The Tennessee Titans welcomed the first day of practice in pads on Tuesday at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park.

Titans receiver Calvin Ridley admitted he’s now near his peak football conditioning but still has a ways to go before suiting up in the Titans first preseason game next weekend.

“I’m in shape. I feel like I can run now and my breathing is good. Now I gotta get used to moving in the pads,” Ridley said. “I want to move guys (off the line) a little bit better. I thought I wasn’t moving them as good as I wanted to.”

Ridley admitted it would take him about “two more days” with the pads on to fully get his movements and timing under control like the former All-Pro would like.

While there were some players like Ridley, who used the practice to help adjust to the feeling of the pads, others were using the new feeling as fuel to drive up the level of competition during the practice.

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Jeffery Simmons, the Titans Pro Bowl defensive lineman, is known for his talk on the field, which helps elevate the level of play for the entire defense. But during Tuesday’s practice his highly talkative nature spilled over a bit too much during the practice period.

Simmons got into two consecutive shoving matches and ultimately had to be separated from his teammates before being pulled by the coaches for the next few team reps to cool off. According to an on-field referee, the shoving and physicals would’ve resulted in Simmons being ejected during an official game.

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While some would call the physicality a bad thing that could waste valuable practice time or possibly even result in team-forced injuries, other players are looking at the physicality through an entirely different lens.

Titans tight end Josh Whyle welcomes the physicality and even thinks it’s an inevitable part of the game.

“I take that as just competitive spirit,” said Whyle. “We talked about it after practice. We’ve got to protect the team; we don’t want to get our own guys hurt but there’s always an edge when you’re playing professional football.”

Lawrence Goss is The Tennessean’s sports intern with the Sports Journalism Institute. Contact Lawrence at lgoss@gannett.com. Follow Lawrence on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @iamlgoss

If all goes as planned, Tennessee baseball’s Nate Snead will some day soon pitch for an MLB team. 

He got a sneak preview of what the mound might feel like this week. 

Snead returned home to Milwaukee to celebrate Tennessee baseball’s national championship in recent days, and part of the festivities included throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before the Milwaukee Brewers’ 8-3 win over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night at American Family Field. 

Snead, wearing a hat with the phrase “Great Day to be a Vol” emblazoned on it and an orange Tennessee shirt, posed for photos with Brewers manager Pat Murphy and first base coach Quentin Berry. He may not have thrown a strike, based on his reaction and the message sent out by Tennessee baseball’s X account chronicling the moment.

“Awesome experience,” Snead tweeted afterwards.

The Wichita State transfer became a crucial member of Tennessee’s pitching staff during the program’s first national title run. Snead, a sophomore this past season, appeared in five of the Vols’ six College World Series games, including a save in Game 2 of the championship series against Texas A&M and 1 2/3 innings of relief in the series-clinching Game 3.

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Snead pitched at South Milwaukee High School and threw the school’s first perfect game before spending his freshman year of college at Wichita State. Hundreds of people gathered at South Milwaukee’s Bucyrus Commons last Thursday to celebrate Snead’s accomplishments at Tennessee with a proclamation ceremony.

Earlier this summer, Snead was also a member of USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team along with Tennessee shortstop Dean Curley. 

Snead finished the 2024 season with a 10-2 record and a team-best 3.11 earned run average. He’s likely to move from mostly working out of the bullpen to being a starter for the Vols, a transition MLB scouts will be watching closely ahead of the 2025 MLB draft.