Kucik is a 5-foot-11-inch, 160-pound fullback from Gonzaga College High School in Kensington, Maryland.
He will enter UT as a business analytics major.
The University of Tennessee rugby club was founded in 1970. The Volunteers compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference.
In addition to the Vols, the league features teams from Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Middle Tennessee, Memphis, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
Bagha will enter UT as a Neuroscience and Pre-Med major. He hails from West Tennessee.
He attended Houston High School in the Memphis suburb of Germantown. He played his high school rugby for the Germantown Rugby Club.
Bagha is a 5-foot-11-inch center.
In Knoxville, he will join the Tennessee rugby club, which was founded in 1970.
The Vols are coached by Marty Bradley. They compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference with the likes of Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Middle Tennessee, Memphis, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Kennesaw State.
KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee rugby club recently picked up a commitment from the Midstate.
Garrett Moorman, who attended Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, recently decided to play for the Vols. He played in high school for the Raptors Rugby Club at Ravenwood.
Moorman, who will major in engineering at UT, also played high school football for the Raptors.
He is a 5-foot-9, 160-pound wing player and will join a club founded in 1970 and currently coached by Marty Bradley.
The Vols compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference with the likes of Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Middle Tennessee State, Memphis, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Kennesaw State.
KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee rugby club picked up a commitment from North Carolina.
Frank Lewis finalized his attention to play college rugby at Tennessee. He hails from Raleigh, North Carolina where he attended Needham B. Broughton High School and played his prep rugby for the Raleigh Redhawks rugby club.
The Tennessee rugby club was founded in 1970 and is currently coached by Marty Bradley.
The Vols compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference.
Other teams in the conference include Memphis, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and South Carolina.
KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee rugby club recently picked up a transfer from Georgia College.
Chis Fisher, from Dacula, Georgia, committed to the Vols.
He played his high school rugby for the Gwinnett Lions Rugby Club.
Fisher, a 5-foot-10, 225-pound prop and hooker, will major in wildlife and fisheries science at Tennessee.
The University of Tennessee rugby club, coached by Marty Bradley, was founded in 1970. The Vols compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference.
Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee all compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference.
Kentucky, South Carolina and Alabama are Tennessee’s top rivals.
KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee rugby club picked up a commitment and signing from a local athlete recently.
Tommy Codevilla, a senior at Knoxville’s West High School, played his club rugby for the Tennessee Rugby Academy.
Vols keep adding to the roster for the fall. This time its Tommy Codevilla of West High School and the Tennessee Rugby Academy. #GBO#VFL#FSRpic.twitter.com/DtQ4K43uzN
Codevilla, a 6-7, 230-pound hook, signed and committed in late-April and the club formally welcomed him on social media.
He will enter UT as a chemical engineering major.
The Tennessee Rugby Club, coached by Marty Bradley, was founded in 1970.
The Vols currently compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference.
Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee all compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference.
Kentucky, South Carolina and Alabama are Tennessee’s top rivals.
KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee rugby club has picked up a Class of 2020 commitment.
Dane Wheeler, who hails from Westfield Indiana and plays his club rugby for the Westfield Shamrocks Rugby Club, committed to play collegiately in Knoxville recently.
The Vols welcomed Wheeler to Rocky Top in a social media post on Twitter on Saturday.
Wheeler, who will major in business and play center for the Volunteers, also played football at Westfield High School.
The Tennessee rugby club was founded in 1970 and the Vols play in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference along with nine other Southeastern Conference schools, including Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
Missouri and Arkansas play in the Heart of America Conference, while LSU and Texas A&M are in the Red River Conference.
Schwartz, a mechanical engineering major, was also Tennessee’s Player of the Year.
The Vols’ rugby club, coached by Marty Bradley, was founded in 1970. Bradley serves not only as Tennessee’s head coach, but also as the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference commissioner.
Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee all compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference.
Tennessee head coach Marty Bradley discusses Vols’ rugby program.
KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee has fielded a club rugby team since 1970.
Tennessee’s first official rugby match took place Oct. 31, 1970 in Huntsville, Ala., against the Redstone Rugby Club. UT defeated Redstone Rugby Club, 8-6, and finished the inaugural 1970-71 year with a 13-3-3 record.
Celebration for the 50th academic year of Tennessee rugby has ended prematurely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 2020 SCRC Olympic Rugby Championship has been canceled along with all spring sanctioned conference and national activities.
Photos provided by Tracy Anderson.
UT rugby head coach Marty Bradley discussed the 50th anniversary and Tennessee’s spring season ending prematurely with Vols Wire.
“This is our 50th academic year of playing rugby at the University of Tennessee and we started the celebration back in the fall,” Bradley said. “We have a long tradition of playing good rugby.
“We have a friendly schedule in the spring. The big thing in the spring is we play our 7s SCRC Olympic Rugby Championship. We were going to host the SEC championship here the first week of April and that is gone. The Olympic championships have already been canceled.”
Bradley serves not only as Tennessee’s head coach, but also as the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference commissioner.
Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Kentucky, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee all compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference.
Kentucky, South Carolina and Alabama are Tennessee’s top rivals.
Bradley has a love for the sport and enjoys coaching at the collegiate level as an unpaid volunteer. He played rugby at Tennessee Tech and with the Knoxville Rugby Club before becoming an assistant at UT under Butch Robertson. Robertson retired in 2012, and after serving as an assistant for 16 years, Bradley assumed head coaching duties for UT.
“I got into coaching because I was not finished with the sport,” Bradley said. “I still wanted to be involved with the sport. I like being around athletics, the guys and I still needed that in my life. That is why I started coaching. I am just a coach at heart and I enjoy coaching college men because it is such a transitional part of their life. That 18-22-year-old demographic, they are growing and experiencing so many things — it is important to have a positive influence on them.
“They are learning responsibility, discipline, commitment and integrity in the game. All of that translates to if a young man plays for us while he is in school, it is going to help him leave school and become a better husband, father, employee and potentially one day a better employer. It helps round-out that educational process and we play a strong role in that. We feed these men mind, body and spirit.”
Photos provided by Tracy Anderson.
Tennessee finished the fall season 8-2 and won the 2019 Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference championship. UT’s reserve rugby team finished the fall campaign with a perfect 6-0 record.
Laws of rugby only allow for teams to play up to 23 total players in a regulation match, so clubs typically have a reserve match to get playing time for the rest of the roster.
UT’s fall roster is typically around 45 players, while in the spring it is 30-35.
“We usually have some guys that have opportunities to study abroad, some guys take a break and do not want to play rugby year-round,” Bradley said. “They will focus on academics or different parts of their life in the spring.”
UT rugby, football and VFL Films
During Bradley’s time within UT’s rugby program, he has experienced support from the Vols’ football program.
“I will get some kickers from time to time, and from time to time I will have the football program contact me wanting to know if I have any kickers instead of pulling them off fraternity row coaches,” he said. “They were contacting the rugby team that year.”
Nov 5, 2011; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers kicker Derrick Brodus (26) kicks a field goal as punter Matt Darr (5) holds during the game against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 24 to 0. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
On Nov. 5, 2011, under then-head coach Derek Dooley, walk-on redshirt freshman Derrick Brodus was called on to kick for Tennessee’s football team against Middle Tennessee State. Prior to the contest, starting kicker Michael Palardy was hurt and could not play. Before kickoff, backup kicker Chip Rhome pulled a muscle and was not able to play.
Brodus was sitting on a coach at a fraternity house when police arrived and escorted him to kick for the Vols. He made a 21-yard field goal and three PATs.
During Butch Jones’ tenure as Tennessee’s football head coach (2013-17), Bradley recruited within the Vols’ walk-on program.
“When Butch Jones was here we were going to walk-on tryouts and I would have about ten minutes at the end where I would come in and talk about the rugby team,” Bradley said. “They would have 50-60 guys there and they were going to take maybe four. It gave me a pretty good audience and I would get two or three players out of that.
“Butch would do it at 6:30 a.m. and there would be 50-60 guys knocking the sleep out of their eyes trying to get their 40-time under control.”
Since Jeremy Pruitt’s arrival as Tennessee’s head coach, replacing Jones, walk-on tryouts have been conducted one-on-one and Bradley has not been able to have football as a platform to recruit players for rugby.
“Coach Pruitt does not have open walk-on tryouts,” Bradley said. “It’s all one-on-one. If they want to work a guy out, and see if they want him, it is the player and four coaches.”
Photos provided by Tracy Anderson.
VFL Films is also a supporter of Tennessee’s rugby program.
Barry Rice, UT Senior Director of Broadcasting and with VFL Films, played rugby for the Vols.
“He played for UT and he is very kind and supportive to us,” Bradley said of Rice. “So we have done some things in the Ray and Lucy Hand Studio and they have produced some things for us.”
