John Adams

My first reaction to Tennessee’s hiring of athletic director Dave Hart: How can he distinguish himself?

Although you might not have noticed, Tennessee is in the midst of a successful season.

You didn’t need a radar gun to figure out that Ivy Renfroe was throwing hard Sunday afternoon at Lee Stadium. The slight discoloration and puffiness of Hannah Akamine’s left hand were just as telling.

Tennessee weathered intermittent rain and overcame a four-run deficit to beat Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The Beech Buccaneers are about to become the third most popular football team in Tennessee. And that has nothing to do with the program’s 2012 state championship.

Colleague Mike Strange has no trouble remembering Tennessee’s most popular spring football game.

Good thing Will Muschamp got the head-coaching job at Florida a couple of years ago. He might have grown old waiting for Mack Brown to retire at Texas.

Daniel McCullers couldn’t pinpoint the cell number of the text he received Saturday night. But he knew it was a coach’s.

Butch Jones’ work day was expected to run late Tuesday evening. But it didn’t include football.

Tennessee coach Butch Jones knows how to capitalize on an opportunity. So when quarterback Nathan Peterman provided him with one Saturday afternoon, hardly a second was wasted.

Daniel Hood would have faced a tough decision if Tennessee hadn’t made a coaching change after last season.

Tennessee isn’t sure who its next starting quarterback will be. But it knows who he won’t be.

The Tennessee-Connecticut women’s basketball rivalry will resume tonight in New Orleans with a slight variation. Tennessee won’t be there.

The play-by-play commentary overshadowed the play at Tennessee’s spring football scrimmage Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Tennessee spent most of its season exceeding expectations.