Tennessee
2024 NFL Draft: Tennessee Titans Need a Left Tackle; If Not Notre Dame Giant Joe Alt, Then Who?
NASHVILLE — Desperate for a franchise left tackle, the Tennessee Titans have options if they choose to address that position of need with the No. 7 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Most mock drafts so far have the Titans picking Notre Dame tackle Joe Alt, considered by most experts as the top tackle in the draft. But what if the Los Angeles Chargers, two picks ahead of Tennessee at No. 5, take Alt? What if the Titans trade down and add draft picks?
As it happens, offensive tackle is one of the deepest positions in the draft, with most draft boards predicting from five to seven tackles selected in the first round. If Alt is gone, the Titans might consider Alabama’s JC Latham, another favorite in mock drafts, or Georgia’s Amarius Mims.
It’s no secret the Titans need better pass protection. General manager Ran Carthon has already added reinforcements in free agency — wide receiver Calvin Ridley, running back Tony Pollard, center Lloyd Cushenberry — to support second-year quarterback Levis. But he still needs a big guy who has his back. Is that Joe Alt or someone else?
Here’s a list of some of the best tackles available in April 25-27 draft.
Joe Alt
Notre Dame
Height: 6-9
Weight: 321
Details: Pro Football Focus (PFF), the sports analytics platform that evaluates every player and every play, graded Alt 90.7 last season and 91.4 the previous season. In 2023, he allowed one sack, two quarterback hits, and two hurries on 368 passing snaps for the Irish. Alt is the No. 5-ranked player — for all positions — on PFF’s draft board.
Projected round: first.
Olumuyiwa Fashanu
Penn State
Height: 6-6
Weight: 319
Details: According to Pro Football Focus, Fashanu allowed no sacks and only 10 pressures on 382 passing snaps last season. He was a consensus first-team All-American last season and was the Big Ten offensive lineman of the year. Fashanu is No. 18 on PFF’s overall draft board.
Projected round: first.
Taliese Fuaga
Oregon State
Height: 6-6
Weight: 332
Details: “Fuaga’s hand work is exceptional in pass pro and will need to remain so, because of his lack of desired range for recovering when beaten,” Lance Zierlein said on NFL.com. “A team could slide him to guard to improve its interior protection, but he’s best-suited at right tackle, where he should become a good starter.” Fuaga is No. 12 on PFF’s overall draft board.
Projected round: first.
Troy Fautanu
Washington
Height: 6-4
Weight: 317
Details: Fautanu allowed three sacks in his college career on 1,255 pass-blocking snaps. Experts believe his flexibility, agility, and coordination make him capable of playing all five offensive line positions. Fautanu is No. 14 on PFF’s overall draft board.
Projected round: first.
JC Latham
Alabama
Height: 6-6
Weight: 360
Details: “Latham is in the mold of an offensive lineman who does not come around often,” Pro Football Focus wrote. “He will be just 21 during his rookie season, yet he has two years of starting experience in the SEC. Despite drawing 18 penalties over the past two years and having room to improve in some anticipation parts of the position, Latham is a first-round trench player due to his rare combination of size, speed and refinement.” Latham is No. 19 on PFF’s overall draft board.
Projected round: first.
Amarius Mims
Georgia
Height: 6-7
Weight: 340
Details: “It is very rare to see him clearly beaten by a rusher, and he has the recovery talent to do something about it when it happens,” Zierlein wrote on NFL.com. “Mims has more development to go, but he’s a Day 1 prospect with the traits and talent to be considered at either tackle position. He has a high ceiling, but questions due to his lack of experience could temper early expectations.” Mims is No. 22 on PFF’s overall draft board.
Projected round: first.
Tyler Guyton
Oklahoma
Height: 6-7
Weight: 328
Details: “Guyton is a young, inexperienced and green tackle prospect with elite physical tools and flashes of dominance that can get him on the field right away,” said Bleacher Report’s NFL scouting department. “He can eventually bloom into a high-end starter in the NFL, but he will need to be brought along slowly in a conservative scheme and veteran O-line room before bridging that gap.” Guyton is No. 30 on PFF’s overall draft board.
Projected round: late first or second.
Graham Barton
Duke
Height: 6-5
Weight: 314
Details: “He has a mean streak in the run game with the leg drive to bury defenders,” PFF wrote. “He is a good athlete off the ball and in space to be a successful second-level blocker. Barton struggles against power and will need to improve his anchor against interior defenders. He is experienced at tackle, but his foot speed and length are issues there.” Barton is No. 25 on PFF’s overall draft board.
Projected round: late first or second.
Jordan Morgan
Arizona
Height: 6-5
Weight: 312
Details: “He’s an elite athlete with impeccable leveraging skills, balance, and bend — and he didn’t lose any mobility in 2023 after returning from an ACL tear. There are still areas where Morgan can improve,” Pro Football Network wrote. “He’s still fleshing out his run-blocking arsenal past pure zone concepts. Meanwhile, as a pass protector, he’s still learning how to win and recover with independent hand usage, and his non-elite length limits his margin for error.” Morgan is No. 40 on PFF’s overall draft board.
Projected round: late first or second.
Kingsley Suamataia
Brigham Young
Height: 6-4
Weight: 333
Details: “Suamataia has the physical tools of a starting tackle with an unrefined skill set that is built on flashes rather than proven consistency,” Bleacher Report’s Brandon Thorn wrote. “But he’ll be only 21 when he gets drafted, and he has the runway to add polish to his game and bridge that gap within his first contract in an RPO/play-action based system that can help bring him along slowly.” Suamataia is No. 45 on PFF’s overall draft board.
Projected round: late first or second.
Related Titans stories
- REBUILD ON FAST TRACK: The Tennessee Titans have “needs all over the field, so credit to GM Ran Carthon for recognizing the deficiencies and addressing them decisively in his first year without former coach Mike Vrabel,” Jeremy Fowler wrote on ESPN.com. CLICK HERE
- NEW FACES IN AFC SOUTH: The free-agent market is still open. The NFL Draft is April 25-27. The Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans have been trading haymakers with their significant player acquisitions. CLICK HERE
- LEARNING CURVE ON KICKOFFS: The NFL changed its kickoff rules to encourage more returns. Tennessee Titans GM Ran Carthon says “the preseason is going to be very important for us … to figure out how we’re going to be able to execute that play for us to start the game, because it’s really going to be the first offensive snap.” CLICK HERE
Tennessee
Nashville’s Eastpoint Neighborhood groundbreaking marks largest affordable housing project in Tennessee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville’s newest neighborhood is starting to take shape. The Fallon Company broke ground on the Eastpoint Neighborhood, which developers say is the largest affordable housing project and investment in Tennessee right now.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell says the mixed-use development is designed to benefit all families, accommodating incomes from $20,000 to $80,000 a year. In addition to housing, the development will include upgraded parks and green space, on-site childcare, and retail space.
“This is gonna be how we build Nashville’s next great neighborhood,” O’Connell said.
“We’ll have upgraded parks and green space, it will literally have on-site childcare here,” O’Connell said. “Basically all the ingredients that happen in a great neighborhood are going to be here.”
The development comes as many Nashville families struggle to make ends meet.
“They’re working jobs that are $10, $12 an hour jobs and they cannot afford basic living expenses,” Tony Turntine said.
Turntine and his family are success stories of UpRise Nashville’s free career training program. Through that experience, he has seen firsthand how getting to a better life requires studying, working, mentorship — and help with housing.
“The affordable housing that gives them an opportunity to come out of some of the really lower income neighborhoods they’ve been in and have better, quieter, more wholesome places to live,” Turntine said.
“If people can afford a better opportunity, we see everyone blossom from it. It’s a great day,” Al Brady with UpRise said.
Turntine says the tough choices Nashville families face are real.
“Whether I’m gonna pay the car out or whether I’m gonna get food for the kids,” Turntine said.
Now living and thriving in a new opportunity, Turntine has made it his mission to help others get there too.
“We’re living in a better neighborhood now — we actually just moved last weekend to a house twice the house of what we were in before,” Turntine said. “When you make different choices in life, that gives you different opportunities.”
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
101st Airborne veterans get Purple Hearts years after an insider attack
As we honor those who have served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice, it is also heartening to see the military right a wrong. Chris Davis brings us the moving story of a Purple Heart ceremony two decades in the making. It’s worth a watch.
A heartfelt thanks to all who bravely serve.
– Carrie Sharp
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A new Tennessee law aimed at protecting utility customers from the growing energy demands of data centers will take effect in July.
The legislation comes as more than 60 data centers power artificial intelligence and other cyber operations across the state, with about one-third located in the greater Nashville area. As the race to build and power AI infrastructure accelerates nationwide and globally, Tennessee lawmakers say they’re working to ensure ratepayers are not saddled with the added costs of serving these massive facilities.
“We want to have data centers. But we want to put guardrails around that to protect our ratepayers,” said state Rep. Ed Butler, R-Rickman, during a legislative committee hearing in March.
Under the new law, data centers must pay for any new infrastructure required to support their operations, including substations and other power-related upgrades. Utilities are prohibited from passing those costs on to residential and business customers.
“In the rural areas they’re putting a lot of these. And we have had a lot of increased utility bills,” said state Rep. Dennis Powers, R-Jacksboro, during the same March committee hearing on the legislation.
Powers questioned if data centers could be contributing to ratepayer costs. That question wasn’t clearly answered. Regardless, legislators voted the measure through, and Gov. Bill Lee signed it into law to help prevent that from happening.
“If there was a substation that was needed to be put in to provide power for this data center, then the data center would pay for the substation,” Butler said during the hearing.
As communities across Tennessee consider proposals for new data centers, and new laws to regulate (or contain) them, some local leaders remain opposed to bringing the facilities to their areas.
“I don’t think they fit in Robertson County, and definitely not in my community,” said Cedar Hill Mayor John Edwards, who is proposing a two-year moratorium on data centers in his city.
Electric providers and utilities are also preparing for future demand. The Tennessee Valley Authority reports data centers currently account for about 18% of its industrial power load, a figure that’s predicted to potentially double by 2030.
The new law also allows utilities, including TVA, to establish a separate customer or rate class specifically for data centers, providing an additional safeguard against shifting costs to other customers.
As energy demand continues to surge, state lawmakers say the goal is to ensure Tennessee stays competitive, while families and businesses do not see higher electric bills because of data center expansion.
Data center advocates, meanwhile, say many facilities generate much of their own power on-site and use advanced cooling systems that require little or no water.
If TVA moves forward with creating a separate customer or rate class for data centers, FOX17 will continue to follow those developments.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Sometime during the top of the second inning of Tennessee softball’s matchup with Texas Tech, the ABC broadcast cut out due to technical difficulties.
According to the broadcast, a power outage at Devon Park was responsible for the technical difficulties. Viewers on ABC instead got to watch “Squeeze Play” with whip-around coverage of NCAA baseball regionals.
The broadcast didn’t return until the last out to end the third inning.
The No. 7 seed Lady Vols (48-10) are playing No. 11 seed Texas Tech (58-7) on May 30 for a spot in the Women’s College World Series semifinals.
Viewers missed out on Karlyn Pickens sitting down the Red Raiders in order and then a fantastic diving catch by second baseman Emma Clarke in the third inning.
Tennessee also loaded the bases in the bottom of the third inning, but Clarke popped up to the first baseman, who then collided with Clarke on the baseline in order to make the catch to end the inning.
A win would send Tennessee to its third WCWS semifinals appearance in the last four seasons. A loss would drop it into an elimination game against No. 8 seed UCLA on May 31 (7 p.m., ABC).
The Lady Vols will also face their former third baseman Taylor Pannell, who transferred to Texas Tech after a breakout season for Tennessee in 2025.
Tennessee upset No. 2 seed Texas, the reigning national champions, with a 6-3 win to open the WCWS on May 28.
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
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