Tennessee

NFL Teams Say Former Player’s Talent was ‘Wasted’ by the Tennessee Volunteers

Published

1 year ago

February 2, 2025

NFL Teams Say Former Player’s Talent was ‘Wasted’ by the Tennessee Volunteers

NFL teams at the Senior Bowl believe a former Volunteers’ talent was wasted by Tennessee.

The Senior Bowl wrapped up this past week as college football players from all over the country got the opportunity to showcase their talents in front NFL organizations. The Tennessee Volunteers had a handful of players at the event, and some NFL teams formed a very strong opinion about one of Tennessee’s former players.

104.5 The Zone’s Zach Lyons, was speaking to team’s at the Senior Bowl last week about Tennessee defensive lineman Omarr Norman-Lott and that they feel the Volunteers did not use him enoug during his time in Knoxville.

“I don’t know where he plays on this Tennessee team, because everybody I’ve talked to down here considers him a first round talent,” said Lyons. “I don’t know if I’d go that far. I think maybe a second round [talent], but I will say this — I don’t think Tennessee used him enough at the University of Tennessee. That’s the general feeling I’ve gotten from talking to a few people down here on the sidelines that are from various companies and NFL teams, is that Tennessee kind of wasted Omarr Norman-Lott. And I thought that was so interesting. They got so heavy into a rotation.”

Norman-Lott started his career at Arizona State and then transferred to the Tennessee. He finished his college career with 89 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks. He had four sacks this past season for the Volunteers.

Tennessee had a very strong defensive unit this past season and they had another star on the defensive line in the form of James Pearce Jr. Head coach Josh Heupel certainly seemed to have gotten the most out of his defense the last two seasons and Norman-Lott certainly played a role in that.

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Tennessee

2026 Tennessee football preview: Grady Dangerfield

Published

38 minutes ago

June 4, 2026

Press Room

2026 Tennessee football preview: Grady Dangerfield

Redshirt freshman kicker Grady Dangerfield enters his second season at Tennessee in 2026.

The 6-foot, 215-pound kicker appeared in two games for the Vols in 2025. He recorded 257 yards and three touchbacks on four kickoff attempts against UAB and New Mexico State.

Against the Blazers on Sept. 20, 2025, Dangerfield had three kickoff attempts for 195 yards. He also totaled 62 kickoff yards on one attempt versus New Mexico State on Nov. 15, 2025.

Dangerfield committed to Tennessee in Oct. 2024 over Navy and Virginia Tech. He was a Kohl’s Kicking five-star prospect and the No. 41 ranked kicker in the nation.

Dangerfield went to the Vols from James Island Charter High School in Charleston, South Carolina.

Tennessee will kick off its 2026 football season Sept. 5 versus Furman at Neyland Stadium. The season opener is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. EDT (SEC Network+).

The Vols will also host Kennesaw State, Texas, Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky and LSU, while playing at Georgia Tech, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt during the 2026 campaign.

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Tennessee

Tennessee AMC theater worker, 85, receives $146K from strangers for retirement after viral video

Published

11 hours ago

June 4, 2026

Press Room

Tennessee AMC theater worker, 85, receives 6K from strangers for retirement after viral video

A viral Tennessee movie theater worker, 85, was surprised with $146K as strangers rallied together to help her “enjoy retirement.”

Mary Ellen Eron was seen hauling a heavy black garbage bag and pushing a cleaning cart during her shift at the theater in Maryville, Tenn., which has since been viewed more than 13 million times.

“Let’s secretly help retire this beautiful woman. No one deserves to work at this age,” movie customer Brooklyn Green, who filmed the video, captioned the post.

Green launched a fundraiser last weekend after watching Mary, who has been a movie theater staffer for 45 years, hard at work – even though she’s a stranger.

“I knew nothing about her. I didn’t even know her name when I went to the theater,” Green told WATE reported. “I just decided that she was working so hard, and I aspired to be like her one day.

“Her physical appearance didn’t look too comfortable, especially since the way she was working so hard.”

Green set a target of $200,000 – and she raised $146,317 before pausing donations. More than 7,500 people donated to the charitable cause.

On Wednesday, Green posted the moment that she presented Eron, who helps the homeless and her local church, with the total figures from the crowdfunding page.

“Oh my goodness. That’s a lot of money,” Eron said as she realized the number on the piece of paper.

“That’s a lot of money and you deserve every bit of it,” Green said.

The clip also featured a message from Eron, who addressed the people who had contributed.

“Thank you so very much to all the wonderful people that have donated money to the GoFundMe,” she said.

“I’m overwhelmed and certainly blessed by the Lord and you wonderful people. Thank you once more.”

The theater’s manager revealed it will be Eron’s decision when she retires.

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Tennessee

Tennessee Baseball Breakout Star Announces He Won’t Enter the Transfer Portal

Published

21 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Tennessee Baseball Breakout Star Announces He Won’t Enter the Transfer Portal

The Tennessee Volunteers have had their fair share of bad news as of late when it comes to the college baseball transfer portal, but luckily, they have received some great news.

The great news that they have received is that they will be returning one of their breakout stars from this past college baseball season, as he has no intentions of entering the college baseball transfer portal.

Trent Grindlinger Will Return to Tennessee

Tennessee’s Trent Grindlinger (30) begins to celebrate what he thought was a home run but was eventually called foul during a college baseball game between Tennessee and LSU at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee., on April 3, 2026. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The player who is set to return to Tennessee is Trent Grindlinger, who was electric this season and is expected to be a future top 10 MLB draft pick. This is expected for the first draft that he is eligible for, which is the 2027 MLB Draft rather than this upcoming draft that will feature multiple Vols, including Tennessee ACE, Tegan Kuhns.

Grindlinger finished last season with a batting average of .345, while hitting eight home runs and only striking out 28 times. This would be an electric season for the talented Volunteers’ batter, and he is set for a season that could and should be even better than that, which would be good enough to consider for some major college baseball end-of-the-season awards. He is just one of the few players who opted to stay and return rather than enter their name into the college baseball transfer portal, but if they were going to return anyone, he is the player they would want to return in the field.

Had he entered the transfer portal, there wouldn’t be a single college in the nation that wouldn’t want to add him, as every college would want to add the elite prospect. Not only that, but he would become the nation’s No. 1 player on the portal more than likely.

Luckily for the Vols, though, they don’t have to worry about that.

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