Nashville Pride

Tee Martin returns to Rocky Top as assistant football coach

NASHVILLE PRIDE — Tennessee football Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt announced the hiring of former Volunteer quarterback and 1998 national champion Tee Martin as an assistant coach.

Published

6 years ago

January 30, 2019

Oakland Post

By Pride Newsdesk

Knoxville–Tennessee football Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt announced the hiring of former Volunteer quarterback and 1998 national champion Tee Martin as an assistant coach on Saturday.

Martin’s specific title and duties will be announced in the coming days.

The Tennessee legend returns to Rocky Top following a seven-year stint on the staff at Southern California where he had coached wide receivers since 2012 and added responsibilities as passing game coordinator in 2014 and offensive coordinator at the end of the 2015 season.

“I’m excited to welcome back Tee Martin as one of our assistant coaches,” Pruitt said. “He coordinated some of the nation’s top offenses at USC, and he develops and identifies players as well as any coach in the country. He’s an excellent recruiter, and he is terrific at building relationships with his players. He cares about developing young men on and off the field. Tee was the quarterback on one of the greatest teams in school history, winning a national championship. He knows what it take to win here, and I’m excited to have him on our staff.”

Martin was named the 247Sports National Recruiter of the Year in 2016 and tabbed a semifinalist for the Broyles Award in 2017. He helped lead the Trojans to a Rose Bowl victory in 2016 and the Pac-12 Championship and a Cotton Bowl berth during the 2017 season.

Martin also coached at Kentucky (2010-11) and New Mexico (2009), was a high school coach in Atlanta and a trainer for Nike and the Elite 11 Quarterback Camps following a professional football career that included three years in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders and two years in the Canadian Football League with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

“It’s the perfect time to come back home,” Martin said. “With Coach Fulmer’s support, Coach Pruitt is taking the Tennessee program in the right direction, and I’m excited to be a member of this outstanding coaching staff. I truly love this university and I bleed Orange and White. My time here was the greatest four years I could’ve ever imagined on and off the field. It’s my goal to help our Tennessee football student-athletes have the same experiences I had when I was a student here. It’s great to be home.”

The Mobile, Ala., native was a two-year starter at quarterback for UT, leading the Vols to a 13-0 season in 1998, culminating with a 23-16 win over Florida State in the Fiesta Bowl to capture the first BCS National Championship.

For his Tennessee career, Martin passed for 4,592 yards and 32 touchdowns. He added 614 yards and 16 scores on the ground. He finished with a 22-3 record as the Vols’ starting quarterback—an .880 winning percentage that remains the best in school history.

Martin coached 11 NFL Draft selections at USC and Kentucky, including current NFL wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster, Nelson Agholor, Marqise Lee, Robert Woods and Randall Cobb – all of whom were chosen in the first two rounds of the draft after having Martin as their position coach.

Additionally, Martin coached Sam Darnold, who became USC’s first-ever 4,000-yard passer in 2017 before being selected with the second overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. Darnold and running back Ronald Jones (1,584 rushing yards) teamed with wide receiver Deontay Burnett (86 catches, 1,114 yards) to form the nation’s No. 13 offense (484.1 yards per game) in 2017. USC won the Pac-12 Championship that season, finishing 11-3 and advancing to the Cotton Bowl.

Led by Darnold, a freshman All-American, and Smith-Schuster in 2016, USC finished 20th in the nation in total offense (477.1). The Trojans won the Rose Bowl in a 52-49 shootout against Penn State and wrapped up the season with a 10-3 record.

Smith-Schuster collected several All-America honors in 2015 after tallying 89 catches for 1,454 yards and emerging as the latest wide receiver to blossom under Martin.

He followed Agholor, who caught 104 passes for 1,313 yards and 12 touchdowns en route to snagging All-America honors in 2014. In his first year as the passing game coordinator, Martin orchestrated an aerial attack that finished No. 15 in the nation in passing offense and saw Agholor become a first-round pick, while quarterback Cody Kessler was drafted in the third round.

Lee wrapped up his USC career in 2013 as the Trojans’ all-time leader in receiving yards (3,655). In 2012, Lee set the Pac-12 record for receptions (112) and receiving yards (1,721) to go along with 12 touchdowns as he captured the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s top wide receiver, and collected unanimous All-America honors.
Martin coached wide receivers at Kentucky in 2010-11, adding passing game coordinator responsibilities in 2011. Cobb emerged as an All-American wide receiver and all-purpose player under Martin in 2010, totaling 84 catches for 1,017 yards and scoring 13 total touchdowns en route to being drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft that spring.

Martin, who wore No. 17 at Tennessee, was a two-year starter for the Vols from 1998 to 1999. He set an NCAA record with 23 consecutive completions against South Carolina during the national championship season in 1998. He led the Vols to a 9-3 mark in 1999 and a second consecutive appearance in the Fiesta Bowl. He grabbed All-SEC honors in 1999 before being selected by the Steelers in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL Draft.

In 2000, Tee Martin Drive was dedicated to the Orange and White legend. The street runs down the south side of Neyland Stadium and connects to Phillip Fulmer Way.

He and his wife, Toya, have two sons, Kaden and Cannon, and twins, daughter A’Yadra and son Amari, who is a starting wide receiver at Clemson. His wife is a recording artist with hit singles, ‘I Do!’ (2001) and ‘No Matta What (Party All Night)’ (2002).

This article originally appeared in the Nashville Pride.

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Expressions of Faith: When things fall apart

NASHVILLE PRIDE — “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you,” Deuteronomy 31:6. When we stay humble and thankful unto God for just who He is in our lives, He will provide for us; He will take care of us, because He loves us. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time; casting all your worries on Him, because He cares for you,” I Peter 5:6-7. Sometimes God is working on a plan for us that we may not be able to see nor even understand. When we trust and believe that He will never leave us nor forsake us, He can and He will make a blessing out of the broken.

Published

5 years ago

April 11, 2020

Oakland Post

Minister Patti NIcole Wheeler, The Celebration Christian Center, Inc. is located at 1215 9th Ave. N., Nashville, Tenn. 37208. For more information, visit their website at www.celebrationchristian.online.

By Minister Patti Nicole Wheeler, Guest columnist, Nashville Pride Newspaper

Often in our lives we feel hurt or broken for a variety of reasons: People pass away. People walk away. We are laid-off. We’re fired, or we quit. Maybe we dropped out of school or we’re kicked out—or we didn’t have the money nor the grades to even start an education past the high school level. We currently have a job, but the money just isn’t enough. I could go on and on listing the innumerable things that could bring us down in our lives, but consider this:

1) Sometimes when things are falling apart, God may be planning something better for us.

I’m sure that we all remember the story of Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob. Because of jealousy, Joseph was sold to a band of traveling Ishmaelites by his own brothers. God was with Joseph and enabled him to flourish in that situation so much that he was able to save his family during a time of great famine (Genesis 37).

Joseph didn’t know why he was in that circumstance, but he trusted God. He listened to His voice and he was blessed in the mist of what seemed to be a broken situation. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you,” Deuteronomy 31:6. When we stay humble and thankful unto God for just who He is in our lives, He will provide for us; He will take care of us, because He loves us. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time; casting all your worries on Him, because He cares for you,” I Peter 5:6-7. Sometimes God is working on a plan for us that we may not be able to see nor even understand. When we trust and believe that He will never leave us nor forsake us, He can and He will make a blessing out of the broken.

2) Sometimes when things are falling apart, God may be trying to remove elements from our lives.

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed,” John 8:36. There are so many things that could hold us down or hold us back, preventing us from blossoming and growing, that we need Jesus Christ to help us break free from low self-esteem, addictions, jealousy, anger, envy, casual drugs-use, casual alcohol-use, casual sex and absorbing negativity. It is very difficult to be hopeful and positive when we constantly play video games, watch shows, listen to music, read literature and socialize with individuals that demonstrate violence, display negativity and pour conflict into us. Those are not nurturing energies. Those are not caring/loving spirits.

Not all friendships and relationships are “till death do us part.” Some people were only meant to be in our lives for a period of time. Some folks we were meant to help; some folks were meant to help us. Some folks are meant for the duration. We need to learn the difference between who is to stay, how long they should stay and then (if need be) find the strength to let them go. If a relationship is falling apart, maybe God is tearing down some old walls, and some old habits just to build something fresh and wonderful and new. Not all broken relationships were made to be pieced back together. Some relationships are like glass and are best left broken because we would only continue to hurt ourselves by trying to put them back together.

3) Sometimes when things are falling apart, God may want us to change our hearts so He does not change our situations.

Sometimes we need to carry the cross that we are bearing. If we try to lighten our load, we may lose some valuable tools that we may need for our journey. God knows what we need and how much we can carry, so we just need to trust Him. He will not give us more that we can bear, so we just need to trust Him. When we cannot see our way, God is guiding our every footstep, so we just need to trust Him. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths,” Proverbs 3:5-6.

We can’t grow up or move forward if we remain in the same space. So remember: sometimes when things are falling apart, they may actually be falling into place.

(The Celebration Christian Center, Inc. is located at 1215 9th Ave. N., Nashville, Tenn. 37208. For more information, visit their website at www.celebrationchristian.online.)

This post originally appeared in The Nashville Pride.

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Film

At the Movies: Spider-Man: Far from Home; Yesterday; andThe Fall of the American Empire

NASHVILLE PRIDE — Families going to the cinema with members who don’t particularly care for superheroes and haven’t kept up with the amazing Marvel Cinematic Universe do have films that will tickle their fancy, though, and two are real gems: Yesterday and The Fall of the American Empire.

Published

5 years ago

July 22, 2019

Cass Teague

By Cass Teague

This first weekend of July, movie-goers have many choices. Chief among them, of course, is the Marvel Studios spectacular Spider-Man: Far from Home. Families going to the cinema with members who don’t particularly care for superheroes and haven’t kept up with the amazing Marvel Cinematic Universe do have films that will tickle their fancy, though, and two are real gems: Yesterday and The Fall of the American Empire.

First, though, Spider-Man: Far from Home is a rollicking adventure that will keep you thoroughly entertained at a high level of special effects (taking a dozen visual effects houses to render), with a few surprises along the way that will have you gasping, and leave you completely mind-blown at the end. Speaking of the end, you have to stay through the end of the credits, and I mean all the way through to the very end of the credits and they shut off the projector.

Samuel L. Jackson is awesome once again as Nick Fury, and along with Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill, the S.H.I.E.L.D. duo intervenes when Peter Parker, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, embarks on a class science trip to Europe. All the teenager wants to do is profess his love for MJ, but ya know, superhero stuff gets in the way. Tom Holland and Zendaya are heartwarmingly loveable as the two star-crossed potential lovers, and their story highlights the quandary that plagues Marvel superheroes – how to balance saving the world with trying to have a normal life.

Without massive spoilers, and there is plenty to spoil here, trust me, as you will see, just buckle up for the ride and enjoy this continuation of the MCU that honors all that we went through in the Avengers Infinity War and Endgame films. I suggest that you may want to try 3D, IMAX 3D, or dare I say, the incredible 4DX that puts you in the action, for this one.

So, if superheroes aren’t your thing, and you tag along to the multiplex with a group or family, try a musical fantasy or a French-language crime thriller.

Yesterday is hilarious, laugh out loud British romantic comedy film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Richard Curtis. The film stars Himesh Patel as a musician who, after an accident, finds himself as the only person who remembers the Beatles, and becomes famous taking credit for writing and performing their songs. Lily James, Ed Sheeran, and Kate McKinnon also star.

The Fall of the American Empire is a Quebec crime thriller film starring Alexandre Landry, Maxim Roy, Yan England and Rémy Girard. It is about a man (Landry) who, after an armed robbery in Montreal, discovers two bags with millions of dollars cash and is on a journey after he takes them. Based on a real 2010 Old Montreal shooting, this film is at times shocking and suspenseful, as it takes you places you may not want to go, but brings you back in one piece. Be prepared to read the English subtitles throughout.

This article originally appeared in the Nashville Pride.

Cass Teague

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Nashville Pride

Metro Council candidate Andre Southall suspends campaign, endorses Councilman DeCosta Hastings

NASHVILLE PRIDE — Andre Southall called Councilman DeCosta Hastings on Tuesday and told him he wanted to suspend his campaign and endorse DeCosta for re-election. According to sources, Southall said that he has observed all that Councilman Hastings has done for District 2, has seen his vision, and wants to help him “finish up what has been started.”

Published

5 years ago

July 13, 2019

PRIDE Newsdesk

By Pride Newsdesk

Andre Southall called Councilman DeCosta Hastings on Tuesday and told him he wanted to suspend his campaign and endorse DeCosta for re-election.

According to sources, Southall said that he has observed all that Councilman Hastings has done for District 2, has seen his vision, and wants to help him “finish up what has been started.”

Southall recognized some of the achievements that Hastings has brought to the district including the expansion of Clarksville Highway, affordable housing, and economic development.

Hastings said that he appreciates Southall’s support and that he looks forward to working with him during his second term.

“I am very glad to have his support to help win this election,” said Hastings. “District 2 has a lot of challenges to overcome and with his and the community’s support we will get there together.”

This article originally appeared in the Nashville Pride.