Tennessee

T’Vondre Sweat highlights: Tennessee Titans NFL Draft second-round pick shows off strength

Published

2 weeks ago

April 27, 2024

T’Vondre Sweat highlights: Tennessee Titans NFL Draft second-round pick shows off strength

The Tennessee Titans began retooling the defensive front by picking Texas DT T’Vondre Sweat with the 38th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. This comes after the Titans selected Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham with pick No. 7 in Round 1.

Sweat will bring immediate size to the defensive line, standing at 6-foot-4 and 362-pounds. He won the Outland Trophy last season, which is awarded to the best interior lineman in college football as Texas made it to the college football playoff semifinal, falling to Washington.

Here’s a look at Sweat’s college highlights:

T’Vondre Sweat highlights: Tennessee Titans NFL Draft second-round pick highlights

Sweat played in 62 games in five seasons at Texas, starting in 18 games, eight of which came last season. He recorded career highs in tackles (45), tackles for loss (8), solo tackles (18) and sacks (2) last season.

Given his size, Sweat doesn’t possess an explosive burst off the line. But with his size, opposing defensive lineman will be hard pressed to prevent his pressure. That size helped Sweat bully his way inside and record four pass breakups and one blocked kick last season.

He became the fifth defensive tackle from Texas to be a unanimous All-American selection and was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

More: Meet T’Vondre Sweat of Texas, the Tennessee Titans’ second-round 2024 NFL Draft pick

More: Tennessee Titans drafted a project in JC Latham because of trust in Bill Callahan | Estes

T’Vondre Sweat scores lone career touchdown

Sweat’s highlights consist of bursts of strength as he bullies his way inside, yet he showed off his hands in the Big 12 championship game against Oklahoma State last season.

Sweat hauled in a touchdown reception last season, becoming the fifth Texas lineman in history to score an offensive touchdown.

Sweat hit the Heisman pose after the reception and although he wasn’t a candidate for that award, he did take home the Outland Trophy, being named the best interior lineman in college football last season.

What is T’Vondre Sweat’s weight

Standing at 6-foot-4 and weighing over 350-pounds, Sweat’s frame is perhaps his greatest weapon.

While not exceedingly mobile, Sweat possesses the ability to shed his defender in large part due to his elite strength. When the opposing quarterback or ball carrier scurries into Sweat’s path, more likely than not he’s wrapping them up and taking them down.

With just over 33-inch arms, Sweat’s reach coupled with his height not only allows him to push past his defender but then quickly swallow whoever is in his sights.

Harrison Campbell covers high school sports and more for The Daily Herald. Email him at hcampbell@gannett.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccampbell7.

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Tennessee

Deadly tornado slams Tennessee: Everything we know

Published

4 hours ago

May 8, 2024

Press Room

Deadly tornado slams Tennessee: Everything we know

One person was killed after severe thunderstorms ripped through the Middle Tennessee region on Wednesday, triggering a “violent” tornado to touch down in Maury County, according to weather officials.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a tornado emergency—the service’s highest alert level—for Maury, Williamson and Rutherford counties just before 6 p.m. CDT, according to The Tennessean. NWS Nashville’s office shortly afterward posted to X, formerly Twitter, that a “large, violent” tornado was “on the ground” near Spring Hill, roughly 36 miles south of Nashville.

Officials with the Maury Country Regional Hospital confirmed to local news outlets that at least one person died from storm-related injuries. Three other individuals suffered non-life-threatening injuries and another was in serious condition, according to reports from The Tennessean and WKRN.

Additional information about the death was not immediately available. Newsweek reached out to the Maury County Regional Hospital via email for additional information on Wednesday night.

In this aerial view, a building sits severely damaged by a tornado on April 3 in Sunbright, Tennessee. A deadly tornado was reported in the Middle Tennessee region Wednesday evening as violent storms ripped through…

Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

The Context

Tornado watches were issued for six states ahead of Wednesday’s storms into early Thursday morning by NWS. Weather officials said that preliminary assessments found that a EF-2 tornado touched down in Hot Springs, Arkansas, just after 12:30 a.m. CDT Wednesday, according to KARK.

A tornado emergency was also issued for parts of Michigan on Tuesday evening—a first for the Great Lakes State—as severe storms ripped through portions of Michigan as well as Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri.

What We Know

Property damage and scattered debris were reported in the area by the Maury County Office of Emergency Management, which in a series of posts to Facebook also urged residents to stay home and off the roadways while the tornado tore through the county. Video of the twister was also captured by a station camera with the Tennessee Valley Weather group, which was shared to X by radar analyst Bryan Wilson.

WE JUST CAPTURED A LARGE WEDGE ON OUR STATION 3 LIVE CAM IN COLUMBIA; A TORNADO EMERGENCY IS IN EFFECT WITH THIS CELL. TAKE SHELTER NOW! #tnwx pic.twitter.com/QHRZV6UGII
— 📡 Bryan Wilson 📡 (@DualDoppler) May 8, 2024

Threats of high winds, hail and flooding are expected to continue into early Thursday morning for parts of Middle Tennessee. A flash-food emergency was also issued north of Nashville in Sumner and Robertson counties. The NWS said in a weather alert that water rescues in those areas were ongoing and that the flooding was life-threatening.

Storm-related damage was also reported in parts of North Carolina on Wednesday evening. According to USA Today’s power outage tracker, as of 8 p.m. CDT, over 100,000 people were left without power across the state after the storms. Over 31,000 outages were reported across Tennessee at the time of publication.

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Tennessee

New lawsuit renews challenge to Tennessee laws targeting crossover voting in primary elections

Published

11 hours ago

May 8, 2024

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New lawsuit renews challenge to Tennessee laws targeting crossover voting in primary elections

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Tennessee

Tennessee is worst in the nation in supporting caregivers, but here’s how to change that

Published

18 hours ago

May 8, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee is worst in the nation in supporting caregivers, but here’s how to change that

It’s time for Tennessee to acknowledge the tireless efforts these family caregivers provide and pay them for their work

Vanessa Zapata
| Guest Columnist

Vanessa Zapata is an attorney and the director of health policy and equity at the Tennessee Justice Center.

Tennessee ranks last in all 50 states and D.C. in its treatment of family caregivers according to a 2023 AARP report.

This comes as no surprise to Tennessee families who must care for loved ones with disabilities and/or who are aging.

The expectations and stress related to family caregiving are too high and have become unsustainable.

Every day, families reach a breaking point, as one family caregiver explained, “I would like there to be 24/7 support for my son in the family home. He would get this support in any other residential setting, but since he lives with me, it’s expected that I will do everything over 40 hours a week for free. It’s just too much to expect of any person. It’s no wonder that family caregivers go into crisis. Can’t live on four hours of sleep indefinitely.”

During the COVID-19 public health emergency, many states paid family caregivers as a method of protecting medically frail individuals during the pandemic. This experiment helped states understand that paying family caregivers is not only a tool to keep vulnerable community members safe and out of an institutional setting. It also provides critical relief for the family caregiver. It’s time for Tennessee to join this trend and pay these unsung heroes for their work. We can do this through Medicaid Structured Family Caregiving.

Change the system so it works for Tennessee families

Compensating family caregivers is a strategic investment in healthcare. Studies consistently show that family care at home significantly decreases health care utilization such as ER use. Paying family caregivers also recognizes caregivers as integral members of the healthcare team for the person supported. Not only will this prevent the undervaluing of their work but will also promote equity as Black and Hispanic households are more likely to take on family caregiving roles.

Right now, our state’s Medicaid program, TennCare, only has the option of “Consumer Direction” as an indirect way for family caregivers to be compensated.

However, many families have found this option to be impossible to implement. The most impractical barrier for many families is that immediate family members or any person that lives with the person supported, or even lived with the person in the last five years, cannot be paid through Consumer Direction. This structure just doesn’t work for many families.

But we can change the system so that it does work for those who are aging, those that have disabilities, and their families. Implementing this policy requires thoughtful analysis of what Tennessee families experience today, the experience during COVID, and what other states are trying now.

One option that Tennessee can study is Georgia’s state agency, Health Force of Georgia, which manages hiring and paying family caregivers. Another option is the agency-directed model, where family members are hired by existing agencies, as seen in Oregon.

Care giving should not become a financial burden

It’s time to acknowledge the tireless efforts these family caregivers provide and pay them for their work.

They shouldn’t have to choose between caring for a loved one and financially supporting their family.

This not only helps value their work but also reaches the heart of what our TennCare program is about – providing healthcare to Tennesseans.

Vanessa Zapata is an attorney and the director of health policy and equity at the Tennessee Justice Center. She provides direct services to individuals having issues navigating public benefits programs like TennCare Medicaid. She advocates for policies that strengthen public benefits programs, remove access barriers to these programs, and promotes health equity.

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