Tennessee
New program trains Tennessee high school students for high-paying jobs building cars of the future
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The car industry is facing big changes: longtime workers are retiring, younger workers are not going into the industry, and the technology is shifting to robotics. But, a new program that launched this month in Tennessee is looking to high schools to find the next generation of car makers.
The Nissan plant in Franklin County opened in 1997, but making cars in 2024 looks a little different.
“Manufacturing isn’t what it was 20, 30 years ago,” said Matthew Overbay, Director of Manufacturing, Strategy and Planning at Nissan North America.
Overbay said that today’s assembly floor is very much based on computers and robotics.
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“Now, it’s not the individual shooting a bolt, it’s the individual maintaining a robot, making sure that it’s running properly, and being able to diagnose any of the issues that might come from the manufacturing process,” said Overbay.
Enter a whole new type of education. They are called the Centers of Excellence. These are high school programs launched for the very first time this month in four Tennessee school districts – Franklin, Grundy, Tullahoma, and Warren County.
From safety, measuring, automation, and coding, students are earning accreditations to one day work on a car assembly floor of the future while they are still in high school.
“You will go from English, math, history, whatever it might be over into this classroom where you’ll sit and it does have the tools, equipment, and instructors most importantly that will be able to support your growth in the overall advance manufacturing train,” said Overbay. “It is very laser-focused on advanced manufacturing.”
And who will be teaching these students? They were very carefully chosen current Nissan workers with years of experience building cars.
“That was a key piece of the overall Centers of Excellence, making sure that we can put our Nissan technicians into those classrooms to support the growth of those students,” said Overbay.
The hand-picked teachers spent their summer working with Eric Oslund’s education department at MTSU learning how to be teachers.
“To have an outside company as big as Nissan approach us and ask us to train their employees to be teachers was a first,” said Oslund, professor and chair of Elementary and Special Education at MTSU.
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“They absolutely chose great people, and they will be difference makers. MTSU is proud to make difference makers and I have no doubt that they will be successful,” said Oslund.
And if they are, these Centers of Excellence could be a model for training Tennessee’s workforce statewide.
It took several groups to create these Centers of Excellence – Nissan, MTSU, the Board of Regents, the high schools, and TCAT programs.
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JACKSON, Tenn. (WBBJ) – An exciting day of sporting clays in West Tennessee is doubling as a major fight against hunger.
Today’s “Shooting Hunger” event took place at the Carroll County Shooting Sports Park in Huntingdon. It’s a partnership between Tennessee Farm Bureau, Tennessee Farmers Co-Op, Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural First.
Since 2015, Shooting Hunger has helped provide more than three million meals to Tennesseans with money going to food banks, backpack programs, and local hunger relief. A $500 scholarship will also go to the top youth shooter in each flight.
“We’re joining together to raise money for school backpacks to feed hungry kids. We do these, we actually do three of these across the state of Tennessee so at the end of the day we take, we take all the money we put it into a pile and when we divide equally amongst all 95 counties across the state of Tennessee,“ said Bryan Wright, executive vice president for the Tennessee Farm Bureau.
Organizers say events like this matter because one in six children in Tennessee struggle with hunger.
Copyright 2026 WBBJ. All rights reserved.
Tennessee director of track and field Duane Ross gauged the hunger of the men’s 4×100-meter relay team to pull off the upset.
“They said, ‘Coach, we’re going to win,’ ” Ross said. “When they bring you that much confidence, you can grab your popcorn and enjoy the meet.”
No popcorn was consumed, but the appetite was there from the start.
Traunard Folson, Davonte Howell, T’Mars McCallum and Elijah Clark finished in a school record time of 37.98 seconds at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 12 in Eugene, Oregon. It was the the program’s first national title in the 4×100 since 1983 and the fourth-fastest in NCAA history.
Four other relay teams never crossed the line. Auburn, the two-time defending champion, had run an NCAA-record 37.75 in the semifinal, but had a botched handoff on the last exchange. Arkansas, the reigning SEC champion, also dropped its baton, along with Oregon and Houston.
McCallum said staying clean through a race of chaos starts with a focus on winning, even in practice.
“In the moment we can’t really worry about anything else, just what we can control,” McCallum said on June 18. “We came to practice every time with the idea of, ‘OK, we’ve got to make sure this is fixed, because we know if we run that time, we can win.’ “
It was the final event of McCallum’s college career. It didn’t fully hit until the long flight home to Knoxville.
“I was like, we really did it,” he said. “Now we have a school record, the first team to ever go under 38 seconds here.”
Whether belief had anything to do with what went wrong in those four other lanes isn’t something Tennessee’s runners can answer. It’s exactly what they point to for why theirs didn’t.
Clark, a freshman who ran the anchor leg, said winning was just a matter of starting the race.
“We knew we had it the whole time,” he said. “No matter who did what, what happened, we knew what the outcome would come to.”
Ross said the victory wasn’t a surprise inside the program either.
“I wouldn’t say unsung,” Ross said. “I’ve watched this team all year long, and we were expecting to come out of there with the championship. It was a tight competition down to the last event.”
Tennessee finished third in the men’s team standings with 46 points, its best total since 2002.
Howell, a junior who ran the second leg, said the belief behind the relay team’s confidence was built long before the race.
“Three of the four of us already ran under 10 seconds,” he said. “Last year we all trained together during the summer, all lived together. We already had the bond, and adding the freshman on anchor was just a cherry on top. He figured it out at SECs, ran a 10.1, season’s best, and we trusted him to bring it home.”
Clark said the title is already part of something bigger to him.
“The goal is to always make history,” said Clark, who was hired by Tennessee four years ago after a successful run at North Carolina A&T. “It’s been one of my dreams. To be able to be on the wall, especially at a school like this, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
With OTAs and minicamp now behind us, all we have before the preseason gets underway is training camp. The Titans will enjoy the next month off before getting started with camp in late July.
This time of year is always fun because you get to see a few players come out of nowhere and work their way into the roster discussion. You also get to see if the young players have made progress, and we get a good idea of what the depth chart is looking like. Today, let’s go over eight players who were winners at camp and four who didn’t have the best showings.
Winner: Cam Ward | QB
Cam Ward has to be considered a winner. The quarterback faced a ton of criticism for his performance at OTAs, and if he had gone out and had a bad showing at minicamp, you can just imagine what the talking points would be.
Luckily, Ward looked much more relaxed and efficient during minicamp. On Tuesday, Ward made a few very nice throws, including a sidearm touchdown pass to Gunnar Helm that I’m sure everybody has seen by now. On Wednesday, Ward showed off his chemistry with Wan’Dale Robinson and Chimere Dike, in particular, as both guys caught several passes.
I think we saw what we needed to see from Ward this offseason. He’s a young passer learning a new offense, it’s not crazy to think there are some kinks to work out.
Winner: Tyjae Spears | RB
It seems like many forgot about Spears this offseason. After the talk of Jeremiyah Love around the draft and Nicholas Singleton being added, it seems like not many were expecting big things out of Spears.
However, Spears has done nothing but impress this summer. The Tulane product looks as explosive as ever and had a couple of really nice runs. Spears also caught some passes and mentioned that he actually wants to get even better as a pass-catcher. Spears did well enough this summer that Robert Saleh already said Spears and Pollard will be the bellcows. That has to be a win.
Winner: Xavier Restrepo | WR
Xavier Restrepo was the most productive wide receiver on the team this offseason. The receiver had more catches than any other pass-catcher and legitimately looked like an NFL-caliber player. Restrepo also had probably the most impressive catch of the summer on Wednesday. That’s really saying something, too, considering this receiver room is incredibly deep.
I still think Restrepo still has an uphill battle to make the final roster, but it would have been very difficult to have a better couple of months than Restrepo has had.
Winner: Chimere Dike | WR
Someone who definitely WILL make the roster is fellow receiver, Chimere Dike. Dike was a Pro Bowler and All-Pro as a rookie thanks to his special teams prowess, but he showed off his talent as a wide receiver too this summer.
Dike caught a ton of passes during minicamp and finished behind only Restrepo in total catches this offseason. He offered plenty of value already as a returner, so if he can give more on offense as well, watch out.
Winner: Austin Schlottmann | C
Austin Schlottmann was signed this offseason, and at the time, the deal didn’t exactly make a ton of headlines. It was expected that Schlottmann would be battling for the starting center job with several other players, but it already seems clear that the veteran is the leader for the job.
Schlottmann was made available to the media, which usually is a good sign that the player is in the team’s plans. Teammates and coaches have praised Schlottmann’s leadership and familiarity with Brian Daboll’s offensive system. Schlottmann looks primed to step into the largest role of his career in a system he’s familiar with.
Winner: Pass Rushers
There are several defenders on the line who deserve praise. This defensive front made life hard for the offensive line, especially on Wednesday. Truman Jones, Earnest Brown, Jacob Martin, and Jermaine Johnson II were all credited with would-be sacks on Wednesday.
This is another group that didn’t seem to have the best depth, but looks much better now. The line was able to dominate even without Jeffery Simmons and Femi Oladejo, too, which is more impressive.
Winner: Alontae Taylor | CB
Alontae Taylor was a big-ticket addition for the Titans and is expected to play a crucial role in 2026. Taylor missed some time at OTAs, but if there were any worries about that, those should be put to rest now.
At minicamp, Taylor showed why the Titans valued him so highly. The veteran is talkative and always seemed to be around the ball. The defender almost came down with an interception on Tuesday on a nice play and then had another nice pass breakup on Wednesday. Jim Wyatt noted that Titans fans will love Taylor’s “scrappy play and feistiness.”
Winner: Keydrain Calligan | CB
Keydrain Calligan isn’t a name that was on many radars a month ago. That’s changed now, as the depth corner took full advantage of his opportunities at OTAs and minicamp. Calligan came down with an interception and had several pass breakups over the last few weeks.
I was worried about the corner depth, and I’m still not thrilled with it, but Calligan has made me feel better. The former undrafted free agent also has some versatility and can play safety as well. Perhaps nobody more helped their chance to make the roster than Calligan.
Loser: Hendon Hooker and Will Levis | QB
I didn’t want to just pick on Will Levis, as Hendon Hooker was also underwhelming. Both passers had a perfect chance to impress, considering Mitchell Trubisky missed the first part of OTAs, and neither were able to do so.
There was probably no scenario where Levis or Hooker earned the QB2 spot, but with a good offseason program, they could’ve forced the Titans to keep a third quarterback. Instead, the young passers were either bad or mediocre for the majority of the offseason. I don’t see a scenario where either quarterback is on the final roster.
Loser: Kalel Mullings | RB
As I mentioned above, Saleh has already appointed Pollard and Spears as the team’s top running backs. Rookie Nic Singleton should also factor in as well, but there’s likely going to be four running backs on the roster. This meant that Mullings seemingly entered the offseason with a great shot to stick.
Unfortunately, Mullings didn’t take advantage of his opportunities. Michael Carter, who is also competing for a spot, made more plays, and Julius Chestnut probably has the edge due to his special teams prowess. Mullings still has time, but it would have been nice to have seen him do more this summer.
Loser: Femi Oladejo | EDGE
It feels bad to put Oladejo here because injuries are unavoidable. However, it’s objectively disappointing that Oladejo wasn’t able to do much this offseason. The young pass-rusher missed minicamp with an unspecified injury, missing out on valuable offseason reps.
Oladejo has a shot to fill an important rotational role this year. After losing most of his rookie season, it would have been nice for him to get some hype going this summer. Instead, we’ll head to training camp still not knowing what to expect from Oladejo.
Latrell McCutchin Sr. | CB
I was very high on McCutchin when the Titans signed him right after the draft. McCutchin has good size for the boundary and had a ton of pass breakups in college. With the lack of depth the Titans have at corner, I thought McCutchin had a great shot to make the team.
Instead, McCutchin has been overshadowed by Keydrain Calligan and Micah Robinson. I had McCutchin making the roster over those two originally, but if the season started tomorrow, I’d have the rookie behind both. McCutchin needs a strong camp and preseason to avoid landing on the practice squad.
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