Tennessee
What Nico Iamaleava said after Tennessee football's loss at Ohio State
What Nico Iamaleava said after Tennessee football’s loss at Ohio State
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tennessee’s path to the College Football Playoff had been paved with cold-from-behind wins.
On Saturday night at Ohio Stadium, the Vols didn’t have another comeback effort in them.
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM
Hindered by an uncharacteristic performance from its typically reliable defense and injuries, No. 9 Tennessee fell behind three scores in the first half against No. 8 Ohio State and didn’t have the offense to make up for it, leading to a 42-17 defeat that ended its season.
The Vols (10-3) had been plagued by slow starts through the first half of the season, more often than not able to find enough life to win.
They did it against Florida, Alabama and Vanderbilt in the triumph that clinched their first-ever playoff berth.
But that kind of start proved costly vs. the Buckeyes (11-2), who posted more than 430 yards of total offense and never came close to giving up their lead.
If there was any positive that could have been gleaned from Tennessee’s performance, it was quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Iamaleava, at times during those stagnant starts looked very much like a freshman quarterback trying to find his footing as a now full-time starter.
In the second half of the season, though Iamaleava was more poised and the Vols’ began flourish on that side of the ball.
Tennessee didn’t flourish in many areas on Saturday. What small doses of momentum they found almost always involved Iamaleava.
He ran the ball 20 times for 47 yards, extending drive and rushing for both of the Vols’ only touchdowns.
Here is everything Iamaleava said about the performance.
On if he expected to run the ball 20 times
“I mean, 20 (carries). No, I did not expect to run that many times. Some shots that were there, and overall as a team we didn’t just execute the whole game plan, so got to be better.”
On what disappointed him most about the performance
“Just started off slow. We were supposed to come in, had a great game plan to come in and fire first, and they hit us in the mouth first. We were just trying to recover that whole game. First half I thought we did a great job of that, and second half coming in I thought we could have played at a way higher level than we did.”
On what team can take away from loss
“I think just use it as motivation. We’ve been putting in work since January to get to this point, and it sucks to go out that way because that’s not who we are. love this team. I love the team we have. Just the way tonight went was not the way we wanted it to go, and we’ll use that as fuel and motivation during this off-season to really hit it.”
On what Tennessee needs to do to beat better teams on the road
“I think that all just comes to executing on the road. Like I said, our coaches gave us a great game plan, and us as players, as the team, we’re the ones out there on the field playing, and we’ve just got to hold ourselves to a higher standard and execute at a higher level.”
On Dylan Sampson and Dont’e Thornton Jr. dealing with injuries, how it effected the game
“Shoot, at the end of the day, man, whoever is out there, whether it’s a freshman or not, we’ve got to be able to execute the same way with those guys or not, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight.“
On the difference between running an offense at home and on the road
“I would just say there’s a crowd noise that plays a factor in how we play. We can’t play as fast as we want to without tempo, and that’s really the biggest factor was crowd noise.”
On what personnel Tennessee can add to open up the offense
“Obviously in the off-season, me, Coach Joey, and Coach Heup are always have conversations about how we can excel this offense, and it’ll be that in the off-season, too.”
On large contingent of Tennessee fans that were at Ohio Stadium
“I love it. Man, I was so happy to see all the orange in the stands. It sucks the performance we gave out for them, but I hope they get home safe, man. I really appreciate their support.”
Tennessee
Chronic wasting disease in Tennessee whitetail deer continues creeping eastward
WAYNE COUNTY, Tenn. — Chronic wasting disease (CWD) in whitetail deer continues creeping in an eastward direction in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has received the first-ever positive chronic wasting disease (CWD) test result in a road-killed deer found in Wayne County. Since Wayne County is already within the current CWD Management Zone, wildlife feeding and carcass transportation restrictions are already in place.
This means CWD has now been confirmed in 20 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. This is the third county where CWD has been confirmed East of Kentucky Lake, what some people hope might provide at least a partial impediment to CWD’s eastward expansion. The first CWD case confirmed in Tennessee came in 2018. Of course several cases have also been more recently identified in the northwest corner of Alabama.
In Wayne County, there are no changes to the deer hunting season dates and regulations. However, hunters are now eligible for the Earn-a-Buck Program. Hunters can earn additional bucks by harvesting antlerless deer in Wayne County and submitting them for testing. Hunters who have already submitted antlerless deer for testing this fall will be provided an earned buck. For more details on the CWD Management Zone and Incentive Programs, visit CWDinTN.org.
As a reminder, Wayne County is subject to the following wildlife feeding and carcass transportation restrictions:
- Deer carcasses can move within and between counties in the CWD Management Zone.
- Hunters may not move whole or field-dressed deer carcasses or unapproved parts outside of the CWD Management Zone. Only approved parts may be moved out of the CWD Management Zone.
- Once a carcass is brought into the CWD Management Zone, it cannot be moved out of the zone.
- Approved parts are free to be transported anywhere statewide. Approved parts are listed below:
- Deboned meat
- Antlers, antlers attached to cleaned skull plates, cleaned skulls (where no meat or tissues are attached to the skull)
- Cleaned teeth
- Finished taxidermy and antler products
- Hides and tanned products
- Within the CWD Management Zone, the placement of grain, salt products, minerals, and other consumable natural and manufactured products is prohibited.
- Feeding restrictions do not apply if the feed or minerals are:
- Placed within one hundred (100) feet of any residence or occupied building; or
- Placed in such a manner to reasonably exclude access by deer; or
- Placed as part of a wild hog management effort authorized by the agency; or present from normal agricultural practices, normal forest management practices, or crop and wildlife food production practices.
Hunter’s participation in CWD testing is critical for the continued surveillance and monitoring of CWD throughout the state.
Hunters can access CWD testing through participating taxidermists and meat processors or by using drop-off freezers.
The Wayne County drop-off freezer is available at: Beech Creek Fire Hall, 5775 Beech Creek Road, Waynesboro, TN 38485.
CWD is a progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system of cervids, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose.
The agency partners with certified laboratories to test samples, and TWRA has already submitted approximately 8,400 samples for testing this hunting season.
Tennessee
Titans QB Cam Ward Talks Past, Present and Future
NASHVILLE – Cam Ward discussed the past, present and the future on Wednesday.
During his regularly scheduled session with reporters, the Titans quarterback also discussed what it’s been like handling the pressure of being the number one pick and the face of the franchise.
“I just wake up and go about my business, honestly,” Ward said. “I don’t really see no pressure. I mean, I get to do something every day that I like to do. I’m going to always remember the hard times that I went through my rookie year. I’ll remember the good plays that I made in my rookie year. I’ll remember how many reporters came to report on the team one year. And I’ll remember in the next couple of years when there’s a lot more reporters out here trying to get footage on us.
“You’ve just got to continue to take your day by day process. We continue to feed into each other as the locker room, continue to give emphasis on the coaching staff, what we’re looking for ahead. And we’re ready to turn it back around.”
In 14 starts this season, Ward has thrown for 2,638 yards with 11 touchdown passes and seven interceptions.
He needs just 181 pass yards to break Marcus Mariota’s Tennessee record with 2,818 passing yards (in 2015).
Ward has shown improvement in recent weeks – he has back-to-back games with two touchdown passes (zero such games in his first 12 starts) and this past Sunday was his first career game without taking a sack (3.8 sacks per game in Weeks 1-14).
Ward discussed some of the highs and lows of his rookie season.
Ward said he feels like he hasn’t had his signature game yet while saying “I don’t think I’ll ever have a signature game in my career, honestly.”
“Every game there’s going to be some bad tape,” he said. “Whether it’s one play, two plays, from myself or another teammate. So I don’t really try to chase having a perfect game. I try to just chase having a good play every play. Because at the end of the day, I’m going to have a bad play. I’m going to throw another interception. I’m going to fumble the ball again at some point in my career. So the more I can continue to stress myself, limit the little bad plays and just continue to build on what I already know, what I’m good at, and then just continue to put the ball in space to my playmakers, I think that will serve me better in the long term.”
The Titans face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, and after that the team has games left vs the Saints and Jaguars.
Ward knows there will be changes on the horizon, including the team naming a new head coach for 2026.
Ward on Wednesday was asked if he wants to meet the head coaching candidates during the process.
He said he’s actually talked to Mike Borgonzi and Chad Brinker about the process.
“I want to meet all of them,” Ward said. “Every coach who’s going to get the opportunity to come here, I want to meet them, have conversations throughout the whole process with them because that’s someone that I’m going to be here with for that time. So, we got to just continue to — me being around and being open to it no matter whoever we try to hire because I know at the end of the day who we do hire is going to be the right fit for us. Whether it’s a defensive person or an offensive person, they’re going to make sure that every person is in the right place, and make sure every person is set up for success.
“Yeah, I have had a conversation with them about wanting to be involved. They know how much I want to be involved. And then especially just not even with the scheme part of it just as the head coach who he is on a everyday basis. And then, we’ll get into the scheme what I know I’m good at, what I want do, what he thinks will also help me.”
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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