When you have two legitimate Top 20 teams testing each other, it’s never inevitable.
Tennessee
Tennessee baseball to hire Chuck Jeroloman from Florida to Josh Elander’s staff | Source
Josh Elander is hiring Chuck Jeroloman from Florida to his first Tennessee baseball staff, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
The source requested anonymity because Jeroloman’s hire has not been made public.
Jeroloman has spent the past six seasons at Florida and was most recently serving as the interim head coach with coach Kevin O’Sullivan on administrative leave due to personal matters. He was promoted to associate head coach on O’Sullivan’s staff after the 2024 season.
Jeroloman and Elander have a longstanding relationships as Jeroloman was a volunteer assistant coach at TCU in 2012, Elander’s junior season with the Horned Frogs.
Elander was named the head coach on Oct. 25 following coach Tony Vitello’s Oct. 22 exit to manage the San Francisco Giants after eight seasons at Tennessee. If Elander keeps the rest of the staff, Jeroloman completes the assistant coach lineup alongside pitching coach Frank Anderson and assistant coach Ross Kivett.
It is like Jeroloman will assume associate head coach duties, which Elander held. Kivett could slide into the recruiting coordinator role that Elander also held.
Jeroloman’s addition gives Tennessee a heralded hitting coach and top-tier recruiter in the SEC join Elander’s staff.
He spent two seasons as an assistant coach at South Florida and four at Jacksonville before he was hired at Florida. He coached MLB first-round draft picks in Jac Caglianone and Wyatt Langford at Florida. Both reached the major leagues within a year of being drafted.
Jeroloman started his college coaching career at TCU from 2012-13 as a volunteer assistant.
He played shortstop for Auburn from 2002-04 and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox. He hit 12 homers and had 91 RBIs in three seasons.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.
Tennessee
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
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.
Tennessee
A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee
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