Tennessee

Tennessee Titans’ best moments: When AJ Brown shook off four Ravens for TD

Published

6 months ago

July 21, 2025

Tennessee Titans’ best moments: When AJ Brown shook off four Ravens for TD

It is here, at No. 19 on our countdown of the best Tennessee Titans moments, I can reveal that this is our only entry primarily about a wide receiver.

We’ll mention some other guys here and there. Kevin Dyson, Drew Bennett, Derrick Mason, Chris Sanders, Courtney Roby, Justin McCareins, Kenny Britt, Nate Washington, Lavelle Hawkins and Corey Davis are all going to come up. But the arc of Titans history bends away from wide receivers.

Is this the burden of following the Titans? Your team can develop generational running backs, safeties and punters, but excitement from the most exciting position on the field must always elude you. Are the Titans a modern-day Tantalus, and star wide receivers nothing but the juicy, dangling fruit just outside of your reach?

Honestly . . . maybe?

Think back to Nov. 22, 2020.

The Titans are facing the Baltimore Ravens in an eerily quiet COVID-restricted stadium. Baltimore’s up 21-16 with two minutes left, but the Titans are driving. QB Ryan Tannehill drops back and finds A.J. Brown running an in-breaking route just across the 10-yard line. Brown makes the catch and is immediately apprehended by safety Chuck Clark, about six yards shy of the first-down marker.

Brown shrugs Clark off, flipping his hips and reorienting toward the sideline. Cornerback Marcus Peters lurches, but Brown wiggles away and reorients again, this time toward the end zone. Now it’s cornerback Marlon Humphrey’s turn to take a swing at Brown, who sidesteps Humphrey and lowers his shoulder into linebacker Patrick Queen, leg-driving him six yards into the end zone.

Clark, Peters, Humphrey and Queen have combined to make nine Pro Bowls and six All-Pro teams. Brown ran through them like tearaway banners before a high school football jamboree.

In so many ways, Brown was the ideal Titans receiver. Big, strong, muscled like a running back, yet graceful and agile enough to glide through the open field and down the sideline. A modern-day Terrell Owens, both on the field and, well . . . you know the rest.

This moment stands out for precisely that reason. Brown wasn’t just the best young receiver the Titans ever developed. He was a great, young, homegrown talent who so perfectly encapsulated the identity the Titans spent 20 years forging up to that point.

This play highlights that. This moment is the precise instant when the Titans finally found their kind of star receiver.

For however briefly it lasted.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

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Tennessee

Deputies perform ‘life-saving measures’ after 5-year-old falls into swimming pool in Tennessee

Published

7 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Deputies perform ‘life-saving measures’ after 5-year-old falls into swimming pool in Tennessee

FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A Tennessee sheriff’s office is asking the community to pray for a family whose 5-year-old was hospitalized after falling into a swimming pool.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said deputies and family members were “administering life-saving measures” Thursday afternoon after pulling the child out of the water.

The child was then transferred to a hospital, where they are still being treated.

“The child was subsequently transported to the hospital, where they are currently receiving medical care‚” said a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office. “Out of respect for the family’s privacy, no further details will be released at this time.”

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Tennessee

Why first quarter was ‘crucial’ in Mississippi State’s loss to Tennessee

Published

19 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Why first quarter was ‘crucial’ in Mississippi State’s loss to Tennessee

Sam Purcell felt good about the game plan for Mississippi State women’s basketball’s matchup with Tennessee.

But the Bulldogs gave up 26 points in the first quarter and trailed by seven points. It was a deficit they never recovered from in a 90-80 loss to the Lady Vols at Humphrey Coliseum on Jan. 8.

“You look at that that first quarter, I thought it was crucial. We had a great scout, a great game plan, but we didn’t talk on ball screens,” Purcell said. “Their largest quarter was that first quarter, and we’re going to watch back and go, dang it, we need to be more vocal. And you got to give them credit – top to bottom, they’re probably as good as anybody in the country with athleticism. So you can’t let those athletic kids turn the corner for wide open layups, and we did.”

Kharyssa Richardson and Madison Francis led the Bulldogs with 22 points each, but MSU didn’t have enough defense to pull off the upset.

Had Mississippi State been able to slow down Tennessee’s drivers in the first quarter, it may have been a different result. But once the Bulldogs started slowing that down, the Lady Vols were “phenomenal hitting some big-time shots,” Purcell said.

Tennessee only had the edge in points in the paint, 42-40, but it also went 10-for-27 on 3-pointers, which was an area Mississippi State couldn’t match. The Bulldogs shot 2-for-13 from deep.

MSU also couldn’t stop Tennessee freshman point guard Mia Pauldo, who scored a game-high 26 points on 8-for-12 shooting. The Bulldogs sent her to the foul line time and time again, and she went 8-for-9 on free throws.

“I thought (Pauldo) was poised, she was clutch,” Purcell said. “Obviously, that’s what you need in games like this that are gonna come down the to the wire. You need players to step up, and I thought she was the X factor for them.”

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Former Tennessee Football Legend Accepts SEC Coaching Gig

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Former Tennessee Football Legend Accepts SEC Coaching Gig

The Tennessee Volunteers have been one of the main teams when it comes to producing talent and sending talent to the NFL, which is something that has often been discovered as a standard for the football program. This is something that has been going on for quite some time and isn’t anything new to the news cycle, as the Vols have been able to produce plenty of talented prospects.

Tennessee is the home of many stars, including some of the best defensive players in SEC history. Guys like Eric Berry have found their way through the Tennessee program and onto the NFL, where they would have legendary careers. However, the defensive side of the football is the only side that has produced plenty of talent, as Tennessee has produced a lot of offensive talent as well. With the likes of Peyton Manning and company, the Vols have shown a great track record in getting talent drafted.

The Vols have produced someone who could be considered as one of the best players to play the Tide end position, as the Knoxville, Tennessee program is the home to Dallas Cowboys legend, Jason Witten. Witten is someone who made the most of his career and has been viewed as a top player at the Tide in position, and someone who is often referred to as a legend for the Cowboys, along with being a legend in the game of football as a whole.

Jason Witten Accepts TE Coach Position For Oklahoma

Oct 10, 2010; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten (82) on the phone in the bench area in the fourth quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Cowboys Stadium. The Titans beat the Cowboys 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images | Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

Witten is now taking a new gig, which has him in a huge role inside the Southeastern Conference. The Vols legend is now the tight end coach for the Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners have had some success out of their tight ends in the past, but the sky is the limit with a guy like Witten coaching up the players. Witten has the opportunity to do really well, as coaching tight ends won’t be an issue, and you have to imagine that he will be able to recruit very well, considering he has a huge name around him, as this is something that we have seen from positional coaches as well as head coaches who have done great work in the league. You have to imagine that the Vols will now have stiff competition for his son, Cooper, who is a five-star recruit for the upcoming 2027 class at the linebacker position.