Tennessee
Tennessee Baseball Prepares To Take on Florida Gators
The Tennessee Volunteers take on the Florida Gators in SEC play during a three-game series this weekend.
The Vols are headed to The Swamp to take on SEC rival Florida Gators in a three-game series from Thursday to Saturday. They are coming from a loss to Lipscomb, ending a six-game winning streak. The Vols are looking to get back on track against the Gators, who currently sit in sixth place in the SEC East.
Tennessee is coming off six straight conference series wins, while Florida enters the series after going winless in all four of their series in April. Despite having a less-than-favorable record, Florida has found success when playing in Gainesville, holding a home record of 16-9. On the other hand, the Vols have only traveled nine times this year, holding an away record of 5-4.
Tennessee got the best of the Gators in their last trip to Gainesville, sweeping Florida back in 2022. Chris Stamos is taking the mound to kick off this year’s series is Chris Stamos, coming in with a 2.98 ERA on the season after pitching 2.2 scoreless innings during the Vols’ win over Missouri on April 25. In return, the Gators bring in lefty pitcher Pierce Coppola, having pitched three games in 2024 while holding a 10.50 ERA. The first pitch is set to take place at 7:00 pm.
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Tennessee
Trump pardons former Tennessee House speaker and his aide, who were convicted on federal corruption charges
President Donald Trump pardoned former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, who were convicted on federal corruption charges.
Casada, a Republican, was sentenced in September to 36 months in prison after being convicted on 17 charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Cothren, the aide, received a shorter sentence.
Casada confirmed the pardon on Thursday in a statement to NBC affiliate WSMV in Nashville, saying: “Yes the president called me today and granted me a full pardon. I am grateful of his trust and his full confidence in my innocence through this whole ordeal.”
In a statement, a White House official confirmed Trump’s decision to pardon Casada and Cothren and blamed the Biden administration for over-prosecuting the two men.
“The Biden Department of Justice significantly over-prosecuted these individuals for a minor issue involving constituent mailers — which were billed at competitive prices, never received a complaint from legislators, and resulted in a net profit loss of less than $5,000. The Biden DOJ responded with an armed raid, perp walk, and suggested sentences exceeding 10 years — penalties normally reserved for multimillion-dollar fraudsters,” the official told NBC News.
The investigation of both men began during Trump’s first term — and the raids of their homes — were conducted in January 2021, while Trump was still in office. The judge who oversaw the case and handed down Casada and Cothren’s sentences was appointed by Trump in his first term.
The charges against Casada and Cothren centered on a consulting firm they founded with another lawmaker, called Phoenix Solutions. Prosecutors alleged that the former House speaker and his aide used the company to illegally funnel money to themselves for campaign and taxpayer-funded work, including by organizing a $52,000 mailer program for Tennessee lawmakers.
Prosecutors said they used a false name — Matthew Phoenix — to run the company.
Several years before Casada was charged, he served as House speaker in Tennessee, but resigned in 2019 after a no-confidence vote by his fellow lawmakers. The vote came in the wake of another scandal involving Casada and Cothren, where the two were accused of exchanging sexually explicit text messages about women. Casada apologized for the texts and said that they were “not the person I am.”
The president this term has also pardoned several other former politicians, including former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, former Tennessee GOP state Sen. Brian Kelsey and former GOP Las Vegas City Councilmember Michele Fiore. He also commuted former GOP Rep. George Santos’ prison sentence.
The Tennessee Volunteers are in the middle of a bye-week, after last weekend’s loss to Oklahoma.
The playoffs are out of the picture, but there is still plenty of work left to do. The Vols will use this week to work on getting some guys healthy as they prepare for New Mexico State on November 15.
It will be interesting to see if there are any changes for the New Mexico State in terms of players. Will the Vols decide to go a bit younger and work in some younger guys as a way to jumpstart some guys who may battle for playing time and/or a starting position next season.
Josh Heupel met with reporters earlier today to discuss a few things as the team prepares to move forward.
Josh Heupel’s Opening Statement
“How’s everybody doing? Uh, good work today. Um, got another day tomorrow and then some of the coaches will hit the ground recruiting this week. Big focuses again on us during the bye and how we get better. So, open it up,” Heupel said.
Balancing Act
“Yeah, I think wherever your feet are and what’s important at that moment is what you got to be doing. So, uh the development of our current players, our preparation of the opponent that we’re playing, you know, for me, at times the projection of the following year in all departments you’re looking at. So, it’s a combination of all those things. December has changed a little bit on the calendar as well. That gives you a little bit more time potentially in December as well,” Heupel said.
Rotating Young Guys
“Guys that prove that they’re ready to play and play at a really high level, championship level. They earn the right to play and compete and that’s ongoing throughout the course of this season. These guys have worked really hard, disappointed in the results Saturday and a couple other during the course of the year, for sure. But man, it’s constant and consistent growth from everybody,” Heupel explained.
Click HERE to watch and listen to everything Tennessee Football head coach Josh Heupel said during his Wednesday media availability during the bye-week.
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