Tag: Tennessee Volunteers

Bucs get edge help in Matt Miller’s latest 2025 NFL Mock Draft

In Matt Miller’s 2025 NFL Mock Draft, he has the Bucs taking another chance on a prominent edge rusher in the class.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been searching for a star pass rusher in recent years and just haven’t made it happen yet. General Manager Jason Licht has taken chances on Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Yaya Diaby but they haven’t been reliable pass rushers.

In Matt Miller’s 2025 NFL Mock Draft, he has the Bucs taking another chance on a prominent edge rusher in the class.

The Tennessee Volunteers have been known for their offense in recent years but James Pearce Jr. has emerged as one of the best defenders in the country. Miller writes, “Outside of better health at receiver, the Buccaneers’ roster is in good shape, which could allow the team to utilize the “best player available” strategy. Pearce certainly fits that bill, as he tops all FBS players with a 20.2% pressure rate. . .”

The roster is well-built and accurate; it just needs some more difference-makers on defense. Pearce Jr. projects to develop into one of those much-needed difference-makers.

New Orleans Saints among teams in attendance for Georgia vs. Tennessee game

The New Orleans Saints were among the many teams in attendance for Saturday’s game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Tennessee Volunteers.:

The New Orleans Saints were just one of many teams represented at Saturday’s Southeastern Conference clash between the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers and the No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs.

In addition to New Orleans, there were also scouts in attendance for the Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans and Chicago Bears.

Who exactly the Saints are looking at here could be anyone’s guess, and is obviously impossible to provide a definitive answer for. And especially when it comes down to a pair of programs that both put first-rounders in the NFL — something Georgia does every year and will continue to do in 2025.

Among the most major prospects to watch for the 2025 cycle include quarterback Carson Beck, defensive back Malaki Starks and defensive lineman Mykel Williams, just to name a handful.

It will be interesting to see what happens come April with the college football regular season beginning to wind down and the 2025 NFL draft closer than it appears.

Georgia and Tennessee remain tied at 17-17 at the half, but the Bulldogs pulled away in a 31-17 win. The Saints have drafted players from both schools in recent years, most notably Alvin Kamara and Alontae Taylor from Tennessee, so they could have been eyeing the next member of the black and gold at this SEC showdown.

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Georgia asks fans to wear black vs. Tennessee

Will the Georgia Bulldogs wear black jerseys against the Tennessee Volunteers

The Georgia Bulldogs are asking fans to wear black on Saturday night against the Tennessee Volunteers.

Georgia football has not worn black jerseys at home since the 2020 game against Mississippi State. Georgia also wore black jerseys in the 2021 Peach Bowl against Cincinnati.

Georgia has not lost at home dating back to 2019. The Bulldogs have won 28 straight home games.

It remains unclear if the Georgia team will wear black jerseys against Tennessee. Currently, it does not look like that will be the case.

What we do know is that Tennessee plans to wear all-white uniforms against Georgia.

Georgia Bulldogs kicker Jack Podlesny celebrates after kicking the game-winning field goal during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl against the Cincinnati Bearcats, Friday, Jan. 1, 2021. The Enquirer

Regardless of what color jerseys Georgia wears, the Bulldogs will need to play their best game of the season on Saturday. Georgia needs support from fans in what is expected to be a defensive battle against Tennessee.

Georgia football equipment has already indicated the Georgia will be wearing red jerseys against Tennessee, but we’ll see if that changes.

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Singer, rapper Jelly Roll joins cheerleaders for pushups after Tennessee touchdown

A celebrity joined the Tennessee cheerleaders for celebration pushups

Tennessee’s cheerleaders celebrate each Vols touchdown with pushups. It’s a tradition.

On Saturday against Mississippi State, the squad had someone make a cameo as they got their exercise.

Yes, that’s Jelly Roll joining the cheerleaders as they do their thing.

Why Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell says teams will hate playing the Lady Volunteers

Kim Caldwell is here for ALL the smoke.

Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell isn’t mincing words about how grueling it will be to play her team. She says teams will hate to do it.

The Lady Volunteers are a long way from their championship-winning ways. Unfortunately, that’s seemingly part of the reason former head coach Kellie Harper was relieved of her duties earlier this year, and school leadership brought in Kim Caldwell. Caldwell is admittedly an “out-of-the-box candidate” because while she has a wealth of experience, very little is in Division I basketball — a departure from Tennessee’s track record.

However, she’s a winner. Her 217-31 career record and Division II national title while at Glenville State speak to the results she produces and what she requires of her teams. Why is Caldwell so successful? Per Andrea Adelson of ESPN, Caldwell-coached teams play with an up-tempo pace and a press defense, which is hard to teach, hard for players to learn and hard for opponents to defend. Here’s what she shared about the culture shift happening at Tennessee to play this way:

“A lot of what we do, we need equal or better talent, so we’re going to have to grow it. But I think it is just making teams uncomfortable and making people play the way they don’t want to.”

“We’re not going to try to beat them at their own game. We’re going to try to beat them at a different game. We’re going to try to make them beat us at our game.”

“I want people to know that you’re gonna hate playing us. Simple.”

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Did Tennessee pipe in crowd noise against Alabama? The ‘controversy,’ explained

This is a non-controversy.

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Have you heard some talk about Tennessee piping in crowd noise against Alabama? If so, we’re here to help.

That’s right, we’ve got ourselves a crowd noise “controversy!” Now, we’re using scare quotes for a good reason, because it’s … not really a controversy. We’ll get into all of that as all kinds of claims have come in and have been refuted.

Let’s dive in and tackle this: does Tennessee really pipe in crowd noise at Neyland Stadium to mess with opponents?

OK, wait. What’s this now about Tennessee piping in crowd noise?

On Saturday, as Tennessee beat Alabama, Crimson Tide Sports Network play-by-play man Chris Stewart casually dropped that the Vols “pipe in crowd noise.”

Is that true?

Not according to Tennessee Director of Athletics Danny White!

And the school refuted that claim, per the Knoxville News Sentinel, which also added this:

Tight ends coach Alec Abeln did the same Monday at the Knoxville Quarterback Club.

“I have been places where they do pump in the crowd noise,” Abeln said. “It is 100% legit in that building.”

Is there anyone else who really thinks Tennessee is piping in crowd noise?

Yes. Former Alabama QB A.J. McCarron claimed it on X (formerly Twitter), although check out the community note:

So that’s it?

Yup. But the jokes that are coming out of it are good:

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Alabama caller rants on Kalen DeBoer during ‘The Paul Finebaum Show’

The caller voiced his concerns after Alabama’s loss at Tennessee.

Over the years, SEC Network’s “The Paul Finebaum Show” has played host to some of the most memorable moments from college football fans across the nation.

Included in this group is nearly every fanbase across the SEC that has fans call in to the show daily, with some asking questions to Finebaum, while some may voice their concerns about their respective team’s result from the Saturday prior.

Well, the latter of those two took place during the show Monday, as a caller named “Legend” called into the show to voice his concerns about Alabama’s 24-17 loss at Tennessee over the weekend, as well as give some thoughts on both Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer, as well as former coach Nick Saban.

The caller also had a similar segment after the Crimson Tide lost earlier this season at Vanderbilt.

The full video of the segment from Monday’s edition of “The Paul Finebaum Show” can be found below:

On3 Sports’ Andy Staples projects Alabama as ‘First Four Out’ in updated Playoff bracket

Alabama among ‘First Four Out’ in On3’s updated CFP bracket.

The Alabama Crimson Tide’s Playoff hopes took a massive blow on Saturday as they suffered their second loss of the 2024 season. Transitioning from Nick Saban was always going to come with growing pains, but the Tide are running out of time to clean up the penalties and silly mistakes.

If there is any silver lining to yesterday’s loss against the Volunteers, it would be that Alabama did everything possible to lose the game, and they still had several chances to put Tennessee away. Milroe had the poorest performance of his collegiate career over the weekend, but he is still absolutely the guy for the job. With massive games coming up against Missouri and No. 8 LSU, now is not the time to give up on one of the Heisman Trophy favorites.

Even after losing to Vanderbilt, Alabama had some built-in room for error, but that cushion is now gone. It’s pretty simple for Alabama the rest of the way: win and you’re in, lose another game and it’s over.

Although On3’s Andy Staples updated Playoff bracket has the Crimson Tide missing out on the 12-team field, he points out that they will definitely have a chance to play their way back in saying,

“Tennessee’s win against Alabama knocked the Crimson Tide out of the bracket. With upcoming games against one-loss teams Missouri and LSU, Alabama can play its way right back into the field.

But the Tide have looked too much like everyone else these past three weeks (loss at Vanderbilt, near-loss to South Carolina at home, loss at Tennessee) to assume they’re going to run the table. They still may, and if they do, that win against the possible No. 1 seed would help Alabama’s seeding as well.”

Staples currently has Alabama tabbed as one of the First Four out alongside Texas A&M, LSU and Iowa State.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Tennessee, Texas both received fines from Saturday’s games

A pair of SEC programs received fines for what transpired on Saturday.

On Sunday a pair of SEC programs were fined by the conference for what transpired during and after games on Saturday.

The Texas Longhorns received a fine for fans in the student section throwing bottles onto the field after a player was flagged for pass interference. The call was reversed following the delay to clean the debris off the field.

The Tennessee Volunteers were fined for fans rushing the field for violation of access to competition area policy. For the second straight time at Neyland Stadium, Vols fans rushed the field to celebrate with their team after knocking off the Alabama Crimson Tide. This wasn’t a normal occurrence while Nick Saban patrolled the sidelines for the Tide from 2007 until his retirement at the end of the 2023 season. Tennessee only beat Alabama once during the Saban era, which came in the 2021 season.

University of Texas fined for bottle throwing

“The throwing of debris and resulting interruption of play that took place Saturday night cannot be part of any SEC event,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “The SEC is assigned responsibility by its membership to enforce its sportsmanship and game management policies and these actions are consistent with that oversight responsibility, including the financial penalty and mandated reviews.”

Under the sportsmanship, game management and alcohol availability policies established by the Southeastern Conference, the University of Texas will:

  • Be assessed a financial penalty of $250,000;
  • Be required to use all available resources, including security, stadium and television video, to identify individuals who threw objects onto the playing field or at the opposing team. All individuals identified as having been involved in disrupting the game shall be prohibited from attending Texas Athletics events for the remainder of the 2024-25 academic and athletic year;
  • Review and update its Athletics Department game management procedures and alcohol availability policies to prevent a recurrence of Saturday night’s disruption, which shall include an evaluation of agreed upon SEC Sportsmanship, Game Management and Alcohol policies to verify full compliance with existing standards, and
  • Following completion of this review, the University shall provide a report to the Conference Office to summarize its efforts to identify and penalize offenders and its plan to enact policies to prevent future similar incidents while ensuring compliance with Conference standards.

The actions taken by the Conference are consistent with SEC Bylaws and Commissioner’s Regulations related to the availability of alcoholic beverages at athletics events which states, “If cans or plastic bottles are used as projectiles or otherwise cause game management issues, the institution is subject to an immediate fine and suspension of the alcohol sales privilege.”

University of Tennessee fined for fans rushing the field

The Southeastern Conference announced today that the University of Tennessee will be fined for violation of the league’s access to competition area policy due to fans entering the field following its football game vs. the University of Alabama on October 19.

Tennessee will incur a fine of $100,000 for a first offense under the league’s current access to competition area policy that was revised at the SEC Spring Meetings in 2023.

For Conference contests, fines are paid to the opposing institution.

The policy states that “institutions shall limit access to competition areas to participating student-athletes, coaches, officials, support personnel and properly credentialed or authorized individuals at all times.  For the safety of participants and spectators alike, at no time before, during or after a contest may spectators enter the competition area.”

Financial penalties are imposed for violations in all sports sponsored by the Conference.  Institutional penalties range from $100,000 for a first offense, $250,000 for a second offense and $500,000 for a third and subsequent offenses.

The policy was originally adopted by a vote of Conference members in 2004 and financial penalties were increased by action taken by the membership in 2015 and again in 2023.

What does the loss to Tennessee mean for Alabama’s season and Playoff chances?

Did Tennessee just end Alabama’s national championship aspirations?

If it wasn’t before, it has become quite evident that the Nick Saban era is over for the Alabama Crimson Tide. From walking into a rivalry game with cigars already in their mouth, 15 penalties for 115 yards, and two losses before the start of November for the first time in 17 years, it was a very frustrating day for Alabama fans.

Now, the Crimson Tide sit at 5-2 on the year with their Playoff hopes in serious jeopardy. If this were the four-team Playoff like previous years Alabama’s chances would be done, however, with the expanded 12-team field, there will be a handful of teams that qualify with two losses so there is no reason to throw in the towel on the Crimson Tide just yet. But, Alabama will certainly have to win their remaining five games to make it in.

Auburn, Mercer, Missouri and Oklahoma are all still left on the schedule, but their Playoff chances will really boil down to their road trip to Baton Rouge in three weeks time. Both Alabama and LSU will enter this contest coming off a bye, and with the Tigers already having a loss on their resume, the game will have a massive impact on their Playoff hopes as well. Georgia knocking off Texas yesterday likely ended Alabama’s chances of making it to the SEC Title in 2024.

Ultimately, the path to the Playoff is simple for Alabama: win out.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.