Tennessee

Titans Most Likely Trade Candidate Revealed

Published

10 months ago

April 12, 2025

Titans Most Likely Trade Candidate Revealed

Heading into this month’s draft, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that the Tennessee Titans will look to spend their number-one overall pick on Miami’s Cam Ward, effectively stamping this team’s new franchise quarterback in the books and turning the page to a much-improved unit on the offensive side of the ball,

However, with Ward likely coming into the fold for Tennessee in due time, it inevitably leads to some interesting questions surrounding what’s to come for Will Levis –– the team’s second round pick from just two summers ago, who would then likely pivot to a second-thought in the event the Titans’ top pick went to a signal caller.

In the mind of FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano, the pick could mean one thing for Levis: a trade.

When laying out the Titans’ most likely trade candidate heading into this offseason, Vacchiano kept it simple when dishing his rationale to Levis

“He hasn’t overwhelmed anyone with his performance as a starter over his first two NFL seasons, which is a good reason why the Titans are about to draft Miami QB Cam Ward with the No. 1 overall pick. Levis is only 25, so he’s not likely to be a good mentor to the guy who’ll be stealing his job,” Vacchiano wrote. “Plus, the Titans signed veteran Brandon Allen for that. It’s only logical to see if any other team likes Levis’ potential and wants to part with some draft capital to bring him in as a developmental quarterback. Someone will, especially because they can get him for a bargain.”

It’s probably a move that makes the most sense for the Titans in the event Ward’s the guy at the top of the board. The decision gets Tennessee to reclaim further assets down the draft to add talent around the draft, while also allowing Levis to get another opportunity for a quarterback-needy team looking to acquire his services.

There has been chatter from the Titans brass expecting Levis to have a chance to compete for the starting job no matter what next season, but anything can happen around draft time. If the Tennessee front office sees it in their best interest to punt on him for a day three pick later in this month’s draft, don’t expect them to hold back on doing so.

The 2025 NFL Draft will kick off on Thursday, April 24th, where perhaps then, or even earlier, we can get a bit more intel on the future of Levis in Tennessee.

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

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Tennessee

A conservative case for dedicated wildlife funding in Tenn. | Opinion

Published

9 hours ago

February 8, 2026

Press Room

A conservative case for dedicated wildlife funding in Tenn. | Opinion

Tennessee’s wildlife supports public health, outdoor access and a multi-billion-dollar economy. Relying almost entirely on hunters and anglers to fund it is neither fair nor sustainable.

Bill Frist, MD
| Guest Columnist

As a physician, I have spent much of my career focused on prevention. Long before illness requires treatment, the environments we live in shape our physical and mental health. In Tennessee, few environments matter more than our outdoors, and in the outdoors, nothing is more therapeutic than our fish and wildlife.

Public lands, waterways and wildlife are not just recreational assets. They are places where Tennesseans walk, fish, hunt, paddle and spend time with family. Access to these spaces supports physical activity, reduces stress and strengthens mental health. These benefits reach communities across the state and contribute directly to overall public health.

There is also a clear economic and fiscal connection. Outdoor recreation and wildlife-related activity supported by responsible management generate billions of dollars in income each year, support well over 200,000 Tennessee jobs and return nearly $2 billion annually in state and local tax revenue. These jobs span tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, hospitality, retail and small businesses that rely on well-managed land and water. A healthy environment supports healthy people and a healthy economy. When wildlife management is underfunded, the economic and public health consequences follow.

The consequences of a funding imbalance

Maintaining these benefits requires steady and responsible management. Wildlife populations must be monitored. Habitat must be conserved. Public lands and access points must remain safe and usable. These responsibilities exist regardless of economic cycles or inflation and require consistent funding to be carried out effectively.

Today, the way wildlife management is funded no longer reflects how widely these resources are used. Hunters and anglers currently provide 81 percent of the funding through license fees and federal excise taxes, even though they represent a minority of users. Sportsmen have carried this responsibility for decades and remain deeply committed to conservation. But asking one group to shoulder nearly the entire cost of a public resource that benefits all Tennesseans is neither fair nor sustainable.

This imbalance also places pressure on hunting and fishing access. Relying solely on license fees risks pricing that can discourage participation in activities that promote physical health and connection to our wildlife resources. It also fails to recognize that wildlife management benefits everyone, including families seeking to be active outdoors.

A fiscally responsible path toward sustainability

A dedicated general fund support offers a sustainable approach. It will help safeguard hunting and fishing access, reduce pressure for repeated fee increases and protect one of Tennessee’s most reliable economic engines. Just as importantly, it will provide stability so wildlife management can focus on long-term planning rather than short-term budget constraints.

It is also important to address a common misconception. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has been fiscally disciplined. It is not overspending and has taken concrete steps to manage its budget responsibly. However, sound management alone cannot overcome structural funding challenges.

Over the past four to five years, the situation has been further complicated by more than $18.5 million in mandated expenses imposed without any offsetting revenue. Other state departments faced similar requirements but received general fund support to cover them. Wildlife management did not. Shifting these unrelated costs onto hunters and anglers through higher fees is neither fair nor fiscally sound. Inflation has increased operating costs by more than 30 percent. We have felt the impact on the prices of vehicles, fuel, equipment, materials and maintenance. At the same time, revenues tied largely to license sales have not kept pace.

Dedicated funding represents a fiscally responsible approach. It prioritizes stability over uncertainty, long-term planning over short-term fixes, and shared responsibility over shifting costs from one group to another. It avoids selling public assets or deferring maintenance that only creates larger expenses in the future.

Prevention, stewardship and Tennessee’s future

From a public health perspective, this is also about prevention. Healthy land supports healthy people. Updating how wildlife management is funded reflects Tennessee’s long tradition of stewardship and fiscal discipline while ensuring our communities remain strong, active and resilient for generations to come.

Sen. Bill Frist, M.D., is a nationally recognized heart and lung transplant surgeon and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader. He is a founding partner of Frist Cressey Ventures, special partner and chairman of the Executives Council of the health service investment firm Cressey & Company and current chair of the Global Board of The Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest conservation organization.

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Tennessee

Kentucky vs Tennessee basketball score today, live updates, TV channel

Published

21 hours ago

February 7, 2026

Press Room

Kentucky vs Tennessee basketball score today, live updates, TV channel

LEXINGTON — To say emotions have runneth over in Kentucky basketball’s last two games is to understate it. Officials assessed four technicals to UK in its win over Arkansas last week. And just before the final buzzer of Wednesday’s victory against Oklahoma, junior forward Brandon Garrison earned another.

Coach Mark Pope is conflicted. Somewhat.

“I don’t love it; I love where it’s coming from,” Pope said Friday. “I would rather for us to play outside the lines a little bit in this rush to, like, embrace the competitiveness of these games. And I’d rather have our emotions spill over than spill under. And so we have to be better at managing it, keeping it focused. But if we’re gonna be wrong, let’s be wrong this way.”

Stream Kentucky vs. Tennessee

Ahead of tonight’s game versus Tennessee, one is reminded its players said they didn’t want to win as badly as UK did when it rallied from a 17-point deficit to net an 80-78 victory last month at Thompson-Boling Arena.

If Kentucky (16-7, 7-3 SEC) emerges victorious in tonight’s SEC rumble at Rupp Arena, it not only will be the Wildcats’ eighth win in their past nine games, but it will mark a regular-season sweep of Tennessee (16-6, 6-3) for the second time in as many years.

Courier Journal sports reporter Ryan Black and columnist C.L. Brown are at Rupp Arena and will have live updates throughout the game — here and on X, formerly known as Twitter — and complete coverage after. You can follow them on X at @RyanABlack and @clbrownhoops.

Follow along with live updates from today’s game between the Wildcats and Volunteers below:

Kentucky is sticking with the same starting five it’s trotted out recently.

Here’s the lineup:

And here’s Tennessee’s lineup:

TV channel: ESPN
Livestream: Fubo (free trial)

The game between the Wildcats and Volunteers will air nationally on ESPN.

Authenticated subscribers can access ESPN via TV-connected devices or by going to WatchESPN.com or the WatchESPN app.

Those without cable can access ESPN via streaming services, with Fubo offering a free trial.

Stream Kentucky vs. Tennessee on ESPN

Betting odds: Kentucky is a 1½-point favorite (-108) on DraftKings, which set the over/under at 145½ points (-108 / -112). The money line odds are Kentucky -120, Tennessee +100.

Tom Leach (play-by-play) and Jack Givens (analyst) will have the UK radio network call on 840 AM in Louisville and both 630 AM and 98.1 FM in Lexington.

You can also listen online via UKAthletics.com.

Oct. 17: Blue-White game (Click here to read takeaways from the intrasquad scrimmage.)
Oct. 24: exhibition vs. Purdue (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 78, Purdue 65
Oct. 30: exhibition vs. Georgetown University (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Georgetown 84, Kentucky 70
Nov. 4: Nicholls (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 77, Nicholls 51
Nov. 7: Valparaiso (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 107, Valparaiso 59
Nov. 11: at Louisville (KFC Yum! Center) | SCORE: Louisville 96, Kentucky 88
Nov. 14: Eastern Illinois (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 99, Eastern Illinois 53
Nov. 18: vs. Michigan State (Champions Classic; Madison Square Garden, New York) | SCORE: Michigan State 83, Kentucky 66
Nov. 21: Loyola University Maryland (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 88, Loyola Maryland 46
Nov. 26: Tennessee Tech (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 104, Tennessee Tech 54
Dec. 2: North Carolina (Rupp Arena; ACC/SEC Challenge) | SCORE: North Carolina 67, Kentucky 64
Dec. 5: vs. Gonzaga (Bridgestone Arena; Nashville) | SCORE: Gonzaga 94, Kentucky 59
Dec. 9: North Carolina Central (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 103, North Carolina Central 67
Dec. 13: Indiana (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 72, Indiana 60
Dec. 20: vs. St. John’s (CBS Sports Classic; State Farm Arena, Atlanta) | SCORE: Kentucky 78, St. John’s 66
Dec. 23: Bellarmine (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 99, Bellarmine 85
Jan. 3: at Alabama | SCORE: Alabama 89, Kentucky 74
Jan. 7: Missouri (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Missouri 73, Kentucky 68
Jan. 10: Mississippi State (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 92, Mississippi State 68
Jan. 14: at LSU | SCORE: Kentucky 75, LSU 74
Jan. 17: at Tennessee | SCORE: Kentucky 80, Tennessee 78
Jan. 21: Texas (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 85, Texas 80
Jan. 24: Ole Miss (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 72, Ole Miss 63
Jan. 27: at Vanderbilt | SCORE: Vanderbilt 80, Kentucky 55
Jan. 31: at Arkansas | SCORE: Kentucky 85, Arkansas 77
Feb. 4: Oklahoma (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 94, Oklahoma 78
Feb. 7: Tennessee (Rupp Arena), 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 14: at Florida, 3 p.m.
Feb. 17: Georgia (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m.
Feb. 21: at Auburn, 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 24: at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
Feb. 28: Vanderbilt (Rupp Arena), 2 p.m.
March 3: at Texas A&M, 7 p.m.
March 7: Florida (Rupp Arena), 4 p.m.

Record: 16-7 (7-3 SEC)

Denzel Aberdeen (guard, senior)
Collin Chandler (guard, sophomore)
Mouhamed Dioubate (forward, junior)
Brandon Garrison (forward, junior)
Braydon Hawthorne (forward, freshman)
Walker Horn (guard, senior)
Andrija Jelavić (forward, sophomore)
Jasper Johnson (guard, freshman)
Jaland Lowe (guard, junior)
Malachi Moreno (center, freshman)
Trent Noah (forward, sophomore)
Otega Oweh (guard, senior)
Reece Potter (forward, junior)
Jayden Quaintance (forward, sophomore)
Zach Tow (forward, senior)
Kam Williams (guard, sophomore)

Click here to view the Volunteers’ complete schedule.

Want to learn the Volunteers’ roster?

Click here for player bios and more.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

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Tennessee

Tennessee state officials announced a major expansion involving Centrus Energy Corp. in East Tennessee

Published

1 day ago

February 7, 2026

Press Room

Tennessee state officials announced a major expansion involving Centrus Energy Corp. in East Tennessee

Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) is included among the 12 Best Nuclear Energy Stocks to Buy Now On January 24, 2026, Tennessee state officials announced a major expansion involving Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) in East Tennessee, with plans to transition the company’s Oak Ridge facility into a high-rate manufacturing plant. The expansion is expected to create […]

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