Tennessee
Tennessee football fortunes rest with Nico Iamaleava. But things happen, as history shows. | Strange
Everyone remembers good Tennessee football in the 1990s. One of the main reasons was a run of capable quarterbacks.
Heath Shuler and Peyton Manning were Heisman Trophy runners-up. They were sandwiched between SEC champion Andy Kelly and national champion Tee Martin.
Here’s another reason it was a memorable decade. Those quarterbacks stayed healthy.
From 1990 through 1999 – with one exception – Tennessee started the same quarterback in every game of the season: Kelly in 1990 and ’91; Shuler in ’92 and ’93; Manning in 1995-97; Martin in 1998 and ‘99.
The outlier was 1994. When Jerry Colquitt was injured on the season’s opening drive, a scramble ensued. Manning emerged in the fifth game.
Fast forward to 2024. Coach Josh Heupel says his fourth UT roster is his deepest at numerous positions. Quarterback, however, isn’t necessarily one of them.
Redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava is the starter on whom the season’s hopes are pinned. Behind him are true freshman Jake Merklinger and a couple of veterans who arrived as walk-ons, Gaston Moore and Navy Shuler.
Perhaps Iamaleava never misses a beat. But things happen. Quarterbacks get hurt, are ineffective or, lately, skip bowl games.
My crack research staff reviewed 40 years of UT starting quarterbacks, dating to 1984. Here are our notes.
Manning went 39-6 as a starter. After his first start he never missed another.
Casey Clausen was 34-10 from 2000-2003. An amazing stat, he was 14-1 in true road games.
Erik Ainge was 27-10 from 2004-07. After two injury-plagued years, he flourished under offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe in 2006-07.
Kelly was 24-5-2 from 1989-91. One of those 24 was the Miracle in South Bend.
Josh Dobbs went 23-12 from 2013-16.
Martin was 22-3, significantly 13-0 in 1998.
Jeff Francis went 20-12-1 in the up-and-down late 1980s.
Shuler went 19-5 then skipped his senior year to enter the NFL draft.
Hendon Hooker went 15-7 in the Heupel renaissance.
Tyler Bray was 13-11 for Derek Dooley. His shower discipline was strong, too.
Jarrett Guarantano went 12-19 in the turbulence from 2017-2020, starting games in each of those four best-forgotten seasons.
Joe Milton went 11-5, eight wins coming in 2023.
Tony Robinson was 10-5-1 when he injured his knee in the 1985 Alabama game.
Jonathan Crompton finished 10-9, seven wins coming in 2009 under Lane Kiffin.
That’s it for the double-figures club. But there are good stories among the 21 other starters in this 40-year study.
Sterling Henton was 7-0 until a 1989 loss to Alabama, then was replaced by Kelly.
Daryl Dickey never lost. He was 6-0-2, replacing the injured Robinson in 1985 and guiding the Vols to SEC and Sugar Bowl titles.
Justin Worley went 8-9 in the bowl-less 2011-13 struggles.
Brent Schaeffer went 3-0 to open the 2004 season. He took the opening snaps then shared time with fellow freshman Ainge, who became the starter in game four.
Rick Clausen went 4-6 as Ainge’s injury replacement in 2004 and ’05. He was the Cotton Bowl MVP in ’04.
Chris Simms went 2-8 as Dooley’s first option in 2010-11.
Todd Helton was 1-2 in the 1994 gap between Colquitt and Manning. That’s batting .333.
A.J. Suggs went 1-3 in 2000. The win was 70-3 over UL-Monroe, still a school scoring record.
James Banks, a receiver, won his only start in 2002, at Mississippi State, when Clausen was injured. Banks was 3-of-8 passing.
Retiring 1-0 were Joey Mathews (Southern Miss, 2000) and J.T. Shrout (UAB, 2019).
Jauan Jennings took the opening snap in a 2019 win over South Carolina. As a reward for the 2016 Hail Mary catch at Georgia, I’m giving him the W.
Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a sports column for Shopper News.
ESPN projects Tennessee basketball’s Felix Okpara and Ja’Kobi Gillespie to be picked back to back in the second round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night. ESPN’s updated mock draft has Okpara at No. 41 overall to the Miami Heat and Gillespie at No. 42 to the San Antonio Spurs.
Nate Ament was the No. 13 overall pick in the first round to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. Tennessee, which has now had players picked in six straight NBA Drafts, could have three players drafted for just the second time in the modern era of the draft, since it went to two rounds in 1989.
Grant Williams was a first-round pick in 2019, ahead of Admiral Schofield and Jordan Bone being picked in the second round.
Where ESPN ranks Felix Okpara, Ja’Kobi Gillespie in NBA Draft
Entering the second round, ESPN has Okpara ranked as the 12th-best player available in the draft. Gillespie is ranked No. 14.
Duke guard Isaiah Evans is ESPN’s No. 1 prospect to start the second round, ahead of North Carolina center Henri Veesaar, Arkansas guard Meleek Thomas, Cincinnati forward Baba Miller, Louisville guard Ryan Conwell and German guard Jack Kayil.
Also ranked ahead of Okpara is BYU guard Richie Saunders, Houston guard Emanuel Sharp, Purdue guard Braden Smith, St. John’s forward Dillon Mitchell and Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile. Ranked between Okpara and Gillespie is Arizona guard Jaden Bradley.
Felix Okpara ‘played his way into the two-way contract mix’
Okpara averaged 8.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 26.9 minutes per game this season, starting 34 of 35 games. He shot 59.7% from the field, 61.1% on 2-point shots and 63.5% at the foul line.
He played two seasons at Ohio State before transferring to Tennessee and anchoring the Vols on defense, serving as the rim protector defensively and a rim runner on offense.
Okpara had the fourth-highest standing reach at the NBA Draft Combine in May at 9-foot-4. He was measured at 6-foot-10 without shoes, weighed 237.4 pounds and had a 7-2 wingspan.
“Okpara had a good predraft process,” ESPN wrote, “and played his way into the two-way contract mix as a dependable big man who chips in a little bit of value on both ends.”
Ja’Kobi Gillespie ‘profiles as a potential bench option’ in NBA
Gillespie averaged 18.4 points, 5.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 34.8 minutes per game while starting all 37 games in his one and only season at Tennessee.
The Greeneville, Tenn., native started his career with two seasons at Belmont, then transferred to Maryland before his homecoming with the Vols as a senior last season.
“After starting his college career at Belmont,” ESPN wrote on Wednesday, “Gillespie had good years at Maryland and Tennessee while playing his way into the NBA picture. He profiles as a potential bench option if his scoring ability can outweigh his size concerns.”
Nate Ament on Tuesday night became Tennessee basketball’s highest NBA Draft pick since Marcus Haislip in 2002 when Ament, the former one-and-done five-star freshman wing for the Vols, was the No. 13 overall pick in the first round when he was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Haislip also was taken No. 13 by the Bucks.
Ament is the 13th first-round pick in Tennessee program history and the fifth under Rick Barnes. Dalton Knecht was the No. 17 overall pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2024, Grant Williams was the No. 22 overall pick to the Boston Celtics in 2019 and both Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer were first-round picks in 2021, with Johnson at No. 21 to the Los Angeles Clippers and Springer at No. 28 to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Vols have had three players in program history picked in the top 10, but none since 1983.
Tennessee in the NBA Draft’s 1st Round
| Pick | Player | Draft Year | Team |
| No. 4 | Tom Boerwinkle | 1968 | Chicago Bulls |
| No. 7 | Bernard King | 1977 | New York Nets |
| No. 9 | Dale Ellis | 1983 | Dallas Mavericks |
| No. 11 | Ernie Grunfeld | 1977 | Milwaukee Bucks |
| No. 11 | Allan Houston | 1993 | Detroit Pistons |
| No. 13 | Marcus Haislip | 2002 | Milwaukee Bucks |
| No. 15 | Reggie Johnson | 1980 | San Antonio Spurs |
| No. 17 | Dalton Knecht | 2024 | LA Lakers |
| No. 19 | Tobias Harris | 2011 | Milwaukee Bucks |
| No. 21 | Keon Johnson | 2021 | LA Clippers |
| No. 22 | Grant Williams | 2019 | Boston Celtics |
| No. 28 | Jaden Springer | 2021 | Philadelphia 76ers |
Nate Ament was ranked as a top-10 prospect in the NBA Draft
Ament entered draft week ranked as both a top-10 prospect in the draft and a projected top-10 pick.
He moved up one spot in ESPN’s final NBA mock draft on Monday, going from No. 10 to the Milwaukee Bucks to No. 9 to the Dallas Mavericks. He was No. 9 overall on ESPN’s ranking of the best players available entering the draft.
“The Nets at No. 6 are seen as the high end,” Woo wrote, “but scenarios are also in play in which he falls into the second half of the lottery. Teams say he has been selective about scheduling workouts, declining to visit multiple teams in the top 10.
“The Mavericks and Bucks are two possible landing spots. If those teams go a different direction, he could slide.”
Nate Ament’s one-and-done season at Tennessee
Ament averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 35 games during his lone season with the Vols. He started in all 35 games he played and averaged 29.7 minutes per game while shooting 39.9% from the field and 33.3% from the 3-point line.
He was the No. 3 overall player in the 2025 class in the On3 recruiting rankings and was the No. 2 small forward in the country and the No. 1 overall player in the state of Virginia.
Ament is the highest-ranked prospect that Rick Barnes has added during his tenure at Tennessee and is believed to one of the highest-ranked recruits to sign with the Vols, alongside Tobias Harris and Allan Houston.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Chattanooga baseball fans got a different kind of scouting report during a recent night at AT&T Field, where the Tennessee Aquarium teamed up with the Chattanooga Lookouts to connect sports with conservation.
The partnership, billed as Conservation Night, brought the Aquarium’s “Animal Athletes” program to the ballpark to teach fans about wildlife and the importance of keeping trash out of waterways.
The event included live animals, interactive games and hands-on activities that highlighted how animals use specialized skills in nature.
“We know that they are here and they are passionate about sports, so let’s get them passionate about nature as well,” said Shawn Brim, community program supervisor at the Tennessee Aquarium.
Visitors learned about animals including tiger salamanders and leopard geckos, while also taking part in challenges inspired by animal behavior.
Brim said the goal was to make conservation approachable by meeting people where they are.
“The primary goal of this event is to connect people with nature, plain and simple. Here we are connecting the sports world to the animal world, highlighting those animal athletes and those special skills in nature.”
Aquarium leaders say they hope a fun experience at a game can lead to lasting conservation habits.
“We’re looking to just spark that curiosity to hopefully spark that change down the road,” Brim said.
Brim said that change matters as environmental challenges continue to affect the Tennessee Valley, with pollution and microplastics among the major concerns for local waterways and wildlife.
“As plastics enter water streams, they end up in tiny pieces, and they do end up in the stomachs of freshwater animals like catfish and sturgeons,” Brim said.
Organizers emphasized that protecting rivers and ecosystems benefits more than wildlife, supporting cleaner water, healthier communities and a stronger quality of life across the region. They also said conservation efforts can start small.
“Figure out where you can have the most impact and where you can have a consistent impact from where you are,” Brim said.
Aquarium staff say they hope fans left with more than memories of the game, taking home a deeper appreciation for the animals and ecosystems that call Tennessee home.
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