Tennessee
No. 7 Tennessee has fresh examples to help focus on Kent State with Oklahoma up next
(AP) — The No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers have several recent examples to keep them from taking Kent State for granted Saturday night.
Just look at Notre Dame and Penn State last week.
Then-No. 5 Notre Dame lost on its own field to Northern Illinois. No. 8 Penn State narrowly escaped Bowling Green.
In other words, the Mid-American Conference can be dangerous for Power Four teams.
Tennessee (2-0) can’t get caught looking ahead to next week’s Southeastern Conference opener and showdown at No. 15 Oklahoma, especially not after making the biggest leap in this week’s Associated Press Top 25. The Golden Flashes (0-2) are a young team that is hungry for success.
“Go back and look at the scores from across America,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said. “(There are) examples of guys that didn’t prepare, didn’t practice right and didn’t have the right competitive spirit to go take advantage of their next opportunity.”
Kent State coach Kenni Burns made sure his players knew about the MAC performance, even if his Golden Flashes are coming off a loss to St. Francis of the Football Championship Subdivision.
“Tough times make tough people,” Burns said. “We’re going through some tough times right now. ‘That’s the same (Northern Illinois) team that you took to the wire last year in the last game of the season.’ It does give hope to our team.”
Tennessee has scored 130 points in its first two games and routed then-No. 24 N.C. State 51-10 in Charlotte. The Vols also have been dominant defensively since shutting out Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.
“I feel like we’ve been one of the better … defensive teams in the country,” Vols defensive lineman Bryson Eason said.
Speaking of defense
Starting in that shutout of Iowa, Tennessee has gone 12 quarters without yielding an offensive touchdown. N.C. State’s only TD was an interception return. During 12 quarters, the Vols have yielded just 2.28 yards per rushing attempt and 181 total yards per game. They have allowed just 6 of 41 third-down attempts (14.6 %) while collecting 26 tackles for loss and seven takeaways.
Young line
Kent State brought in 23 transfers for this season, but Burns has made molding young players a priority even if the Golden Flashes take some lumps along the way. Their offensive line features a true freshman in Elijah Williams at center and a pair of second-year players in Dusty Morrell and Chris Farrell at guard. Kent State has allowed six sacks and generated just 54.5 yards of rushing offense in two games.
Tennessee’s defense has four sacks and is allowing only 56.5 rushing yards per game.
Healing Vols
Running back Cam Seldon, defensive back Jakobe Thomas and linebacker Kalib Perry all missed the N.C. State game with injuries. Heupel anticipates all of them being available against Kent State.
Hey Nico
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava has been the Southeastern Conference’s Freshman of the Week in consecutive weeks. His latest nod came after he threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns against the Wolf Pack. However, he threw two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown.
Heupel likes how Iamaleava responded to his mistakes as a young quarterback.
“His body language, demeanor and composure leads you to believe that he’s going to play the next play independently,” the coach said.
Former Tennessee baseball pitcher Garrett Stallings was called up by the Milwaukee Brewers on June 30.
Stallings, 28, likely will make his major league debut against the Cincinnati Reds on June 30 in the second game of the Brewers’ four-game homestand.
Stallings played at Tennessee from 2017 to 2019 in the early years of Tony Vitello’s stint at the Vols’ head coach. He earned a starting role as a freshman and became the ace by his junior season.
In 2019, the Los Angeles Angels selected Stallings in the fifth round of the MLB draft. He bounced around in the minors before landing firmly in Triple-A with the Norfolk Tides, and later the Brewers’ affiliate Nashville Sounds, in 2024.
Stallings posted a 3-3 record with the Sounds in 2026 with a 3.45 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 62⅔ innings.
He will be the 54th player in Tennessee history to reach the major leagues and the 12th since 2020. He will join left-hander Garrett Crochet (2020); right-hander Ben Joyce (2023); infielder Andre Lipcius (2023); IF Trey Lipscomb (2024); outfielder Jordan Beck (2024); RHP Seth Halvorsen (2024); RHP Chase Dollander (2025); RHP Blade Tidwell (2025); INF Christian Moore (2025); OF Drew Gilbert (2025); and RHP Chad Dallas (2026).
Dallas made his debut for the Toronto Blue Jays on June 4.
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: wynton.jackson@knoxnews.com
Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks: knoxnews.com/subscribe
BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The poet laureate of Tennessee has just died. Margaret Britton Vaughn was 87-years-old. Friends knew Vaughn as hilarious, talented, and deeply unique.
Visiting Bell Buckle, Tennessee over the years, I’ve just found this little place has so many artists. A proud addition to that is Vaughn.
“When Maggi was your friend, you knew you had a friend,” said longtime friend Annie Rooney. “It wasn’t if you’re rich or poor or have four matching tires on your car, she was your friend.”
Going way back, Vaughn was a songwriter for some country greats.
“Loretta Lynn, yes!” said friend Carla Webb.
To understand the uniqueness of Vaughn, listen to this story.
“Maggi says, ‘honey, you wanna go to the movies with me?’” friend Billy Phillips remembered.
Phillips was nine when he and Vaughn became friends and took a trip to the Carpi Theatre in Shelbyville.
“When I get into the car, there were 200 empty boxes of chocolate bunny rabbits!” Phillips laughed.
“She loved chocolate,” Rooney agreed.
“It couldn’t be hollow milk chocolate,” Phillips continued. “It had to be solid milk chocolate.”
That was just one of many loves. One of the times I got to talk to Vaughn was in 2023. She was selling eclectic things she’d collected. They included a typewriter built out of clothes hangers and a lamp made of forks and spoons.
“Maggi had a lot of stuff!” Phillips said.
She’d call around to antique shops.
“Got anything that looks like me, honey?” Rooney laughed, remembering Vaughn’s calls.
Talking to Vaughn, you came to understand something. She had a deep appreciation for the art and the artist who made it. That’s something that sprang from Vaughn being an artist herself.
“My mother looked down and said, ‘are you sure you don’t want to be a nurse?’” Vaughn told me in 2023. “I said, ‘no, momma. I wanna be a songwriter and a poet.’ People say, ‘Maggi, these books. You’ve written my life.’”
“Maggi had front porch books, not coffee table books,” Webb said.
“She was a poet of the people,” Rooney continued.
Vaughn took on prejudice in her work. She also wrote about all things she loved.
“She covered rural life, southern things,” Phillips said.
That writing carried her to become the poet laureate of Tennessee in 1995. The next year, she wrote Tennessee’s bicentennial poem.
“I gave her her last kiss the other day,” Webb said.
“I’m on the verge of tears,” Phillips added. “This will be a real gut punch.”
Asking around town, people seemed to agree on their favorite of Vaughn’s works.
“Is That You Mama?” Phillips said, naming one of Vaughn’s poems.
Webb read me an excerpt of the poem. It ended with these lines;
“Well, mama, I’m okay now. You tell the Lord I said hi. Was that you, mama, that just kissed me bye?”
“Maggi was a true original, and Bell Buckle was proud to call her our own,” Phillips said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Tenn. seniors make a splash on a giant slip-and-slide
A slip-and-slide for seniors?! Who knew it could stir laughter and tears. Photojournalist Angie Dones captures a story filled with so much joy and one that will tug at your heartstrings.
– Carrie Sharp
-
Finance18 seconds agoGoogle Cloud Pursues Financial Markets in FactSet Alliance | PYMNTS.com
-
Fitness3 minutes agoBoutique Fitness Is Redefining How Americans Work Out. Which Drop-In Classes Are Worth Booking?
-
Movie Reviews15 minutes ago‘Supergirl’ Movie Review
-
World23 minutes agoMap: 6.0-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Off Mexico’s Coast
-
News30 minutes agoIn the United States, Every World Cup Team Is a Home Team
-
Lifestyle1 hour agoHow does the Kennedy Center board make decisions? This legal filing sheds some light
-
Technology1 hour agoMeta is adding ridiculous ‘rate limits’ and a soft paywall to its smart glasses
-
World1 hour agoBoy, 2, pulled alive from rubble six days after Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes
