Big Orange Report February 19, 2026

 

Basketball Roundup

The Tennessee Men picked up a pair of wins over unranked opponents last week but the squad is still being haunted by second half struggles. The Vols beat Mississippi State by 10 points and then rallied to down LSU by nine. Those two squads have a combined SEC record of 6-18. Vol fans are thankful that five star freshman Nate Ament has stepped up to lead and propel Tennessee to recent victories.

UT will host Oklahoma  on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. before traveling to Nashville on Saturday to face Vanderbilt at 1:30. Both these games will be televised on ESPN2.

Coach Kim Caldwell's Lady Vols lost a two-point heartbreaker on Sunday to Texas, a team that is projected to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Tennessee had blown Missouri out of the gym by 45 points during the midweek contest. The freshmen on this team are starting to play more like sophomores and by tournament time the Lady Vols might be a dangerous opponent for most any team.

This will be a busy week for Tennessee. Following a makeup game vs. Ole Miss on Tuesday, UT will host Texas A&M on Thursday and then travel to Oklahoma on Saturday. The game against OU will be televised on one of the ESPN networks.

Diamond Vols Roar Out of the Gate

Tennessee's baseball and softball teams have hit the ground running as both squads have rolled to impressive starts to the spring season. The baseball squad completed an easy three game sweep over Nicholls State in Knoxville by out scoring the visitors 27-3.

The starting pitching was impressive. Projected ace Tegan Kuhns fanned eight and did not allow an earned run in the Friday opener. The Saturday doubleheader produced two more sterling starts as Landon Mack and Evan Blanco each struck out nine batters in their respective assignments. The bullpen held serve in all three games and the team has three relievers that are on a watchlist competing for "Fireman of the Year" honors in college baseball this season.

The Big Orange offense was also hitting on all cylinders in the sweep. Sophomore outfielder Blaine Brown's numbers jumped off the stat sheet on Saturday. Brown was 6 for 11 at the plate, scored six runs, jacked out three homeruns and totaled 5 RBI in the pair of victories. The Volunteers will host Kent State for a weekend series beginning on Friday.

The softball program is off to one of, if not the best start in the history of the team. Tennessee is 10-0 after rolling through two prestigious tournaments in Clearwater, Florida. During those two events, the Lady Vols beat six schools that were ranked in the top 25 and four teams that were listed among the nation's top 10. Five of the wins were run rule victories including an 11-0 route of then No. 6 ranked UCLA on Saturday. Tennessee outscored opponents in the 10 wins 76-3.

UT has a deep pitching staff and used ace Karlyn Pickens mainly in relief over the weekend. Pickens is now 3-0, has not allowed an earned run and has fanned 31 batters in 24 innings. Perhaps the early surprise has been sophomore Erin Nuwer. She sports a 5-0 record and has not yielded any runs thus far. Nuwer has 24 strikeouts in 20 innings of work this season.

The offense has been almost as good as the pitching. The lineup has blasted 13 homeruns and sports a team batting average of .313. The Lady Vols head to Birmingham this weekend for an invitational tournament hosted by UAB.

 Football News

Tennessee was looking for a secondary coach after recently hired cornerback coach Michael Hunter had a cup of coffee in Knoxville and then left to take a job in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams. Hunter, who was hand picked to join the staff by new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, is a young, energetic coach with a very bright future in the profession.

Knowles and head coach Josh Heupel didn't waste much time finding a replacement because they wanted the staff to be complete before spring drills get underway next month. On Sunday, the sports information office announced that veteran secondary coach Derrick Jones had been hired to replace Hunter. Jones spent the last five seasons at Virginia Tech but he was well known to Knowles. The two new staffers worked together at Duke during the 2010-17 seasons.  

Spring practice opens on March 16th. The annual intersquad scrimmage is set for April 11 at Neyland Stadium and admission will be free to all fans that desire to attend. There will be plenty first year Vols to check out as the roster has been bolstered by 20 players from the transfer portal and 24 freshmen who were early enrollees in school.

There was a court hearing last Friday concerning Joey Aguilar's petition to gain another year of eligibility at Tennessee. His lawsuit against the NCAA is one of several legal actions across the country concerning players seeking an addition year to participate in college ball. The judge in this case did not elect to rule on the case immediately but the court's decision should be announced at some point this week.  

Reports from winter workouts are very encouraging at this point in time. The completely new training and nutrition staffs have been getting rave reviews from some of the players. The bottom line is that it is a different level of physical workouts that are 180 degrees opposite from the last few winters.  

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