The absence of school due to Covid-19 pandemic hasn't stopped the local high school basketball coaching carousel. Here's a look at the jobs that have recently opened up and why. … [Read more...]
What’s it like to be recruited by former NBA Star Patrick Ewing
by JESSE SMITHEY Admittedly, Dante Harris didn’t know much about Patrick Ewing when Georgetown began recruiting him. To Harris, the senior standout point guard from Lakeway Christian Academy, Ewing was just the big 7-footer he used from time to … [Read more...]
ALTERED UNIFORMS, part II — Alcoa Tornadoes, Maryville Rebels
By Jesse Smithey We hope you enjoyed Part I of our Altered Uniform Series that we unveiled Monday. Part II takes you into Blount County. Again, we commissioned Chad Fields (@CFieldsVFL on Twitter) to reimagine and redesign the uniforms and … [Read more...]
ALTERED UNIFORMS, part I – Greenback Cherokees, Central Bobcats
By JESSE SMITHEY Full discloser: I’m a sucker for a great sports uniform. As an impressionable teenager in the early 1990s, I fell in love with the revolution set forth by the Fab Five's baggy Michigan basketball uniforms. I bit on the lure of … [Read more...]
ORAL HISTORY II: Maryville at William Blount, 2007
By JESSE SMITHEY Beating Maryville in a high school football game has been no easy task, especially during the last two decades. The Rebels claimed 13 state titles and four runner-up finishes in the last 20 years, a span which also included … [Read more...]
Alcoa football star Isiah Cox getting SEC offers; where do the Vols stand?
By JESSE SMITHEY Scholarship offers are coming in at a steadier pace for Isiah Cox these days. More so, they’re getting more and more noteworthy, too. … [Read more...]
McMinn County football flashing brighter on the recruiting radar
By JESSE SMITHEY Bo Cagle, the longtime football coach at McMinn County High School, enjoyed a 9-1 mark in the regular season last fall. The lone loss came to eventual 6A state champion Maryville, and the Cherokees managed to host a playoff … [Read more...]
NEXT BIG THING, part VI: West Valley Middle eighth-grader Brooks Wright commits to Vols baseball
By JESSE SMITHEY Brooks Wright wasn't even halfway through his eighth-grade year this year at West Valley Middle School when he started hearing from University of Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello. That's what happens when you've been … [Read more...]
All-American and MLB Draft prospect Ryan Hagenow preparing for anything and everything
By JESSE SMITHEY It was sometime around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday when Ryan Hagenow walked into an unassuming baseball facility sandwiched between a Waffle House restaurant and a Harley Davidson shop on Lovell Road. The senior from Farragut High School … [Read more...]
NOT DONE YET: TSSAA Board of Control unanimously favors to keep hopes alive for basketball and spring sports
By JESSE SMITHEY While basketball and spring sports seasons in the NCAA have long since been terminated by the Coronavirus pandemic, the TSSAA Board of Control wasn't ready Tuesday to wipe the high school state basketball tournaments or Spring … [Read more...]