Tennessee

Tennessee Titans hire long-time Chiefs executive as GM

Published

11 months ago

January 18, 2025

Tennessee Titans hire long-time Chiefs executive as GM

The Tennessee Titans hired Mike Borgonzi as their General Manager on Friday evening. A former four-time All-Ivy league fullback at Brown, he spent from 2009-2024 with the Kansas City Chiefs. Borgonzi worked under Scott Pioli, John Dorsey, and Brett Veach during his time in Kansas City.

Borgonzi and the Titans agreed to a five-year deal, which will put him in Nashville until 2029, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. He goes from aiming for a three-peat with the Chiefs to now having the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk delivered a statement on Borgonzi. “Mike’s experience speaks for itself: he has been part of the core team that delivered four AFC championships and three Super Bowls over the past five seasons,” she said. “It’s the type of standard I want to build here in Tennessee. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, and I’m excited for Mike to get started.”

Borgonzi has a very close relationship with Titans President of Football Operations Chad Brinker. “During Mike’s 16 years in the league, he has been a key part of transforming the Chiefs from a two-win team to a three-time Super Bowl champion,” Brinker said. “During our meetings, he articulated a clear plan to build a championship standard in Nashville through consistency, discipline, and hard work. I’ve admired him for many years, and I’m thrilled to add him to the team as our general manager.”

Borgonzi started with the Chiefs in 2009 and worked for several years in their scouting department. He was the director of player personnel in 2015 and their director of football operations in 2018. Over the span of those two promotions, the Chiefs became one of the league’s most consistent contenders. Soon after that, they became the most dominant team in the National Football League, with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes fueling their ascension to the top.

Brinker and the Titans conducted 10 initial interviews for the position between Jan. 10-13.

The Titans were one of three GM vacancies this offseason, along with the New York Jets and Las Vegas Raiders.

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Tennessee

Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal

Published

7 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

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

Published

19 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

When you have two legitimate Top 20 teams testing each other, it’s never inevitable.

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.

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Tennessee

A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee

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