Tennessee

Insider Dishes Intel on Titans HC’s Future

Published

12 months ago

December 30, 2024

Insider Dishes Intel on Titans HC’s Future

The Tennessee Titans have suffered through a brutal 2024 NFL season. In Week 17, that continued with a 20-13 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Entering the final game of the season, the Titans hold a 3-13 record. This season completely fell apart and it has left some thinking that first-year head coach Brian Callahan could be on the hot seat.

Despite all of the rumors, it doesn’t sound like the team views it the same way.

According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, Tennessee is still very high on Callahan and he is expected to be back along with a good portion of his staff.

“It has been a trying season for the Titans, with a string of close early losses, underwhelming (and at times confounding) quarterback play and a 3-12 record entering Sunday’s game at Jacksonville. But first-year head coach Brian Callahan and the bulk of his staff are expected to return,” Rapoport wrote.

“Internally, there is a feeling Callahan has shown long-term promise and the team has improved; the expectation next season is that that’ll be reflected more on the field and the scoreboard. Fixing the QB position — former second-round pick Will Levis was benched in December — is Job No. 1.”

Honestly, this would be the right call by the Titans. Callahan is far from being the one to blame for the shortcomings of this year’s team. The quarterback position has been the biggest problem in Tennessee.

If the Titans are able to find a quarterback upgrade in the offseason and make a few other moves to fill some roster holes, they could very well be a sleeper team to watch in 2025.

Along with the poor quarterback play this season, Tennessee has struggled with injuries. Defensively, L’Jarius Sneed has missed a ton of time and Chidobe Awuzie also missed a good chunk of time. Plenty of other players have also missed games due to injury.

There are so many things that went wrong with the 2024 season that were out of Callahan’s control.

Hopefully, the franchise can make the right decisions this offseason, bring in the right talent at positions of need, and stay healthy next season. Those are the main factors, not making a head coaching change.

All of that being said, it’s going to be an interesting offseason for the Titans and fans. There is a lot of work to be done and it seems very likely that they will have an aggressive approach as they look to get back into playoff contention.

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

Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal

Published

7 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal

Tennessee quarterback Jake Merklinger plans to enter the transfer portal, Knox News has confirmed.

On3.com and Rivals.com were the first to report Merklinger’s decision. The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2.

Merklinger has also opted out of the Music City Bowl. No. 23 Tennessee (8-4) plays Illinois (8-4) on Dec. 30 (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Nashville. Starter Joey Aguilar will play in the bowl game, so Merklinger was not expected to be a factor. Freshman George MacIntyre will serve as the backup.

Merklinger spent two seasons at Tennessee but barely played and failed to win the starting job. He played six games and went 19-of-33 passing for 221 yards and two touchdowns.

In 2024, Merklinger was a third-string freshman when Nico Iamaleava started. In 2025, he competed for the starting job but lost to transfer Joey Aguilar.

By the end of the 2025 season, Merklinger was neck and neck with freshman George MacIntyre for the backup job. And it didn’t appear that Merklinger would factor in the starting job in 2026.

Merklinger, a native of Savannah, Georgia, was a four-star recruit in the 2024 class. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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Tennessee

Seedy K’s GameCap: Tennessee

Published

19 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

When you have two legitimate Top 20 teams testing each other, it’s never inevitable.

But this U of L task in Knoxville against tall favorite Tennessee sure seemed close to that heading in.

Well coached top level foe at its sold out home.

One whose strength — inside scoring and rebounding — made it a bad matchup for the Cards, whose lack of inside depth and strength has been an Achilles heel from the get go.

That the Vols were hungry and angry coming off three straight Ls made a U of L victory seem an almost impossible task.

Then we learned that back issue of Mikel Brown’s is a problem.

Cards were toast before tip.

It was all evident by halftime — actually well before then.

It just takes a peek at a couple statistics.

Tennessee led by only 7, thanks to some tough Cardinal D. And UT’s woeful FT shooting.

That inside game issue: Volunteers 28 points in the paint. Cardinals 10.

That’s right, Tennessee had more points in the paint at the break than Louisville had points total.

That lack of point guard issue: U of L had 9 FGs at intermission. Tennessee had that many assists on 15 buckets.

Louisville’s strength is depth. At least usually.

During the first 20 Tuesday, the Cards had zero points off the pine. Vols 22. (For the game, the disparity was 34-3. Khani Rooths hit a FT. Wild Man Zougris a garbage time slam.)

Another opening stanza reality that might have you feeling the need to clean your glasses.

Only three guys scored. Adrian Wooley with 12, Ryan Conwell with 11, and Sananda Fru with 4.

Louisville’s second half performance is not worth the bandwidth, my time to write about, nor your time to read.

The final, in a lopsided disappointing loss: 83-62.

There is no sugar frosting this. Against teams with major size and inside presence, Louisville has and will continue to struggle.

When your most talented player doesn’t suit up, it makes it more impossible to overcome.

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Tennessee

A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee

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