How It Happened: Orange beats White 21-14 in Tennessee football's spring game
Tennessee football wrapped up spring practice with the Orange & White Game at Neyland Stadium, with Orange beating White 21-14 Saturday afternoon in Knoxville. Here’s what happened as it happened:
Second Quarter
White 7, Orange 0 | 10:57, 2Q: Redshirt freshman Dayton Sneed caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from redshirt senior backup quarterback Gaston Moore to open the scoring. It capped a nine-play, 60-yard drive that took 4:35 off the clock.
Orange 7, White 7 | 5:07, 2Q: Tennessee’s defense couldn’t tackle opposing quarterbacks during the split-squad scrimmage, but it didn’t stop freshman quarterback Jake Merklinger running for a 26-yard touchdown drive later in the second quarter. The drive went 75 yards in five plays in 5:50 to tie the score. Merklinger was a four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, ranked No. 200 overall in the On3 ratings. He was the No. 12 quarterback in the class and the No. 23 overall player in the state of Georgia, out of Calvary Day School in Savannah, Ga.
White 14, Orange 7 | 3:20, 2Q: Sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the former five-star prospect and Tennessee’s new starter at the position, got on the board on the following possession, throwing a 27-yard touchdown pass to Chas Nimrod. Iamaleava completed all six of his passes in the first half for 91 yards.
Orange 14, White 14 | 0:00, 2Q: Five-star freshman wide receiver Mike Matthews made the next big play, catching a 63-yard touchdown pass from Moore to tie the score on the final play before halftime. Matthews headlined Tennessee’s 2024 recruiting class as a five-star wide receiver out of Parkview High School in Lilburn, Ga. He was ranked No. 26 overall in the 2024 class, was the No. 6 wide receiver nationally and the No. 4 overall prospect in Georgia.
Third Quarter
Orange 21, White 14 | 7:43, 3Q: It was Chris Brazzell’s turn early in the second half, making the next highlight play on a 71-yard touchdown catch from Merklinger. The drive went 87 yards in four plays to put the Orange ahead for the first time. Brazzell was one of Tennessee’s headliners in its 2024 transfer class after sponging the last two seasons at Tulsa, where he caught 44 passes for 711 yards and five touchdowns last season.
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Final Stats
Iamaleava completed 7 of 9 passes for 96 yards, including the 26-yard touchdown to Nimrod. Moore got the majority of the work, completing 12 of 18 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Merklinger completed 5 of 7 passes 105 yards and a touchdown and ran twice for 42 yards, including the 26-yard touchdown run.
Brazzell caught four passes for 89 yards, including the 71-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and Matthews had one catch, the 63-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Sneed had five catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. Kaleb Webb caught three passes for 28 yards and Dont’e Thornton had one catch for 14 yards.
Khalifa Keith ran nine times for 28 yards and Desean Bishop rushed twice for nine yards as the two sides combined for just 68 yards on 30 rush attempts.
Linebacker Edwin Spillman led the White Defense with five tackles and defensive back Christian Harrison had five tackles for the Orange Defense.
