KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Returning senior middle infielder Chelsea Seggern was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Division I third team, the organization announced Thursday.
Despite the cancellation of spring competition during COVID-19, CoSIDA continued its sponsorship of the Academic All-America awards program. Student-athletes were selected based on career statistics.
A kinesiology major with a 3.89 GPA, Seggern hit a .403, seven doubles, which ranked 10th in the SEC, and five home runs. She led the Lady Vols with 17 RBIs and five dingers.
The Thrall, Texas native tied for fifth in the league after being pegged at the plate nine times and assisted in turning 14 of the team’s 17 double plays to lead the conference.
Seggern, who opted to extend her eligibility for the 2021 season, tied for 37th nationally with an .863 slugging percentage and ranked 18th in the country with a .560 OBP in 2020. She started all 23 games and led UT with 13 walks.
Check out a few fun streaks from the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
Thomas Rhett’s recent single, “Beer Can’t Fix, became his 15th No. 1 hit on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in May. “Beer Can’t Fix” is Thomas Rhett’s ninth consecutive No. 1 single, the longest ACTIVE streak on the Airplay chart.
With his latest No. 1 single, “Does to Me,” Luke Combs is the first country artist in history whose FIRST eight singles have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
Blake Shelton owns the Billboard Country Airplay chart ALL-TIME record for consecutive No. 1 singles with 17, starting with “Hillbilly Bone” in 2010 and ending with “Came Here to Forget” in 2016.
Billboard created the Airplay chart in 1990.
And if you really want your mind blown . . . Alabama scored 21 CONSECUTIVE No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, starting with “Tennessee River” in 1980 and ending with “You’ve Got the Touch” in 1987.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee junior pitcher Garrett Crochet became the 17th player in program history to be drafted in the first round when he was selected with the 11th overall pick by the Chicago White Sox in the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft on Wednesday night.
Crochet is just the fifth UT pitcher to be selected in the first round (including compensatory picks and competitive balance rounds), joining James Atkins (2007), Luke Hochevar (2006), Wyatt Allen (2001) and R.A. Dickey (1996), and is the highest drafted Vol since Nick Senzel went No. 2 overall to the Cincinnati Reds in the 2016 draft. He is also the second-highest drafted pitcher in program history behind Hochevar, who went No. 1 overall in 2006.
Tennessee has now had at least one player selected in every MLB Draft for the past 37 years, dating back to 1984. Crochet is the eighth player from UT to be drafted by the White Sox and the first since Stephen McCray in the 16th round of the 2010 draft.
Crochet was tabbed a preseason All-American by Baseball America and Perfect Game prior to the 2020 season. Despite being limited to just one appearance during his junior campaign due to arm soreness and the season being cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the big lefty jumped up draft boards with impressive showings with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team last summer and a dominant fall in which he displayed an elite fastball that was consistently in the mid-90s and was clocked as high as 100 mph. He also showed improved command of his secondary pitches, specifically his slider and changeup.
As a sophomore in 2019, Crochet displayed his versatility, pitching in a variety of different roles and situations. The Ocean Springs, Mississippi, native made 18 appearances and six starts, starting the year in the bullpen before eventually moving into a weekend starting role during conference play. He finished third on the team with five victories and second on the squad with three saves. Crochet also ranked second on the team with 81 strikeouts in 65.0 innings pitched.
One of the most impressive moments of Crochet’s career came during the 2019 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional. Just a few weeks after suffering a broken jaw that required surgery and metal plates to be inserted, Crochet returned to make two appearances and pitch six total innings during the regional.
In his first appearance after breaking his jaw in the final regular-season series of the year, Crochet tossed 2.1 scoreless innings in relief to earn the win over UNC Wilmington, which was Tennessee’s first NCAA tournament victory since 2005. He also pitched 3.2 innings in UT’s victory over Liberty to help the Vols advance to the regional championship.
Crochet showed flashes of his potential during an up and down freshman season in which he made 16 appearances and started 11 games. He finished the year tied for second on the team with five victories and was also second on the team with 62 strikeouts, which ranks fifth in program history for strikeouts by a freshman in a single season.
Be sure to tune in for rounds 2-5, which are set to air Thursday on ESPN2 starting at 5 p.m. ET.
Rose Bowl / Credit: Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation & UT Athletics
PASADENA, Calif. — Making his college football debut on the famous and historic Rose Bowl Stadium turf, Peyton Manning was formally introduced to the football world when he trotted onto the field in Pasadena as a true freshman at Tennessee playing against UCLA on September 3, 1994.
Made possible by a generous gift by Kevin G. Clifford to the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, a historical marker honoring Peyton Manning and his first-ever college football game is now located outside Tunnel 16, the same number he wore on his jersey while in Knoxville. The donation from Clifford, who is a long-time Rose Bowl Stadium seat holder and former Pasadena resident, also supports the core of Legacy’s mission, which is to preserve, protect and enhance the Rose Bowl Stadium as a National Historic Landmark.
“It has been a privilege to partner with the Rose Bowl Stadium team to recognize our great friend, Peyton,” said Clifford about the project. “The Rose Bowl and Peyton are two American icons now joined together to honor America’s Stadium and all that is great about College Football!”
Beginning in 2017 with the dedication of the Jackie Robinson football statue in front of its main entrance, the Legacy Foundation has continued adding significant heritage projects around the venue’s property due to key donations from its support base. Other completed statues include the 1999 Team USA Women’s World Cup Championship Team and Keith Jackson, both dedicated in 2019. In 2017, the venue’s original locker room was saved and currently serves as a museum-like space recognizing the history of the National Historic Landmark.
Last year, with significant help in its planning from Pasadena Heritage, Legacy began raising funds to place historical markers around the venue to highlight some of its key moments. Manning’s marker is the second on the property thus far (Myron Hunt at Gate A). The Legacy Foundation hopes to add more historical markers to educate its visitors about past events and contributors to the Stadium’s sports and entertainment timeline. Some markers include UCLA’s ‘Gutty Little Bruins’, UCLA’s 1982 move to the Rose Bowl, Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler, Grambling Coach Eddie Robinson, the Ivy League, Brown University star Fritz Pollard, Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne, Stanford’s Pop Warner, and several more.
On that sunny September Pasadena day in 1994, legendary college football broadcaster, Keith Jackson, welcomed Peyton Manning to the field by telling fans to, “get used to it.” College football fans certainly got used to Peyton, and so did the record books. Manning checked into the game after an injury to the Vols’ starting quarterback, leading Tennessee for one drive and handing the ball off three times. Two weeks later, Manning completed his first collegiate pass against Florida. He was named the UT starting quarterback by mid-season and he never looked back.
Peyton competed in the Rose Bowl Stadium a second time in 1997 in a regular season shootout against UCLA All-American and new College Football Hall of Famer, Cade McNown. Tennessee won a tight one against the Bruins by a score of 30-24.
“You never forget your first time going into the huddle with the starters in a college game and it was an honor for me to have played my first college game in the Rose Bowl,” said Manning. “It’s a memory that will never be taken away from me. I was aware of the history of the venue going into the game and I’m proud to be a small part of that history.”
Over the next two-plus decades, fans from Knoxville to Indianapolis to Denver and all around the world enjoyed Peyton’s talents on the football field and fans in all of those communities and beyond benefited from his generosity away from it.
Clifford is also a Board of Directors member of the prestigious National Football Foundation, which has a mission to promote and develop the power of amateur football in developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the drive for academic excellence in America’s young people. The Wabash (IN) graduate spent over 37 years as one of the key leaders of Capital Group and its management committee, serving as the CEO of American Funds Distributors.
“Thank you to Kevin for his special commitment to the future of America’s Stadium and his willingness to recognize such a key part of our iconic timeline in Peyton,” said chief development officer Dedan Brozino. “So many sports and entertainment careers have crossed paths with the Rose Bowl during its lifetime and it is special for us to recognize the first college game of one of the all-time greats to ever play the quarterback position.”
About the Rose Bowl Stadium
The Rose Bowl Stadium is the proud home of the Tournament of Roses’ Rose Bowl Game, UCLA Bruins football, AmericaFest Fourth of July Celebration, concerts including Kenny Chesney, Coldplay, Taylor Swift and U2, international and Premier League soccer matches and the World’s Largest Flea Market.
A National Historic Landmark built in 1922 and known around the world, the Rose Bowl Stadium has earned its world class reputation by hosting five NFL Super Bowl games, the 1984 Olympic Soccer matches, the 1994 Men’s World Cup, the 1999 Women’s World Cup, four BCS National College Football Championship Games and the College Football Playoff Semi-Final game.
Jarrett Guarantano / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The Southeastern Conference will hold its first-ever virtual football media days in 2020, the Conference announced Wednesday.
SEC Football Media Days was scheduled to be held in Atlanta, July 13-16, at the College Football Hall of Fame and Omni Atlanta Hotel.
“Conducting football media days in a virtual format will provide us the opportunity to manage the event in a healthy manner as we continue to be impacted by COVID-19, and will provide flexibility for our programs to adjust their preparation for the 2020 football season according to the preseason calendar that is expected to be expanded due to the cancellation of the spring football season,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “We look forward to returning to our traditional media days format in 2021.”
The virtual event will feature Sankey’s annual “State of the SEC” address, as well as media sessions with the conference’s 14 head coaches and select student-athletes from each school. The SEC is in planning with the SEC Network to provide wall-to-wall coverage of the virtual event.
The dates and times for SEC Virtual Football Media Days have not been announced at this time.
The most decorated artist in the history of the ACM Awards—Miranda Lambert—scored her first solo Top 10 hit in six years with “Bluebird.”
The tune, which Miranda co-wrote with Luke Dick and Natalie Hemby, is No. 10 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. The last time Miranda had a solo Top 10 hit was with “Automatic,” which reached No. 3 in June 2014.
Miranda’s duet with Carrie Underwood, “Somethin’ Bad,” reached No. 7 in October 2014, while Jason Aldean’s “Drowns the Whiskey,” which featured Miranda, hit the top of the chart in August 2018.
“Bluebird” is featured on Miranda’s seventh studio album, Wildcard.
“This song is special,” says Miranda. “It’s got this hope to it. It’s got a darkness too, though, but it’s also hopeful. Life is going to give you lemons, period. If there wasn’t problems then we wouldn’t appreciate the great days, but going through those things and overcoming problems—whatever they are—makes us strong and appreciate the sun. You know, it’s like ten straight days of rain and then the sun comes out and you’re like, ‘I forgot how much I loved it.’ Since we wrote ‘Bluebird,’ I’ve been seeing bluebirds everywhere. And the bluebirds have been there, but I never saw them like I see them now. It kinda reminds me to open my eyes to what’s around me.”
Scotty McCreery, 26, and wife Gabi, 26, will celebrate their second wedding anniversary on June 16 (you’ve still got one week to get her a great present, Scotty).
The couple met in kindergarten in Garner, N.C., and grew up together in their close-knit North Carolina community. They began dating during their senior year at Garner High School.
Scotty’s 2019 No. 1 hit single, “This Is It,” has become intertwined with his anniversary. Scott penned the song with Frank Rogers and Aaron Eshuis about Gabi two weeks before asking her to marry him in September 2017. After his mountaintop proposal, Scotty played the song for Gabi for the first time about an hour later as their families gathered for a celebration.
As Scotty told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, the song brings back some special memories every time he performs it—or hears it.
“I wrote the song two weeks before we got engaged, and the first time I played it for her, she had just said ‘Yes,’” says Scotty. “I had her family and my family drive up and meet us, and I flew her sister in from Oklahoma, and they were all surprising her at the house. And then, we all sat down in the living room and I played it for her over the speakers. There were some waterworks, for sure. It was a pretty special moment.”
Travis Denning’s “After a Few” is the little engine that could.
After 65 weeks, the tune has reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, marking the longest trip to the top. Jimmie Allen’s “Make Me Want To” previously held the record at 58 weeks. In addition, “After a Few” marks the longest tenure a song has had on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, surpassing the 59-week run of “Make Me Want To.”
Travis released the single in January 2019. Penned by Travis, Kelly Archer and Justin Weaver, the single is featured on Travis’ new six-song EP, Beer’s Better Cold (May 15).
“I’m so grateful for this number one,” says Travis. “To see it get up the charts was a dream come true that I first had when I was 14 years old. This has only helped fuel the fire to want to get back on the road and sing country music for some country lovin’ people.”
Luke Combs will try to score his unprecedented ninth consecutive No. 1 single—to start a career—with the release of “Lovin’ On You.”
The new tune, which was penned by Luke, Ray Fulcher, James McNair, and Thomas Archer, will impact country radio on June 22.
“Fun song,” says Luke. “I wrote it with Ray, James and Thomas . . . three guys I like writing songs with. Real kind of country and honk-tonky kind of [song] . . . I was in the throes of love, and there we go.”
“Lovin’ On You” will be the fourth single from Luke’s 2019 No. 1 album, What You See Is What You Get.
Luke is the first country artist in history whose first eight singles have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart: “Hurricane,” “When It Rains It Pours,” “One Number Away,” “She Got the Best of Me,” “Beautiful Crazy,” “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” “Even Though I’m Leaving” and “Does to Me.”
In May, Tim McGraw released his touching new single, “I Called Mama.”
Penned by Lance Miller, Marv Green and Jimmy Yeary, “I Called Mama” is about the special connection mothers share with their children, especially when times are tough.
However, as Tim noted during a press event in May when he was discussing his life under quarantine, you can call mama for any reason, including a hot milk cake recipe. [Editor’s note: if you’ve never had a hot milk cake, stop reading this and find—or make—one topped with powdered sugar and fresh berries, although some folks prefer chocolate icing].
“For us, during all this stuff that’s going on and being at home together and hanging out, there’s been a lot of sort of nostalgia that’s come along with that—looking back through old photos, and going back and watching movies that we haven’t seen in a long time, and cooking things that we grew up eating when we were kids, and telling our kids stories about,” says Tim. “Like, for instance, I called my mom because I wanted to . . . make a hot milk cake like my grandmother used to make, so she actually talked my youngest daughter through it, and my youngest daughter made my grandmother’s hot milk cake and my grandmother’s been gone for a while, so. You know, there’s a lot of terrible things going on and it’s been hard for a lot of people and a lot of people have lost loved ones, but hopefully the silver lining in all of this is we’ve learned how to connect with each other a little bit differently and a little better and maybe that’ll extend to a more personal connection to everybody.”
![Luke Combs Announces Rowdy New Single, “Lovin’ On You” [Listen]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/602/2020/06/09075627/Luke-Combs-TA.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
