AJ Russell threw a bullpen Tuesday as the Tennessee baseball pitcher works back from injuries that have sidelined for nearly two months.

Vols coach Tony Vitello said the bullpen went well and the next step is to see how Russell feels Wednesday.

“In an ideal world, it is time to start strategizing when would he throw in a game for us,” Vitello said after No. 1 Tennessee run-ruled Belmont 10-0 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Russell has not pitched since March 23 against Ole Miss. He departed in the ninth inning with tightness in his forearm, the second time this season the sophomore pitcher departed with an injury issue. The sophomore has a 5.11 ERA in four appearances. He has 19 strikeouts in 12⅓ innings. He has allowed seven runs on 10 hits and eight walks.

Tennessee (43-10, 19-8 SEC) hosts South Carolina in the final regular-series starting Thursday (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).

When could AJ Russell return for Tennessee baseball?

The 6-foot-6 Russell has thrown off a mound a couple times recently. The next step is for Russell to throw to live hitters, if he feels good after the most recent bullpen session. That would be the final stamp of approval in Vitello’s eyes in order to get Russell back in the fold.

“Our guys want him back,” Vitello said. “I’d like to see him out there. So it is kind of where does it all meet? We are kind of to that point now where it’s time to decide what is the best way for him to get back out there.”

Russell left his second start of the season with side soreness, missed multiple weeks and returned for two outings before forearm tightness put him on the self again.

Vitello said Russell has had to stop, at times, in his work to return and had to “even kind of backpedal.” Tennessee’s staff has pitched well enough to allow Russell to take his time, Vitello noted.

“The one thing I can tell you with 100% conviction, everyone has to heart his future,” Vitello said. “The microscope of it or the shorter term of it is next year, where he will be the leader of a staff and be a huge part of it on the mound. Also we all know what he has shown, he can play for a long time.”

What is AJ Russell’s injury for Tennessee baseball?

Russell left his second start of the season against Albany on Feb. 23 with side soreness. He did not return until March 17 against Alabama, then was injured against a week later against Ole Miss.

Russell took over Tennessee’s Friday night starter spot as a sophomore. He struck out 10 in 4⅓ innings on Feb. 16 against Texas Tech, including getting the first eight outs of the game via strikeout. He allowed two runs on three hits and a walk.

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The Franklin, Tennessee, native struck out four in three innings against Albany before leaving the game. He allowed three hits and walked one.

Russell started against Alabama in his return, striking out two and allowing one run on two hits in two innings. He struggled against Ole Miss in his last outing before departing with arm issues. He walked six, allowed two hits and surrendered four runs. He struck out three in three innings.

Russell was 2-0 with a 0.89 ERA in 30⅓ innings with 47 strikeouts as a freshman. He made 24 appearances with one start.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

The Tennessee Titans are hoping that second-year quarterback Will Levis will continue to blossom now that he has an offensive-minded coach in Brian Callahan.

After serving as the Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator for the first part of Joe Burrow’s career, Callahan has the track record of how to develop a quarterback, and he has nothing but good things to say about Levis so far.

“He’s been great,” Callahan said. “Really, really happy with the work that he’s put in, what he’s learned. There’s a lot of information coming at him. A lot of technical things, a lot of mental things, a lot of physical things as far as fundamentals, techniques, how we teach, what we teach. He’s attacked it with really awesome enthusiasm. … I think he’s really gotten better in a short amount of time because of the way he approaches his job, and that’s all you can ask for at this point in the year.”

Levis has an entirely new offense to learn and new personnel to work with. Derrick Henry left the team after eight seasons to join the Baltimore Ravens, and former Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard is in his place. The team also added Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd, giving Levis two proven receivers to work with.

It’s almost as if Levis is undergoing a second rookie season, but the work he put in last year won’t go unnoticed. Now, it’s officially the Levis era and the Titans have him in position to succeed with his new head coach right behind him each step of the way.

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

Perhaps no American holiday is more sacrosanct than Mother’s Day, a fest that provides politicians an occasion on which to shower platitudes about the noble calling of motherhood. 

Tennessee lawmakers flooded social media Sunday posing with their mothers — Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, a Franklin Republican, posted a photo on X of him as a teen dancing with his mom, both beaming for the camera — and lauding their wives for being good mothers, as House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison did. 

I have no doubt that the men of Tennessee’s government love their mothers. Who doesn’t? Even Adolf Hitler was known to have a mutually adoring relationship with his. 

But the fulsome praise is a rich irony coming from Republican lawmakers who continually pass measures to make life harder for the state’s women and the children they bear.

The fondness vocalized by predominantly male legislators is prescient, given there’s the likelihood that Tennessee could experience a new baby boom in the next few years, as the 2023 enactment of the state’s ban on virtually all abortions: it’s a move that all but guarantees women with unwanted pregnancies will either be forced to leave the state in search of abortion care or bear a child they may not have the capability to properly care for. 

And by ‘women,’ I include teen and pre-teen girls who become pregnant. A new law, sponsored by Rep. Jason Zachary, prohibits anyone but parents from taking pregnant girls out of the state for abortions, cutting grandparents and other relatives out of the equation.

Meanwhile, even a medication abortion could become harder to come by, as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the merits of mifepristone, part of a two-drug regimen approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for early-term abortions. 

But let’s assume you are a joyous pregnant mom, delighted with the thought of having a child. You better hope your pregnancy is textbook, because God forbid your fetus has abnormalities that will cause your baby to die upon or shortly after birth, or worse still, has a condition that threatens your own life. 

Tennessee law provides only the narrowest of exceptions to the abortion ban for the life of the mother, which means physicians face the dilemma of deciding just how close a pregnant woman is to dying, and weigh the odds against being arrested and charged criminally for performing what could be deemed by a layman a medically unnecessary procedure. 

That, of course, assumes you can find an OBGYN to treat you. A 2023 report found that more than half of Tennessee’s rural hospitals no longer deliver babies, creating “maternity care deserts” across the state. In 2019, the March of Dimes reported Tennessee ranked 44th in the nation for access to prenatal care before the third trimester, along with higher than average rates of preterm births. 

Report: More than half of all rural Tennessee hospitals no longer deliver babies

As if that weren’t bad enough, Jamie McGee reported for the Lookout in June 2023 that states with abortion bans like Tennessee’s experienced a 10.5% decrease in applications for OBGYN residencies. 

The reason? Residents in obstetrics and gynecology perform an abortion as part of training; Tennessee’s criminal penalties are making medical students leery of practicing here. 

“Everyone is worried about it,” Tennessee Medical Association CEO Russ Miller said at the time. “It’s definitely something all of us are keeping an eye on.” 

Consider a different scenario: Let’s say a couple desperately wants to have children but has fertility problems. An Alabama Supreme Court ruling that classifies eggs fertilized through in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment similarly to children could have ramifications in Tennessee, as House members voted down a bill that would have made clear that the state’s abortion ban does not endanger fertility treatments or access to contraceptive care.  

Sorry to be Debbie Downer. Like many moms, you may have had a healthy baby that was wanted and planned for: congratulations! Do you have a good job with a stable income? You should make sure of that, because relying on the Tennessee government for any kind of aid is a dicey proposition. 

Tennessee’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a key anti-poverty program, is sitting on a whopping $717 million financial surplus rather than distributing the funds to the families for whom they are intended. If you are availing yourself of SNAP benefits, formerly called food stamps, be aware there have been habitual delays in distribution of those funds. 

Just after the Tennessee Department of Human Services introduced a new computer management system in June, more than 73,000 Tennesseans — most of whom are children — enrolled in the SNAP program lost access to food benefits. 

Tennessee food aid delays could continue for two more months, DHS Commissioner tells lawmakers

Thank God for public schools, where needy students can get a free lunch — or not. A measure introduced in Tennessee’s House and Senate by Rep. Kevin Raper of Cleveland and Sen. J. Adam Lowe of Calhoun, both Republicans, that would have provided free breakfasts and lunches to kids qualifying under the National School Lunch Act and Child Nutrition Act of 1966 failed in the House K-12 Subcommittee of Education Administration. 

Maybe it’s just as well it failed so nobody counts on free meals. If Gov. Bill Lee has more success next legislative session than in this one with his bid to create universal school vouchers, funds will stream out of public education to private schools. 

Cheer up, moms! Tennessee’s lawmakers appreciate you! That’s what they said on social media, after all. And as for those flowers you got? Well, you can’t eat them and they won’t help provide health care, but at least they’ll give you something pretty to look at while you figure out how to move to a state with more supportive policies.