Tee Martin speaking about the Tennessee Vols coaching job and recruiting shakeups lead the Volunteers news for Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017.
The Jeremy Pruitt era continues on with the Tennessee Vols football program, and we have lots of updates to bring you regarding that on this Thursday. With the new Star Wars movie set to come out tonight, the Force is not clear on whether or not it’s with Rocky Top.
However, our morning report involves shakeups, good or bad. It also involves a former Vol speaking out about the coaching search in Knoxville.
Oh, and despite no games this week, basketball season is still going on. And there are a couple of huge games coming for the men and women that team members talked about Wednesday.
So let’s get to all of that, starting with football news.
Tee Martin speaks about Vols coaching job – Mike Wilson, Knoxville News Sentinel
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Tee Martin revealed that he did talk about the football coaching opportunity. However, he was only interested in returning to Knoxville under one circumstance. This original report came from the Twitter account of TrojanInsider.com’s Scott Schrader. Here is the quote from Martin.
"“It was a situation where if I was going to go back to Tennessee, it was to be as the head coach, not as a coordinator. I made that message very clear. When I was out of that discussion, they moved on to do what they had to do.”"
Tennessee football gains recommit, loses two QBs – ESPN.com
The Tennessee Vols lost their two four-star quarterback commitments on Wednesday, Adrian Martinez and Michael Penix, for 2018. However, Jeremy Pruitt did pick up his first commitment himself with Alontae Taylor, an athlete, recommitting to the Vols.
"Martinez, a 6-foot-2, 198-pound quarterback from Fresno, California, flopped his commitment from Tennessee to Nebraska.…Penix, a Tampa, Florida, prospect, announced his decommitment on Twitter, three days after receiving a scholarship offer from Florida State and new head coach Willie Taggart."
Tennessee men’s basketball discusses North Carolina – UTSports
Key members of the Tennessee Vols spoke on Wednesday to talk about the next big Tennessee basketball match-up.
"Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes and sophomore forward Grant Williams visited with media Wednesday before practice to preview UT’s upcoming home game against seventh-ranked North Carolina on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ESPN)."
Tennessee Lady Vols discuss California trip – UTSports
Key members of the Tennessee Vols women’s basketball team spoke on Wednesday about a key upcoming trip to California that includes a huge game against a ranked team.
"Senior Jaime Nared and Head Coach Holly Warlick met with members of the media prior to No. 7/7 Tennessee’s practice on Wednesday. The Lady Vols are preparing to leave for California, where they will face Long Beach State (2-7) on Sunday before traveling north to play No. 18/17 Stanford (5-4) on Dec. 21."