Tennessee
Lady Vols basketball, UCLA announce home-and-home series starting in 2025-26 season
Lady Vols basketball and UCLA have scheduled a home-and-home series, UT announced July 18.
Tennessee will play at UCLA on Nov. 30 with the Bruins slated to play in Knoxville in the 2026-27 season. The date for the game at UT has yet to be announced.
The trip to play UCLA at Pauley Pavilion is part of a two-game trip to California. The Lady Vols play at Stanford on Dec. 3 in the ACC/SEC Women’s Basketball Challenge.
The Bruins were the No. 1 overall seed of the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time in program history. UCLA made a run to the Final Four in Tampa before losing 85-51 to eventual champion UConn. But the Bruins only return six players from their Final Four run with six players transferring out this offseason.
The nonconference road matchup brings Lady Vols transfer forward Janiah Barker back to her former program’s home gym in her first season at Tennessee. The 6-foot-4 forward, who will be a senior, was the Big Ten sixth player of the year after averaging 7.4 points and 6.0 rebounds. Barker spent one season at UCLA after playing her first two seasons at Texas A&M.
The Lady Vols are 18-3 against UCLA. They are 9-0 at UCLA, 8-1 at UT and 1-2 on neutral-sites. UCLA has won the past two meetings, beating the Lady Vols 89-77 in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament and winning 80-63 in the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2022.
The matchup with UCLA is the fourth nonconference game announced for the 2025-26 season. Tennessee will open the season against NC State on Nov. 4 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and face Louisville on Dec. 20 in the Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn, New York.
The Lady Vols also have a trip to face reigning national champion UConn on the road as part of a home-and-home series that started last season. Tennessee beat the Huskies 80-76 in Knoxville, notching its first win over UConn since 2007.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks: knoxnews.com/subscribe
Tracking the opt outs for both Tennessee and Illinois before the Music City Bowl on December 30 (5:30 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN) at Nissan Stadium in Nashville:
Tennessee
Linebacker Arion Carter: Carter over the last seasons had 96 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in 31 career games. He had a team-high 76 tackles this season, with 6.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks while appearing in 10 games. He missed two games and was limited against Oklahoma in November while dealing with turf toe injuries. Carter had 68 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss in 13 games last season and 17 tackles and 1.0 tackles for loss in eight games as a freshman in 2023.
Wide Receiver Chris Brazzell II: He a breakout senior season in his second year with the Vols, catching 62 passes for 1,017 yards and nine touchdowns. He had 19 catches for 333 yards and two touchdowns in 2024, after transferring from Tulane. In 15 games at Tulane he caught 45 passes for 722 yards and five touchdowns. Brazzell is ranked No. 7 at wide receiver on Mel Kiper Jr.’s NFL Draft Big Board. He’s ranked No. 34 overall on ESPN’s list of the best available prospects in the draft.
Cornerback Jermod McCoy: Did not play this season after tearing his ACL during offseason training in January. He was a star last season with 44 tackles, nine passes defended and four interceptions. He had 31 tackles and two interceptions in 12 games as a freshman at Oregon State before transferring to Tennessee.
Illinois
Offensive Tackle J.C. Davis: Bret Bielema said the Illinois starting left tackle is opting out of the Music City Bowl. He was an All-Big Ten First Team pick by the league coaches this season and the No. 3 left tackle this season according to Pro Football Focus grades. He had made 49 straight starts before opting out of the bowl game.
EDGE Gabe Jacas: The Illinois outside linebacker declared for the NFL Draft on Friday night. He led the Big Ten this season with 11.0 sacks. He had 13.5 tackles for loss and 43 total tackles in 12 games this season. He finishes second in Illinois program history for career sacks, with 27.0, trailing only Simeon Rice. Jacas had 74 tackles, 8.0 sacks and 13.0 tackles for loss last season, after combining for 8.0 sacks and 9.0 tackles for loss in his first two seasons at Illinois.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — Tennessee employers laid off more than 8,500 workers in 2025 compared to 7,320 last year, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development.
This is about a 19% increase in layoffs, with WARN notices impacting 8,691 Tennesseans to date. As of 2023, 5,168 Tennessee workers were laid off through WARN notices.
Counties in Middle Tennessee impacted include:
- Davidson
- Sumner
- Maury
- Rutherford
- Williamson
- Wilson
- Coffee
- DeKalb
- Bedford
- Lawrence
- Putnam
The largest layoff this year was in Maury County. Come January, 710 employees will be laid off from GM Ultium Cells’ Spring Hill facility. Research Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Knoxville Michael Kofoed tells FOX 17 News that the facility is is likely impacted by the rise on steel tariffs ruled out by the Trump administration. He adds steel tariffs raise input costs for employers which directly impacts employees’ salary or employment.
The second largest layoff impacted 658 workers at Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC in Rutherford County with 615 workers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center permanently laid off. WARN notices are reports a company is required to file with the state to give workers time to find future employment.
Kofoed states that Tennessee is seeing a troubling trend, with layoffs skyrocketing since 2023.
“That is a very big and concerning number,” Kofoed said.
According to CNBC, more than 1.1 million U.S. employees were laid off this year, the highest 11-month total since 2020.
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