Tennessee

Titans CBs Among Most Improved

Published

1 year ago

June 29, 2024

The Tennessee Titans knew their secondary needed an upgrade after they struggled in the 2023 season.

They allowed 67.8 percent of passes to be completed, which was the third-highest mark in the NFL behind the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings. But that’s part of the reason why the Titans made some moves in the offseason to address the secondary.

Tennessee made some bold decisions, trading for Kansas City Chiefs two-time Super Bowl champion L’Jarius Sneed and signing veteran Chidobe Awuzie from the Cincinnati Bengals, who had Brian Callahan on the coaching staff before he was hired by the Titans this offseason.

Tennessee’s improvements in the secondary prompted The 33rd Team writer and analyst Dan Pizzuta to label them as one of the four most improved position groups in the NFL.

“The Titans made a massive effort to turn that group around. It started with signing Chidobe Awuzie in free agency. Awuzie played through a herniated disc for parts of last season, which led to up-and-down play, but he’s been a plus corner in coverage for much of his career and is expected to be healthy this season,” Pizzuta wrote.

“On the opposite side, the Titans made their biggest move by trading for L’Jarius Sneed. Sneed was one of the league’s best cornerbacks last season with Kansas City and ranked 11th in adjusted yards allowed per coverage snap. Sneed is a physical outside corner who can play aggressive coverage and lock down opposing No. 1 receivers.”

With Awuzie and Sneed teaming up with Roger McCreary in the cornerback room and being part of a defense coordinated by Dennard Wilson, the Titans can project to be better than they were in the 2023 season.

Each of the last three Super Bowls have had either Awuzie or Sneed playing, so having players that have proven to be part of winning cultures and combinations should help the Titans piece together their own standards.

Awuzie, Sneed and the rest of the Titans are getting in their final weeks of vacation before they report to training camp on Tuesday, July 23.

Make sure you bookmark All Titans for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

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Tennessee

Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal

Published

6 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal

Tennessee quarterback Jake Merklinger plans to enter the transfer portal, Knox News has confirmed.

On3.com and Rivals.com were the first to report Merklinger’s decision. The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2.

Merklinger has also opted out of the Music City Bowl. No. 23 Tennessee (8-4) plays Illinois (8-4) on Dec. 30 (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Nashville. Starter Joey Aguilar will play in the bowl game, so Merklinger was not expected to be a factor. Freshman George MacIntyre will serve as the backup.

Merklinger spent two seasons at Tennessee but barely played and failed to win the starting job. He played six games and went 19-of-33 passing for 221 yards and two touchdowns.

In 2024, Merklinger was a third-string freshman when Nico Iamaleava started. In 2025, he competed for the starting job but lost to transfer Joey Aguilar.

By the end of the 2025 season, Merklinger was neck and neck with freshman George MacIntyre for the backup job. And it didn’t appear that Merklinger would factor in the starting job in 2026.

Merklinger, a native of Savannah, Georgia, was a four-star recruit in the 2024 class. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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Tennessee

Seedy K’s GameCap: Tennessee

Published

18 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

When you have two legitimate Top 20 teams testing each other, it’s never inevitable.

But this U of L task in Knoxville against tall favorite Tennessee sure seemed close to that heading in.

Well coached top level foe at its sold out home.

One whose strength — inside scoring and rebounding — made it a bad matchup for the Cards, whose lack of inside depth and strength has been an Achilles heel from the get go.

That the Vols were hungry and angry coming off three straight Ls made a U of L victory seem an almost impossible task.

Then we learned that back issue of Mikel Brown’s is a problem.

Cards were toast before tip.

It was all evident by halftime — actually well before then.

It just takes a peek at a couple statistics.

Tennessee led by only 7, thanks to some tough Cardinal D. And UT’s woeful FT shooting.

That inside game issue: Volunteers 28 points in the paint. Cardinals 10.

That’s right, Tennessee had more points in the paint at the break than Louisville had points total.

That lack of point guard issue: U of L had 9 FGs at intermission. Tennessee had that many assists on 15 buckets.

Louisville’s strength is depth. At least usually.

During the first 20 Tuesday, the Cards had zero points off the pine. Vols 22. (For the game, the disparity was 34-3. Khani Rooths hit a FT. Wild Man Zougris a garbage time slam.)

Another opening stanza reality that might have you feeling the need to clean your glasses.

Only three guys scored. Adrian Wooley with 12, Ryan Conwell with 11, and Sananda Fru with 4.

Louisville’s second half performance is not worth the bandwidth, my time to write about, nor your time to read.

The final, in a lopsided disappointing loss: 83-62.

There is no sugar frosting this. Against teams with major size and inside presence, Louisville has and will continue to struggle.

When your most talented player doesn’t suit up, it makes it more impossible to overcome.

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Tennessee

A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee

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