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He left behind a pregnant wife and one child. Very tragic and RIP.
Former Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jesse Mahelona has died after being involved in a car accident. He was 26.
Agent Chad Speck said Mahelona died Friday night after being involved in an accident about a mile from his home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Speck said Saturday he didn’t know any more circumstances of the accident.
Mahelona was drafted in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Titans, where he played in 10 games as a rookie. He also spent time with the Miami Dolphins before playing his last NFL game with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007.
He is survived by his wife, Brandi, who is pregnant with the couple’s second child.
This pick was acquired in the Jay Cutler deal.
ESPN writes- Ayers possesses the size and athleticism to be an effective outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme. He has the strength to hold the edges against the run and fluidity to spot-drop when ask to drop into coverage. One of Ayers’ best qualities is his ability to get to the passer. That capability was the reason Denver pulled the trigger on him.
He both played in and coached a Rose Bowl game. One of his star players at UCLA was Billy Kilmer, who would later play Quarterback in the NFL for San Francisco, New Orleans, and Washington. RIP.
Bill Barnes, who coached football at UCLA from 1958-64, played at Tennessee and was a decorated World War II veteran, has died. He was 91.
Barnes died Thursday of complications from pneumonia at Santa Monica Hospital, where he had been for more than two months, the school said Friday.
Barnes had a record of 31-34-3 in seven years as coach, having taken over before the fourth game of the 1958 season when head coach Henry “Red” Sanders died.
In 1960, led by All-America tailback Bill Kilmer, the Bruins went 7-2-1.
The following season, they won the AAWU (now Pac-10 Conference) championship and lost 21-3 to Minnesota in 1962 the Rose Bowl to finish 7-4.
Barnes earned All-America honors at Tennessee, where he played several positions for coach Bob Neyland. He was on the Volunteer teams that appeared in the 1939 Orange Bowl and 1940 Rose Bowl, where they lost 14-0 to Southern California.
Barnes was an assistant at Tennessee in 1941 and Arkansas from 1946-49.
He served as a major in the Army during World War II, earning two Bronze Stars, a Silver Star, Legion of Merit, a Philippine Ribbon and an Alamo Scout Commendation.
Barnes was an original member of the Alamo Scouts, considered by many to be the first U.S. special forces.
He finds new work two months after being fired as a NFL head coach. From AP-
Lane Kiffin, the former coach of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, is the new coach of Tennessee.
Kiffin becomes the school’s 21st coach, but only the third in the last 32 years. His selection comes after “the first national search for a football coach in University of Tennessee history,” athletic director Mike Hamilton said.
He takes over the Volunteers two days after Phillip Fulmer’s 17-season tenure ended with a win over Kentucky. Kiffin will start at $2 million annually, plus bonuses, under a six-year contract.
Kiffin was the youngest coach in the NFL’s modern history when hired to lead the Oakland Raiders in January 2007 at age 31 after spending two seasons as Southern California’s recruiting and offensive coordinator.
Tennessee is having a bad year in the always tough Southeastern Conference. I think Kiffin will have the Vols back on their feet in a year or two at most.
 The Patriots took Tennessee LB Jarod Mayo with the 10th pick in the draft.
Scouts, Inc.: 16th
Strengths: Possesses an outstanding combination of size, speed and athleticism. Keeps head up and locates the ball quickly. Reaches top speed quickly, aggressive and makes plays in the backfield. Moves well laterally and generally does a nice job of scraping down the line of scrimmage. Has above-average range, plays with a good motor and makes plays in pursuit. Plays fast and really closes in on ball carriers in a hurry. While he lacks brute strength, he does display explosive short-area power and will strike ball carriers even from nearly a standstill position. Plays with a mean streak. Gets good depth, shows good awareness of routes once he reads pass and covers a lot of ground when asked to drop into zone coverage. Displays fluid hips, changes directions well and shows good burst coming out of cuts when asked to match up in man coverage. Has adequate ball skills and flashes the ability to make plays in coverage. Plays with a good motor and has the potential to develop into a valuable special teams’ contributor.
Weaknesses: Needs to improve his lower-body strength. He has jarring initial power but lacks the brute strength/wide base to anchor. Gets sucked up inside at times and is not a great phone booth player. At his best when he’s protected. Doesn’t use hands all that well and takes too long to shed blocks when offensive linemen are able to lock onto him. Doesn’t always take sound pursuit angles and gets caught out of position at times. Will get caught lunging too much and still misses too many open-field tackles. Still has room to improve in terms of recognition skills in coverage. Gets turned around a little too much when asked to match up in man coverage and needs to improve footwork. Can be overaggressive, occasionally bites on play action and lacks the second gear when gets caught out of pursuit. Only effective as a pass rusher when he gets a clean lane to the QB. Gets caught up in traffic and really struggles to get off of blocks once reached. Missed five games with a knee injury in 2005 and durability is a concern.
Overall: Tennessee red-shirted Mayo in 2004. He started one of the six games he appeared in during the 2005 season. Mayo started 11 of the 12 games he appeared in during the 2006 season finishing with 83 total tackles, 53 unassisted tackles, 12.5 tackles-for-loss, five sacks and one fumble recovery. He played in all 14 games of the 2007 season finishing with a team-leading 140 total tackles, 79 unassisted tackles, 8.5 tackles-for-loss, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one interception. Mayo has experience playing inside and outside linebacker at Tennessee. While he showed NFL potential in both spots, he seems like a more natural fit on the weak-side where he will get more protection. Mayo is far from a finished product. He is blessed with an outstanding combination of size, speed and athletic ability, which was on display at the combine. But in order to become a good starting linebacker in the NFL, he needs to be more consistent as an open-field tackler and learn to take on blocks more effectively. Mayo has too much potential to last long in Round 2 and that’s if he doesn’t sneak into the bottom of the first round.
Rick Gosselin: 19th
Mel Kiper: 17th
This looks like a reach but, since they’re the Pats, the on air gang at ESPN is praising them for their shrewd pick. Even Kiper, who had this guy as a mid-1st rounder.
The New Orleans Saints took Tennessee wideout Robert Meachem with the 27th pick in the 2007 NFL draft. It’s an excellent value.
What the Experts Say:
Scout.com Profile:
Player Evaluation: Meeting expectations last season Meachem offers a lot of potential, yet still needs work to complete his game. Has the skills to develop into a number one wide out.
STRENGTHS: Downfield Threat, Speed
 AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT: Route-Running Skills
Biography: All-Conference selection last season after producing a career-best 71/1,298/11. Started two games as a sophomore and totaled 29/383/2.
Pos: Physically gifted prospect with terrific size/speed numbers. Plays with good balance and body control, and makes the difficult reception in contorted positions. Displays a burst of speed, tracks the deep throw and effortlessly makes the reception in stride. Stays low exiting breaks, positions himself to make the reception and extends to catch the pass.
Neg: Inconsistent route-runner who slows into breaks. Not quick releasing off the line. Struggles in battles when he should not.
UPDATE Scouts.inc:
Defensive tackle is the top need for the Saints and Alan Branch was still on the board. Linebacker is the second greatest need and David Harris was still on the board. Corner is the third greatest need and Chris Houston was still available. And didn’t New Orleans find a pretty decent receiver on the second day of the draft last year? The point is the Saints should have addressed their needs on the defensive side of the ball before taking advantage of a deep receiver corps. At least they picked up a talented receiver. Meachem has the speed to stretch the field and open up the underneath routes for Marques Colston. He can also produce after the catch. However, Meachem isn’t a great route runner and he needs to get more physical or corners will have some success pushing him around.
The Green Bay Packers have reached to get some help on the defensive line, taking Tennessee’s Justin Harrell with the 16th pick.
What the Experts Say:
Scout.com Profile:
 Player Evaluation: A hard-working lineman with a lot of physical skill, Harrell could be one of the most underrated players in this draft. His injury last season will decrease his final grade, yet he offers starting possibilities as either a two-gap lineman or as a conventional tackle.
STRENGTHS: Explosion, Intensity/Effort, Quickness off Ball
 AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT: Disengaging Skills, Lateral Range
Biography: Three-year starter who totaled seven tackles in three games last season, after being sidelined with a torn bicep. Awarded All-Conference honors as a junior after totaling 39/7.5/2.5.
Pos: Tough, athletic defender who plays with top effort. Gets off the snap with a quick first step, is fluid changing direction and slides off blocks to make the play. Bends his knees, gets leverage on opponents and is rarely off his feet. Flashes power on the inside, gets push in the middle of the line or holds the point. Consistently doubled by opponents.
Neg: Gets wired in blocks and is slow to shed. Makes most of his plays up the open field in a small area.
UPDATE Scouts.inc:
Make no mistake about it, Justin Harrell is a talented player, and staying away from a player who has problems keeping his weight down like Alan Branch makes sense considering the problems the Packers had with Grady Jackson. However, tight end is a far greater need and Greg Olsen was still on the board, so they probably could have gotten a little more bang for the buck here, especially considering QB Brett Favre does a great job of finding his tight ends.
Harrell is coming off a serious arm injury, so there’s reason to worry about his ability to stay healthy, and he isn’t a great pass-rusher, but he should immediately improve the Packers’ run defense. He has excellent lower-body strength and is virtually impossible to move once he establishes position. His ability to collapse the pocket will also make it easier for the edge rushers to get to the quarterback.
It is sad when the biggest news story that came out of the Tennessee-Rutgers National Championship Game is another bonehead comment by Don Imus.
Imus started out talking about the Rutgers team as, “some rough girls from Rutgers. They got tattoos,” and then went on to call them “some nappy-headed hos.”
He compared them to the Tennessee team, saying “The girls from Tennessee — they all looked cute.”
The conversation then went on to compare the game to “the jigaboos versus the wannabes.”
AP sportswriter Ben Walker penned this lede to his piece on last night’s BCS Championship game in which the Florida Gators whooped the Ohio State Buckeyes:
Turns out Florida was too good to be on the same field as Ohio State, and that Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and the Buckeyes were the ones who weren’t worthy after all.
Coach Urban Meyer’s once-beaten Gators dominated the undefeated No. 1 Buckeyes and streaked to college football’s national championship, 41-14 on Monday night.
“Honestly, we’ve played a lot better teams than them,” Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss said. “I could name four or five teams in the SEC that could probably compete with them and play the same type of game we did against them.”
Honestly, I think that’s right. That’s why the simple counting of wins and losses is a silly way to pick national title contenders in Division I. The idea that Boise State, which played a schedule filled with teams that probably couldn’t beat Florida’s high school championship team, is better than teams with even three or four losses in the SEC or ACC, is a joke. LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Arkansas, and Tennessee probably all could have beaten Ohio State last night.
Of course, that’s why we need a playoff system rather than a beauty contest.
The California Golden Bears took their #9 preseason rankings to Knoxville yesterday, hoping to roll over the pitiful Volunteers of last year. Instead, they got taken to the woodshed.
Relief replaced misery on Rocky Top. Nine months ago, Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer was grim as he answered questions about a 5-6 finish, his first losing season and a bowl-less holiday for his Volunteers. He may have been one of the most relieved — but least surprised — among the 106,009 people in Neyland Stadium who watched the 23rd-ranked Vols’ 35-18 win over No. 9 California on Saturday. “We expected to win this ball game and be Tennessee,” Fulmer said.
[...]
 For at least a week, Fulmer will be spared from speculation about how many games he needs to win to keep his job. Fulmer described last year as an aberration, and the Vols might have proved him right.
Tennessee had been 0-6 against top 10 teams in Neyland Stadium since 2000, and many fans stayed to the end. After all, their last glimpse of the 2005 Vols was in an embarrassing loss to Vanderbilt.
[...]
For the Golden Bears, it was a shocking blow at the beginning of a greatly anticipated season. Cal’s ranking was its highest since 1952. Many believe this could be the Bears’ year to challenge Southern California for the Pac-10 title, and they still could with this loss outside conference play. But any run at a national championship was likely dashed.
Tennessee has long been a top program in what has traditionally been the most powerful conference in college football. They weren’t going to stay down for long.
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