Author: Gabby Har

With the NFL Draft quickly approaching, top college football players are headed to Indianapolis for the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.

This includes six former Tennessee football players who are continuing to make their cases to be selected in the upcoming draft.

The six join the total of 329 total players at the event. On-field workouts begin on Thursday and go through Sunday. You can stay up to date by tuning in on NFL Network.

The six Vols at the event are running back Dylan Sampson, wide receiver Bru McCoy, wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr., edge rusher James Pearce Jr., defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott and defensive tackle Elijah Simmons.

Sampson and Pearce are coming off breakout junior years allowing them to opt out of their additional eligibility. The other four have exhausted their collegiate eligibility.

While workouts begin Thursday, the event begins on Wednesday. Pearce, Norman-Lott and Simmons will meet with the media and teams conducting interview on the prospects.

On Thursday, the group of defensive linemen go through on-field workouts and will be measured. The event starts at 3 p.m. ET and airs on NFL Network.

Friday, the offensive pieces, Sampson, McCoy and Thornton will go through their rounds of meeting with the media and teams for interviews.

Then, Saturday, the trio do their on-field workouts and measurements. This begins at 1 p.m. ET on NFL Network.

The 2025 NFL Draft is scheduled for April 24-26. The first round will take place on April 24, second and third on April 25 and fourth-to-seventh on April 26.

This won’t be the last time former Tennessee standouts get a chance to showcase their skillsets ahead of the draft, though. On March 11, Tennessee Pro Day will be held.

This gives the group of Vols a chance to go through combine-style drills in front of scouts across the NFL. This includes players who attended the NFL Scouting Combine along with players such as Cooper Mays, Omari Thomas and Javontez Spraggins who are entering the draft but did not receive an invite.

JJ Watt saw a bright future six years ago for Tennessee’s Elijah Simmons, then a Pearl-Cohn football player, and now his prediction is coming true.

At the 2019 NFL Draft in Nashville, Simmons stood on stage alongside 12 other Nashville area high school football players as the Titans made their first-round selection, Jeffery Simmons.

Standing at 6-foot-2, 344 pounds his senior year at Pearl-Cohn, Simmons dwarfed many of his fellow TSSAA athletes on stage, leading Watt, a three-time defensive player of the year winner, to jokingly request his team draft Simmons.

“Can we draft #72 from the Tennessee metro high school team?” Watt asked in a tweet. “Kid looks like a beast.”

On Tuesday, ESPN pointed out the most important spring recruiting visit for each of the top programs in college football and their choice for the Tennessee Vols is one of the top defensive players in the 2026 class.

ESPN thinks that 2026 five-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson, 6-foot-2/210 lbs from Grayson, GA, will be the Vols’ most important visitor this spring.

Atkinson, who hasn’t officially scheduled his spring visit with Tennessee yet, is originally from Knoxville (though he only briefly lived in Knoxville).

The five-star recruit is rated in 247Sports’ composite rankings as the No. 1 linebacker in the nation and the No. 8 overall player in the 2026 recruiting class. He’s also rated as the No. 1 player in the state of Georgia.

The Georgia Bulldogs have been viewed by some folks as the leader for Atkinson. And the Clemson Tigers are very much in the mix, too (Atkinson will reportedly visit Clemson this weekend).

The Tennessee Volunteers could have one player potentially be drafted in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Defensive lineman James Pearce Jr. participated in the NFL scouting combine on Thursday in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Linebackers and defensive linemen were the main story of the NFL combine on Thursday. This past season with the Volunteers, he recorded 38 tackles, 7.5 sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and one pass deflection. Pearce Jr. is 6’5″ and weighs 243 lbs.

James Pearce Jr. ran a 40-yard dash during the NFL scouting combine on Thursday. Many people are interested in how prospects run the 40-yard dash during the scouting combine. The former Tennessee Volunteers defensive lineman caught a lot of attention during those runs on Thursday.

He ran a 4.50 40-yard dash in his first try and got a 4.47 40-yard dash in his second try. It was the best amongst defensive linemen for the 40-yard dash during the 2024 NFL scouting combine. This is what some of the fans had to say about his 40-yard dash timing:

A lot of people are surprised at what he ran during the 2025 NFL scouting combine. He was already projected to be a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. For teams who need a pass rusher, there is no doubt that many teams will have a high-grade on Pearce Jr.

Despite the 2025 NBA Draft being viewed as one of the top classes in recent history from a talent standpoint, Duke star freshman Cooper Flagg remains the consensus top pick as he’s producing at a First-Team All-American level. While he’s in a close battle with Auburn’s Johni Broome for the National Player of the Year race, he’ll still go down as one of the best freshmen in college history.

Even though Flagg’s play has been more than enough to be selected as a top pick in the 2025 Draft, talk about a return to Duke for his sophomore season has been sparked ever since Flagg commented on it in an interview with The Athletic. There’s no doubt the Duke fans want him back, especially after their chants to him during Monday’s win over Wake Forest. However, Flagg may opt to return if his future NBA destination isn’t what he desires.

Revealed in an article by Andy Staples of On3, Flagg could potentially withdraw from the 2025 NBA Draft if he isn’t pleased with which team lands the first overall pick in the draft lottery. Since the deadline to withdraw from the draft is on June 15th and the lottery occurs on May 12th, Flagg will have just over a month to think on his decision with his camp.

The reality of the situation is that number one picks aren’t always going to end up where they want to be since the teams selecting at the top of the draft tend to be in poor situations. With small market teams like the Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, and Utah Jazz all in contention to land the first pick, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Flagg didn’t want to go to any of those teams.

However, Flagg postponing his arrival to the NBA would only push back his eventual nine-figure payday on a rookie extension that could reach up to $400 million. Flagg opting to withdraw from the draft after the lottery would be unprecedented, but the NBA has shown us this season that anything can happen.

The Blue Devil rookie had fun with the Cameron Crazies while leaving his home floor for the final time

Senior Night for the Duke basketball program can sometimes be referred to as ‘Freshman Night’ with the likelihood that the rookies on the team would leave for the NBA Draft after just one season and that was true on Monday as the No. 2 Blue Devils hosted Wake Forest.

Yes, the seniors were honored during another shellacking of an ACC team by Duke but its loudest cheers were for Cooper Flagg as he left the floor at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the final time.

Flagg mentioned weeks ago that he would love to stay as the Blue Devils for another year in a perfect world, but it won’t happen as the superstar is the heavy favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft in June.

He leaned into the fun when checking out of the game in the final minutes of the 93-60 victory with the Cameron Crazies chanting “one more year!” as he greeted his teammates on the bench.

Flagg responded “run it back” multiple times as his father, Ralph, also made the same gesture.

It’s not uncommon for a star freshman at Duke to claim that wish they were able to return before being a top selection in the NBA Draft as Zion Williamson and Kyrie Irving expressed the same sentiments before being the first selection.

However, the decisions of players whether to remain in college or head to the NBA becomes much more interesting due to Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) money they can receive.

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood urged Cooper Flagg to remain in college last week when the Blue Devils throttled the Illini at Madison Square Garden but the idea that Flagg would delay his second NBA contract, which is usually the most lucrative in a player’s career, by returning to Duke seems very far-fetched.

Flagg certainly ended his Cameron Indoor Stadium career with one of his best performances, finishing with 28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals, and three blocks.

He will look to cap off an incredible regular season on Saturday night (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) as Duke (26-3, 17-1 ACC) battles North Carolina (19-11, 12-6 ACC) before entering the ACC Tournament next week.

The Indiana Hoosiers have been one of the most confusing teams in all of college basketball this season. The Hoosiers started the year ranked inside the top 25, but a downward spiral began in January for the team based in Bloomington, Indiana. During one stretch, Indiana lost 9 of its last 11 games.

This uncertain stretch, coupled with the constant rumblings from the Hoosier faithful, led Mike Woodson to feel as though he might need to step down from the program at the end of the season. However, Indiana has since turned things around in the final stretch of the regular season, winning three straight games in convincing fashion.

With the head coaching position set to open at the conclusion of the season, Indiana has begun to map out potential candidates to become the 31st head coach of the program. Several names have emerged in recent weeks, with some candidates being long shots, while others are legitimate options to take over in Bloomington.

One name that’s gaining traction is Clemson head coach Brad Brownell. Brownell has the Tigers at 24-5 overall, currently second in the ACC behind No. 2 Duke. He has led Clemson to 4 NCAA Tournament appearances and guided the team to its first-ever Elite Eight last season.

Indiana analyst Seth Tow provided this reasoning for why Brownell might be a fit for the Hoosiers:

“Brownell does also have some Indiana ties. He grew up in Evansville and was high-school teammates with Calbert Cheaney, before attending college at DePauw. Brownell also spent one year as an assistant at Evansville and two at UIndy,” Tow wrote.

This is an interesting situation, considering Brownell recently signed a contract extension through 2029. As of now, there have been no clear favorites to land the job.

For now, the players are backing Woodson, hoping to give him a special sendoff.

In a stunning twist, Malik Reneau, one of the nation’s top basketball recruits, has decided to stay close to home and commit to the Indiana Hoosiers, turning down a staggering $865 million offer from the Tennessee Volunteers. The decision has sent shockwaves through the college basketball world, with many analysts praising Reneau’s loyalty and dedication to his roots.

Reneau, a highly touted forward from Indianapolis, was initially caught in the crosshairs of a heated recruitment battle between the two powerhouse programs. Tennessee’s offer, a monumental deal that included a combination of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) opportunities, endorsement deals, and future partnership arrangements, seemed to be an enticing prospect for any high school athlete. However, after careful deliberation, Reneau chose to stay in his home state, opting to play for legendary coach Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers.

The decision is seen as a major win for Indiana, which has been rebuilding its program and seeking to reclaim its spot among college basketball’s elite. Reneau’s talent, both offensively and defensively, is expected to make an immediate impact on the Hoosiers’ roster, adding a new dimension to their already strong squad.

For Tennessee, the loss of Reneau is a significant blow, as the Volunteers were banking on his commitment to solidify their recruiting class. However, the $865 million offer has sparked new conversations about the increasing role of NIL in shaping the future of college athletics.

As Reneau embarks on his career at Indiana, all eyes will be on how his decision influences future recruits and the evolution of college basketball in this new era of NIL-driven deals.

The Duke Blue Devils went to Miami and blasted the Hurricanes on Tuesday evening, 97-60, an entirely unsurprising result considering the current trajectory of both programs.

Miami – who dropped to 2-15 in ACC play – is entering a new era after longtime head coach Jim Larranaga abruptly announced his retirement in December in the midst of another disappointing season.

Recent reports indicate the ‘Canes are working to hire Duke associate head coach Jai Lucas, which made Tuesday’s game a little more interesting for Miami fans who got a look at the present and potential future of the program.

Duke’s current head coach – Jon Scheyer – addressed the rumors surrounding his right-hand man on Tuesday.

“Jai is a special coach,” Scheyer said. “We’ve been through a lot together for three years. He’s everything you could want…He’s a great coach, bottom line. Our friendship will always be there no matter what.”

Lucas has been at Duke the last three seasons, and prior to that spent two years under John Calipari at Kentucky. He also spent seven years at Texas, working his way from Director of Basketball Operations to assistant coach.

The hiring has not been finalized, with recent reports saying the two sides are still negotiating. Start date is among the issues being discussed, as Miami certainly wants a coach in place prior to March 24 when the transfer portal opens, while Duke could conceivably still be playing into April if they make the Final Four.

Next up for Miami is a road game in Chapel Hill against North Carolina on Saturday, March 1 at 12:00 PM ET on ESPN.