee Titans
AFC West (4)
OT – Ja’Wuan James (70) Denver Broncos – Starting RT
ILB – Alexander Johnson (45) Denver Broncos – Starting ILB
DE – Kendal Vickers (78) Las Vegas Raiders – 3rd team DT
TE – Jason Witten (82) Las Vegas Raiders – Starting TE
NONE – Kansas City Chiefs
NONE – Los Angeles Chargers
NFC East (3)
DB – Rashaan Gaulden (38) New York Giants – 4th team CB
DE – Derek Barnett (96) Philadelphia Eagles – Starting DE
DT – Malik Jackson (97) Philadelphia Eagles – 2nd Team DT
NONE – Dallas Cowboys
NONE – Washington Redskins
NFC North (4)
QB – Tyler Bray (9) Chicago Bears – 3rd Team QB
WR/KR – Cordarrelle Patterson (84) Chicago Bears – Starting WR & KR
OLB – Jalen Reeves-Maybin (44) Detroit Lions – 2nd Team OLB
P – Britton Colquitt (2) Minnesota Vikings – Starting P
NONE – Green Bay Packers
NFC South (3)
RB – Alvin Kamara (41) New Orleans Saints – Starting RB
DT – Shy Tuttle (99) New Orleans Saints – 3rd team NT
WR – Marquez Callaway (12) New Orleans Saints – x – 6th team WR
NONE – Atlanta Falcons
NONE – Carolina Panthers
NONE – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC West (5)
RB – John Kelly (42) Los Angeles Rams – 4th team RB
DE – Jonathan Kongbo (61) San Francisco 49ers – 4th team DE
CB – Emmanuel Moseley (41) San Francisco 49ers – 3rd team CB
WR – Jauan Jennings (81) San Francisco 49ers – x – 6th team WR
DE/OLB – Darrell Taylor (58) Seattle Seahawks – x – 3rd team Leo DE/OLB
NONE – Arizona Cardinals
Inactives (3)
CB – Justin Coleman (27) Detroit Lions (Reserve/COVID-19)
P – Michael Palardy (5) Carolina Panthers (Reserve Non-Football Injury List/out for the season/torn ACL)
S – Nigel Warrior (39) Baltimore Ravens – x (Reserve/COVID-19)
UT Players In The NFL By Position (28)
QB – 2
RB – 2
WR – 4
TE – 2
FB – 1
OL – 2
DL – 7
LB – 3
DB – 3
P – 1
PK – 0
LS – 1
Free Agents To Watch from University of Tennessee
S – Micah Abernathy
S – Eric Berry
LB – Daniel Bituli
P – Dustin Colquitt
P – Trevor Daniel
P – Matt Darr
TE – Alex Ellis
LB – Colton Jumper
LB – LaTroy Lewis
OL – Kahlil McKenzie
TE – Luke Stocker
OL – James Stone
DL – Jordan Williams
TE – Ethan Wolf
TE – Dominick Wood-Anderson
One-Time Vols That Transferred To Other Schools On NFL Rosters (8) x = Rookie
TE – Eli Wolf (87) Baltimore Ravens (U. of Tennessee/Georgia) -x – 4th team TE
TE – Lee Smith (85) Buffalo Bills (Powell HS/U. of Tennessee/Marshall) – 3rd team TE
P – Tommy Townsend (–) Kansas City Chiefs (U. of Tennessee/Florida) – x – 2nd team P
QB – Nathan Peterman (3) Las Vegas Raiders (U. of Tennessee/Pitt) – 3rd team QB
WR – Preston Williams (18) Miami Dolphins (U. of Tennessee/Colorado St) – 2nd team WR
DE/LB – Dewayne Hendrix (40) Pittsburgh Steelers (U. of Tennessee/Pitt) – 3rd team OLB
TE – Daniel Helm (43) San Francisco 49ers (U. of Tennessee/Duke) – 3rd team TE
WR – Jalen Hurd (14) San Francisco 49ers (U. of Tennessee/Baylor) – 2nd team WR
Knoxville Area Players That Didn’t Play At UT on NFL Rosters (6) x = Rookie
WR – Tee Higgins (85) Cincinnati Bengals (Oak Ridge HS/Clemson) – x – Starting WR
P – Chris Jones (6) Dallas Cowboys (Carson-Newman) – Starting P
WR – Randall Cobb (18) Houston Texans (Alcoa HS/Kentucky) – Starting Slot WR
RB – Nathan Cottrell (31) Jacksonville Jaguars (West HS/Georgia Tech) – x – 4th team RB
OL – Nathan Gilliam (63) Los Angeles Chargers (Farragut HS/Wake Forest) – x – 3rd team RG
S – Harrison Smith (22) Minnesota Vikings (Catholic HS/Notre Dame) – Starting SS
University of Tennessee Director of Athletics Phillip Fulmer spent some time on SportsTalk with John and Jimmy recently.
They discussed many things including the SEC’s decision on going with a 10-game conference only schedule in 2020, what the two added SEC games might look like, capacity in Neyland Stadium, fan participation events, watching the struggles of other universities due to sports shutdowns, if Wisconsin’s projected losses are comparable to UT if there’s no football, UT athletes on the senior honor roll, if the topic of coaches giving money back has been discussed, scheduling flexibility of the current schedule, wanting to play Alabama as a 8th straight game and much more.
Fulmer on fans in Neyland Stadium:
“I don’t think there’s any question that there will be reductions. I’m kind of holding out hopeful that we can get the curve to kind of turn back down. We’ve got a month and maybe even during the season it could continue to get better. Now, we also know it could continue to get worse. So, I don’t want to put a number out there right now. We’re working on several models. We’ll listen to the state and multiple health departments, and our leadership on campus and everybody will come to the right place.”
Is it fair to say the capacity wouldn’t be a 100% in Neyland Stadium?
“No, that’s fair. That’s very fair to say. We’d love to have it at 100 (percent capacity.) The reality of it, and that’s what we all have to face. You know the economy’s been damaged and people’s jobs and everything. There’s a lot going on around this, and for us to not have social distancing and wearing of masks and taking care of our people and limiting us being all together would be impractical to do. So, we won’t be 100% (capacity.) I’m hopeful we might be 50 (percent capacity.) We could be like most folks and be looking at 20%, 25%.”
On if they’ve decided on whether to allow tailgating this season:
“No. We’ve actually talked a lot about that.We’ve got to get everybody all on the same page with that. The tailgating, the Vol Walk, the band, we’ve had tons of conversations about it. I’d like to sit here and say ‘yeah, we’ve figured that out totally.’ Again, it gets back to the safety factor for people that want to come to the games and enjoy the games, but we’ve got to be smart about what we do.”
Legendary college and NFL player Archie Manning, who is currently the chairman of the National Football Foundation, spent some time with John and Jimmy on SportsTalk in Knoxville recently.
They covered many different topics including Eli Manning being recognized by Ole Miss, the newest young Manning QB Arch, his opinion on youth football, watching football without Peyton or Eli in the NFL, his time in the NFL the Manning Passing Academy and lots on Peyton’s Places.
Listen to the full interview here.
Archie Manning / Credit: National Football Foundation
VFL basketball player Kyle Alexander, rookie on the Miami Heat, joined Heather and Vince on Sports 180 recently from the NBA Bubble.
He talked about life in the bubble, how he took advantage of the quarantine time, compliments from Pat Riley, how Rick Barnes and UT prepared him for the NBA, how he benefited from the G-League, seeing his former Vols teammates in the NBA Bubble, his NBA teammates including Jimmy Butler and much more.
Listen to that full interview here.
Heat F/C Kyle Alexander / Credit: NBA Media Central
Lipscomb Academy head football coach and Elite 11 head coach Trent Dilfer visited with John and Jimmy on SportsTalk recently. They discussed his decision to coach high school football, if he sees himself coaching at the college or pro level, coaching kids at the Elite 11 camp and his breakdown of one of those participants, Vols 2021 QB commit Kaidon Salter.
Dilfer on the social distancing:
“I hate the term ‘social distancing.’ I’m never going to say that. Physical distancing, I’m all about that. I’m all about keeping people safe. I’m not about isolating people and not letting them have social lives.”
Listen to that full interview below.
Las Vegas, NV – December 14, 2018 – Hard Rock Hotel: Trent Dilfer during the Kickoff Luncheon presented by Dignity Health (Photo by Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)
ESPN National Recruiting Coordinator Craig Haubert joined Heather and Vince on Sports 180 recently to talk UT and SEC recruiting including thoughts on some Vols targets and commits. Listen to that full interview here.
Vols HC Jeremy Pruitt / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
Dan + Shay dropped a moving new video for their new single, “I Should Probably Go to Bed.”
The stylized clip features plenty of nifty camerawork—including some cool dolly zooms—and special effects.
Penned by Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney, Sean Douglas and Jason Evigan, “I Should Probably Go to Bed” was produced entirely by Dan, who performed and recorded every instrument at his home studio in Nashville.
“We’re so excited about our brand-new single,” says Dan. “We wrote part of this song in Los Angeles during Grammy week, but finished it at my house, on my piano, kind of by accident. Shay had come over to record vocals on another song that we had written. We took a break, went downstairs, started singing this song, and realized this song needs a big ending. So we really went for it. Shay delivered one of my favorite vocal performances of all time. We’re so proud that this is our new single.”
The new tune is the duo’s first single since “10,000 Hours,” which featured Justin Bieber, was released in October 2019. “10,000 Hours” topped the Billboard Country Airplay chart in January 2020.
Watch the video for “I Should Probably Go to Bed” below.
The late Charlie Daniels will be honored with a musical salute during his annual all-star concert, Volunteer Jam, which will take place at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Feb. 22, 2021.
Charlie, 83, passed away on July 6. This year’s concert is being dubbed Volunteer Jam: A Musical Salute to Charlie Daniels.
Since its inception in 1974, Charlie’s Volunteer Jam has brought together some of music’s biggest stars for a number of worthwhile causes.
This year’s lineup includes Alabama, Ricky Skaggs, Old Crow Medicine Show, Junior Brown,Cece Winans,The Marshall Tucker Band, ChrisJanson, Charley Pride,Larry, Steve & Rudy: The Gatlin Brothers, Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Cowboy Troy, Delbert McClinton,Keb’ Mo’,The Outlaws, Jenny Tolman, the Atlanta Rhythm Section, Devon Allman & Duane Betts, Mickey Gilley, Johnny Lee, Scooter Brown Band, The SteelDrivers, 38 Special,The Allman Betts Band, Travis Denning, Cedric Burnside, Rhett Akins, Pure Prairie League and comedian Dusty Slay. Charlie’s longtime band will also perform to honor their legendary frontman.
“Charlie would be excited and extremely proud that his Volunteer Jam would continue,” says Hazel Daniels, Charlie’s wife of 55 years. “I want to express my sincere thanks to the artists paying tribute to Charlie.”
The concert was originally slated for Sept. 15, 2020, but was rescheduled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster and the Bridgestone Arena box office. Previously purchased tickets will transfer to the new concert date.
Over the course of his 60-plus-year career, Charlie received numerous accolades, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame (2016) and the Musicians Hall of Fame (2009), as well as becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry (2008).
As the fiddle-playing frontman of the Charlie Daniels Band, Charlie scored a number of Top 20 singles, including “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye,” “Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues,” “In America,” and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which topped the charts in 1979.
Rascal Flatts is saying goodbye—for now—with its new seven-song EP, How They Remember You, which dropped on July 31.
In January, the trio—comprised of Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Roone—revealed they will disband this year to tackle individual projects, but they left the door open to reunite. While the COVID-19 pandemic put a kibosh on their Farewell Tour this year, the trio is hoping to keep their longtime fans entertained with the new EP.
The EP includes six brand-new tracks, as well as a rendition of Kenny Rogers’ “Through the Years.” The new EP features songs co-penned by Thomas Rhett, Rhett Akins, Josh Osborne, Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley and more.
Rascal Flatts released the album’s title track as their new single on June 19. Penned by Marc Beeson, Josh Osborne and Allen Shamblin, “How They Remember You” is No. 36 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart after six weeks.
How They Remember You Track List & Songwriters
How They Remember You (Marc Beeson, Josh Osborne, Allen Shamblin)
Feel It In The Morning (Zach Beeken, Jared Keim, Jenn Schott, Will Weatherly)
Quick, Fast, In A Hurry (featuring Rachel Wammack) (Kelly Archer, AJ Babcock, Pete Good, Brandon Ratcliff)
Looking Back (Rhett Akins, Jesse Frasure, Ashley Gorley, Thomas Rhett)
Warmer (Fancy Hagood, David Hodges, Brett McLaughlin)
Sip Away (Zach Beeken, Jacob Durrett, Jared Keim, Garrett Nichols, Jason Sellers)
