Tennessee
Joshua Dobbs on Tennessee football and reuniting with Vols teammate Jauan Jennings in NFL
Josh Dobbs at golf Former Vol Joshua Dobbs on Tennessee football and reuniting with Jauan Jennings in NFL
Joshua Dobbs talks about signing with the San Fransico 49ers, visiting Tennessee football and more at his Astrordinary Charity Golf Classic.
LOUDON — Joshua Dobbs and Jauan Jennings talk about “the play” all the time.
The former Tennessee football stars reminisce on the last-second 43-yard Hail Mary touchdown Dobbs delivered to Jennings in the Vols 34-31 win at Georgia in 2016.
“We did a cool podcast on it,” Dobbs told Knox News on Friday. “It was an extremely memorable play, obviously. One of Jauan’s favorites and one of my favorites.”
The duo will look back on that moment even more now after Dobbs signed with the San Francisco 49ers and will be teammates in the NFL.
Before the 29-year-old quarterback participates in San Francisco’s organized team activities on April 15, he was in Tennessee for his third annual Astrodinary Charitable Golf Classic at Tennessee National Golf Club.
The Astrodinary Dobbs Foundation is a grant-making non-profit that helps other charitable organizations with funding and projects that particularly benefit the youth.
“It’s always awesome to come back home to Rocky Top, to be around the great people of East Tennessee, I never take it for granted,” Dobbs said. “To have tremendous community being built with this (golf) tournament and to be able to impact the community of Knoxville, I don’t take that opportunity lightly.”
Recent visit with the Tennessee football
Dobbs has remained a fan of Tennessee during his seven-year NFL career and said that the program is in a positive place under coach Josh Heupel.
“I know they have a lot of young players that are going to be emerging, obviously a new quarterback in Nico (Iamaleava) that we’re excited to see get out there and play on the field,” Dobbs said.
During his time in the Knoxville area, Dobbs spent time with the Vols during a practice on April 11.
“I think just the vibe around them is what I’m really impressed by,” Dobbs said. “The culture that Coach Heupel has built is one that the players are holding each other accountable and usually, when that’s the case, you have a strong team and you’re poised for a strong season.
“I’ll be rocking my orange every Saturday and excited to see the boys go to work.”
Dobbs said that he’s spoken with quarterback Nico Iamaleava and that they had a throwing session a couple of months ago. He said that the sophomore quarterback “knows what he’s doing” and they didn’t need to discuss much football.
Rejoining former Vol teammate Jauan Jennings
Dobbs signed a one-year deal with the 49ers and said he’s excited to join a franchise that lost in the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Dobbs is especially excited to reunite with Jennings, a Tennessee teammate for two years. The duo have trained together in Dallas and in Knoxville.
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“It’s been good to have a familiar face, a teammate, a guy that you know, to be able to help you start learning the offense so you can hit the ground running,” Dobbs said.
Dobbs is coming off a season during which he made a career-high 12 starts and finished with 2,464 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
He started the 2023 season as a member of the Cleveland Browns and was traded during the preseason to the Arizona Cardinals, starting the first eight games for an injured Kyler Murray and traded again to the Minnesota Vikings to replace Kirk Cousins, who had a season-ending Achilles injury.
Toyloy Brown III is a Knox News sports reporter. Email toyloy.brown@knoxnews.com. On X, formerly Twitter, @TJ3rd_.
Tennessee
Flag Day: East Tennessee couple builds wooden American flags by hand
SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. — Dennis and LaNelle Fawver don’t wave a fabric flag. They build them by hand out of wood.
Six years ago, the couple made their very first wooden American flag — not to sell, but to give to Dennis’s younger brother, who had just been diagnosed with stage four cancer.
“So, we were in the middle of making our very first one when we got a call that my younger brother had stage four cancer and he was about to pass,” Dennis Fawver said.
They finished that flag, put his name on it and a cancer awareness ribbon and took it back to him for a surprise.
“As soon as we gave it to him, you know, he just smiled and got bright and seemed happy,” Dennis Fawver said.
His brother, Randy Behrends, later passed away. But that moment of joy sparked a business, and Dennis says it still drives every flag he makes.
“It just shows patriotic. I mean, just red, white, and blue,” Dennis Fawver said.
The Fawvers make flags for every branch of the military, law enforcement, medical workers, corrections officers and even fully custom flags with names and sayings.
For LaNelle, a former nurse, the reward is different — it’s the moment someone unwraps one.
“I just like seeing people’s faces when they get them. We make a lot of birthday presents, a lot of anniversaries, Father’s Day presents. That’s a biggie for us. And to see the dads and the reactions on their faces when they see it, that’s the best part. I enjoy making them happy when they see. They get something that means something to them,” LaNelle Fawver said.
That joy — the same joy his brother showed — is what keeps Dennis going.
“So that kind of inspired us like, well, if he liked it that much, you know, and other people commented. So we just started making them and would give them away to friends and family,” Dennis Fawver said.
The Fawvers sell their wooden flags at the Great Smoky Mountains Flea Market and online.
Copyright 2026 WVLT. All rights reserved.
Tennessee
Tennessee Football Hosted SEC Cornerback Commit on Official Visit This Weekend | Rocky Top Insider
Tennessee football is continuing to make pushes for top targets on its board despite prospects’ commitment status. On Saturday, the Vols flipped Alabama commit Kenneth Simon II to join the 2027 class. On Sunday, Dayon Cooper decommitted from Florida State after his official visit to see the Vols.
UT has its eyes set on another currently committed target, as well. Mississippi State commit Brandon Allen Jr. just completed his official visit to Knoxville this past weekend, according to his Instagram story.
Allen ranks as a three-star recruit, according to 247 Composite. He is the No. 627 recruit in the nation, No. 65 cornerback and No. 76 player from the state of Georgia. He plays for Westlake High School in Atlanta. That’s the same school that current UT receiver Travis Smith Jr. played for.
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Tennessee isn’t the only team trying to flip Allen, though. According to 247, along with the Vols and Mississippi State, Allen is also taking official visits to South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech. Ironically, UT will face all of those teams, except the Hokies and MSU, next season on its 2026 schedule, with each being played on the road.
Tennessee is a bit late to join the recruitment of Allen, but it could make a big enough impact to reel him in. UT offered him on May 7 of this year. This came from new cornerbacks coach, Derek Jones, who was hired to join the staff of newly hired Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles this offseason.
Tennessee currently holds 15 commitments in the 2027 class and sits outside the top 25 nationally in both 247 and Rivals rankings. However, with official visits continuing to be held, the Vols are putting themself in a position to bolster the group and climb the rankings.
Tennessee
Indiana man found after going missing in Nashville
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An Indiana man who traveled to Tennessee for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has been found after he was reported missing for over 48 hours.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department previously issued a statement asking for the public’s assistance in locating 28-year-old Trevor Lines.
Lines reportedly left a short-term rental on Douglas Avenue, where he was staying with friends early Thursday and never returned.
Lines’ friends told law enforcement that they left around 5 a.m. to search for someone’s phone, when they returned within an hour, Lines and his vehicle were gone. His phone and medication were left inside the residence.
His 2016 Lexus with a Purdue University plate was picked up by license plate readers east of Nashville in Mt. Juliet around 7:30 a.m. on Friday and later at 4:30 p.m. in Goodlettsville, which is north of Nashville. Although Nashville does not use LPRs.
Lines had reportedly been visiting Tennessee for the Bonnaroo festival in Coffee County. Nashville police have alerted the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Coffee County authorities to be on the lookout for Lines.
Lines’ older brother, Kyle Smith, told FOX59/CBS4’s sister station, WKRN, he’s worried. Lines is reportedly from the northern part of Indiana, so he’s unfamiliar with Middle Tennessee.
“We’re hoping that maybe he ended up in a local hospital somewhere… The doubts are definitely creeping in, and it feels more and more likely that something bad has happened,” Smith said.
However, shortly before 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, the MNPD announced Lines was discovered in his car outside the Goodlettsville Skate Center, adding that he’s being reunited with his family.
No additional details have been made available at this time regarding the circumstances surrounding Lines’ disappearance or his discovery.
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