The Titans selected LSU cornerback Kristian Fulton in the second round (61st overall) of Friday night’s NFL Draft.

“Let’s Geaux!!!,” Fulton said on Twitter after being picked. “Excited to join the Squad @Titans! More motivated than ever and ready to work! #TitanUp.”

Fulton (6-0, 200) started all 15 games for LSU in 2019 and was in on 38 tackles, 14 pass break-ups and one interception. He earned second team All-SEC honors.

Fulton ran a 4.46 at the NFL Combine.

On a conference call Friday night, Fulton said he met with the Titans at the NFL Combine and remained in contact with the team leading up to the draft. Fulton said the Vikings, Cowboys, Raiders, Saints and the Falcons all expressed a lot of interest in him in recent months as well.

“They feel like I can bring versatility to their secondary, and they like my game,” Fulton said of the Titans. “I wanted to go to a coaching staff and an organization that believed in me and my talents.

“They have a great defense. I know coach Mike (Vrabel) is a defensive guy, and that is the kind of coach you want to play for – a guy who is going to study your game and put you in the best position. You don’t get to the AFC Championship Game without playing great defense. I want them to use me … to help elevate that defense to be elite.”

The Titans feel like they got an elite player in Fulton.

Fulton was a two-year starter at cornerback for the Tigers in 2018 and 2019, and he graded out as one of the nation’s top cornerbacks in 2019. He was the 42nd ranked player on NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah’s top 50 draft board heading into the draft. ESPN’s Jeff Legwold ranked Fulton No.41 on his Top 100 list, while ESPN’s Todd McShay had Fulton ranked 38th overall. Draft analyst Mike Detillier ranked Fulton the 25th best prospect in the draft.

Pro Football Focus gave Fulton a first-round grade.

GM Jon Robinson said the Titans were tempted to move up to get him, but said the team waited it out instead.

“We were fortunate that he was still there, and we’re excited to have him – he’s a player we had pretty highly rated,” Robinson said of Fulton. “He had a really good understanding of our vision for him if we were able to select him, and we were fortunate that he was there to take. We feel like he really fits our football team.”

Vrabel said he was impressed with Fulton during pre-draft meetings, first in person and later on Facetime.

“I think you have to be able to run at that position,” Vrabel said. “I don’t know where everybody is going to fit, but I certainly like (Fulton) and we’ll start working with him as soon as we possibly can.”

At LSU, Fulton played in 28 games, with 25 starts. He finished his career with 65 tackles, 25 passes defended and two interceptions.

In LSU’s win over Clemson in CFP National Championship Game, Fulton posted a career-high six tackles, including one for a six-yard loss.

Fulton will join returning cornerbacks Malcolm Butler and Adoree’ Jackson, along with Tye Smith, who re-signed with the team earlier this week. The Titans also have cornerbacks Kenneth Durden, Chris Milton and Kareem Orr under contract for 2020. The team has not re-signed cornerback Logan Ryan, who remains on the market, while LeShaun Sims joined the Bengals this offseason after playing previously with the Titans.

Fulton said the Titans asked him how he felt about playing inside in the defense. The team thinks he’s capable because of his toughness, tackling ability and instincts.

Robinson and Vrabel said the team plans to let him compete, and they’re hopeful he can contribute early.

“He’ll get in here and compete with the guys we have on the roster and his role will be defined by himself and how quickly he can get acclimated to our football program,” Robinson said. “He has obviously played at a high level on a really, really good (team) in college football. There was a lot asked of him, a lot put on his plate to learn, and we think that transition hopefully will be good for him.”

Fulton acknowledged on Friday night the wait to get drafted was a long one, but said it was worth it.

“It was extremely tough, the wait,” Fulton said. “But I had keep reminding myself that the right team, the perfect fit, will come to me. I didn’t want to go to a team that wasn’t 100 percent confident in me.

“It was definitely worth the wait when I got that call. I am excited to be a Tennessee Titan.”

The Titans believe they’ve found a perfect running back to pair with running back Derrick Henry.

Appalachian State running back Darrynton Evans was selected by the Titans in the third round (93rd overall) of Friday night’s NFL Draft.

Evans is a big fan of the NFL’s leading rusher from a year ago, and he wants to do his part to help to help the Titans.

“(Derrick) is a big back, and he has some speed on him, too,” Evans said. “A lot of people, when they try and tackle him, they have to make a business decision on if they want to (hit) him high or hit him low. Add me to that, and I can change the pace of the game … if you need a quick play, any kind of explosive play. I feel like I can get the job done, and we can be a great combination. I feel like I can help take the load off (Derrick) a little bit and help add my twist to the game as well.

“He does a lot of great things, and I can’t wait to learn (from Derrick). I want to talk to him and pick his brain and just try and compete and be the best that we can be for the Titans.”

Evans (5-10, 205) posted 4,642 all-purpose yards at Appalachian State, with 34 career touchdowns. In 2019, Evans produced 2,064 all-purpose yards with 1,480 rushing, 198 as a receiver and 386 on kickoff returns

Evans is a speedster – he ran a 4.41 in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, which was second among all running backs. Evans said he was once clocked at a 4.36 while on campus at Appalachian State.

Titans General Manager Jon Robinson and head coach Mike Vrabel said they like the thought of using Evans in a number of ways, from running the ball to playing him in the return game.

“He is certainly good with the ball in his hands,” Robinson said. “He is a different style runner obviously than Derrick, but he is certainly good when you hand him the ball. He’s got make-miss (ability), he gets through a hole quick and he has explosive speed. … He is a speed back, catches out of the backfield, has some return value.”

Evans was a two-time Sun Belt Championship Game MVP and MVP of the 2019 New Orleans Bowl. He was also a two-time All-Sun Belt first team and was the Sun Belt’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2019 after leading the league in rushing in 2018. He also returned three kickoffs for touchdowns, and he racked up 1,439 yards on kickoff returns in his career, along with 319 yards as a receiver.

He totaled 11 runs of at least 50 yards in his final two seasons.

“The thing that helps me is my elusiveness and my speed,” Evans said. “I’m hard to tackle in the open field.”

Evans also set school records for most career rushes without a fumble (482) and single-season rushes without a fumble (255 in 2019).

The Titans hosted Evans on a pre-draft visit at Saint Thomas Sports Park before visits across the league were shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“He’s a guy that we really liked from a character standpoint and a skill-set,” Vrabel said of Evans. “What his role will be and how we’ll use him will all be defined by the player and how much they can handle.

“But this is a guy we met with and brought in and everybody in the building really liked what he was able to do in conversation and on the board and in the learning process. And then obviously watching the film we thought the skill-set (could allow) us to use him out of the backfield and being able to be a change-of-pace and one-cut runner. So we’ll see what he can handle and we’ll give him as much as we can handle.”

The Titans selected North Carolina State defensive lineman Larrell Murchison in the fifth round of Saturday’s NFL Draft.

Murchison (6-2, 298), selected with the 174th overall pick, said he’d ready to go to work.

“They told me that I can play all along the defensive front – from five technique to zero technique – and they like that part of my game where I am versatile and can help any way that I can,” Murchison said of the Titans. “I am just trying to fit in any way I can. Whatever role they give me to play, I am ready to show I can do it.”

Murchison is ready to work under Titans head coach Mike Vrabel.

“I am very familiar with Mike Vrabel, and I know he’s a defensive-minded coach,” Murchison said. “I was very honored to speak with him, and I am very honored to be in Tennessee. I am just ready to work. Whatever they ask me to do, whatever he asks me to do, I am ready to follow it and do what I am supposed to do.”

Titans General Manager Jon Robinson said the team likes Murchison’s style of playing, and his versatility.

“We really liked Murchison there,” Robinson said. “Vrabel and I talked this morning and he’s the guy he had kind of circled in his notebook and he was the last guy I looked at when I closed my computer up last night to go to bed. We weathered 67 picks there with him and we fortunate enough to get him.”

Murchison earned second-team All-ACC honors as a senior when he was in on 48 tackles, 12 tackles for a loss, and seven quarterback sacks. He was named the ACC defensive lineman of the week for the second time in his career when he had 3.5 sacks at Florida State.

In two seasons at N.C. State, Murchison recorded 11 sacks while starting all 25 games he played in.

During his junior season, Murchison earned the team’s Cary Brewbaker Award for Defensive Lineman of the Year, as well as the Alpha Wolf Rising Award, which is given to the Most Improved Player.

“I feel like rushing the passer, I can cause penetration,” Murchison said. “And I feel like stopping the run, I can be an anchor down there if you need me to take on double-teams. Anywhere on the defensive front they need me to play, I feel I can play it.”

The Titans are looking to bolster depth and production on the defensive line after saying goodbye to a pair of defensive linemen off of last year’s team – Jurrell Casey and Austin Johnson. Casey, a third-round pick in the 2011 draft, was traded to the Broncos last month while Johnson signed with the Giants.

Murchison was impressive at the NFL Combine, when he did 29 reps in the bench press and posted a 29-inch vertical leap while measuring a wingspan of 79 3/8-inches.

Murchison also played in the Reese’s Senior Bowl, and he was listed as one of “14 prospects who made money in Mobile” by The Athletic.

Described as a “high motor” player, Murchison said he’d ready to deliver while living his childhood dream.

“My teammates are my family, my coaches are a part of my family,” Murchison said. “I play for them. So, when you think of high motor I am playing for my guys and I am playing to win. … Running to the ball, taking the ball, that means everything to me.

“And when I think about how far I came down this journey, from where I started, and now to being drafted to the Tennessee Titans, it means everything. It has been a long road but I always kept the faith along the way. Now I am ready for whatever is next.”

Quarterback Cole McDonald has spent a good part of his life idolizing Hawaii native Marcus Mariota.

Now, he’s headed to Nashville to compete for a roster spot on Mariota’s former team.

The Titans on Saturday selected the former University of Hawaii quarterback in the seventh round (224th overall) of the NFL Draft.

“Playing in Hawaii, I mean Marcus is the man. And when I say the man, he is the man,” McDonald said of Mariota, who played five seasons with the Titans. “Even before I knew I was going to play for Hawaii or anything, I idolized Marcus, his style of play and how he approached the game and what he brought to it.

“Moving forward, hopefully I get some love from Hawaii and even though Marcus was there before me, (hopefully) I can fill those big shoes he left behind. To come to a place he just left, it’s pretty cool.”

McDonald said he’s met Mariota, now with the Raiders, several times and watched film with him. Mariota has given him advice over the years, he said.

The 6-foot-3, 218-pound McDonald finished his career at Hawaii fourth on the school’s passing yards (8,032) and passing touchdowns (70) lists. McDonald, who is from La Mirada, California, completed 61 percent of his throws at Hawaii.

In 2019, McDonald completed 63.8 percent of his attempts for 4,135 yards and 33 touchdowns.

He ranked No. 3 nationally in passing yards, No. 6 in total offense (322.7/gm), No. 7 in passing yards per game (295,4), No. 8 in passing TDs, and No. 9 in points responsible for (242). McDonald threw for a career high 493 yards and accounted for five touchdowns – four passing and one rushing – in UH’s SoFi Hawai’i Bowl win over BYU.

But he knows he needs to improve to have a chance of sticking at the next level.

McDonald will compete with returning quarterback Logan Woodside for the back-up spot behind starter Ryan Tannehill.

Woodside started last year’s preseason finale against the Bears and played the entire game. He finished the night completing 17-of-29 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns, good for a passer rating of 104.4.

In four preseason contests in 2019, Woodside completed 46-of-76 passes for 539 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating was an impressive 99.6.

“We’re not going to set the roster to 55 today, on the third day of the draft,” Titans General Manager Jon Robinson replied when asked if the team might add yet another QB to compete at some point. “But (McDonald) is a guy that has good size, really good athleticism. He ran fast, he moves around, has really good arm strength. We spent quite a bit of time with him in the process getting to know him a little bit and developed a good relationship with him. We felt like from a tools standpoint he was a guy we’d like to work with.”

McDonald said he’s ready to compete, and he wants to learn from Tannehill, the quarterback who replaced Mariota as the franchise’s starter.

“I’ve only heard great things about Ryan, how great of a person he is, how great of a leader he is,” McDonald said of Tannehill. “And ultimately, he wins games, like you saw last year. To be under him, it is going to be an awesome learning experience – I am going to be asking a lot of questions, picking his brain, taking a lot of mental reps behind him and ultimately just trying to get prepared as much as I can to be ready when my name is called.

“I am super-stoked to be a part of the team, to be a part of the organization. And I want to help in any way I can.”

McDonald said he talked with Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and quarterbacks coach Pat O’Hara a few times on Facetime during the pre-draft process, and he felt the conversations were solid.

He’s looking forward to heading to Nashville as soon as the NFL’s offseason restrictions due to the coronavirus are lifted.

“I have never been to Nashville, Tennessee, but from what I have heard from everybody, I hear it’s just a wonderful place, with great people, and the environment is amazing,” McDonald said. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to meet everybody and be a part of that culture.”

New Titans defensive back Chris Jackson isn’t sure what position he’ll play in the NFL, but he knows this: He’s ready to compete.

The Titans selected the Marshall defender in the seventh round (243rd overall) in Saturday’s NFL Draft.

Jackson played mainly at cornerback at Marshall, but he could compete in a number of positions with the Titans, including nickel and safety.

“Today, I was overfilled with joy,” Jackson said after being picked. “I am just happy to be a Titan. I am just truly happy to be a Titan.”

Jackson (6-0, 186) ended his four-year career at Marshall as one of the school’s most decorated defensive backs. He finished his career with 48 career starts, No. 14 all-time at Marshall.

He also ranks No. 1 in Marshall history in passes broken up with 45, and he ranks No.2 in program history in most passes defended (interceptions and passes broken up combined) with 52.

As a senior, Jackson started 12 games and he was named first team Conference USA after recording 25 tackles with one interception and a team-high 11 pass breakups.

“Any team that picked me, I just wanted to get there and contribute any way I can,” Jackson said. “I expect to do whatever the coaches need me to do – if that’s playing corner, if that’s playing safety, if that’s playing every snap on special teams. I feel like either position suits me well. Whatever the coaches need me to do, that’s what I plan to do.

“It is not what I want, it is whatever helps the team win on Sundays.”

In addition to his work in the secondary, Jackson will have a chance to earn an opportunity on special teams.

Jackson said he received a lot of interest in the draft process, and he said a lot of teams inquired on Saturday about signing him as an undrafted free agent if he didn’t get picked.

After trading away one of their seventh-round picks (for Kansas City’s sixth-round pick in 2021), the Titans snagged him.

“He was really productive, a really athletic guy,” Titans General Manager Jon Robinson said of Jackson. “And he is a versatile guy, and he has really good production. I think he has seven picks in his career, so he finds the football. He ran well. He’ll mix into the group and try and carve out a role for himself. He has played a couple of different spots and we’ll see how much he can handle, and see where he fits in in the pecking order of that group. We look forward to working with him.”

The Titans selected Georgia tackle Isaiah Wilson with the 29th overall pick in Thursday night’s NFL Draft. Thunder Radio brought you all the action as part of the Titans Radio Network. Wilson was a former 5-star recruit in the 2017 class. The Brooklyn-native enrolled in Athens at 6’6 350 pounds, making him one of the most intriguing offensive line prospects from the jump. 

The red-shirt sophomore decided to declare for this year’s draft early and now he will join a long line of Georgia offensive lineman in the NFL. The 6-foot-6, 350-pound mountain of a man is originally from Brooklyn, New York, and he exited high school as the nation’s No. 16 overall prospect and the No. 5 offensive tackle for the class of 2017, according to 247Sports Composite Rankings.

After redshirting in 2017, Wilson started all 14 games at right tackle in 2018, leading to his selection to the 2018 Coaches Freshman All-SEC team. He battled an injury from time to time in 2019 but still managed to play in 11 games, starting in 10 of those.

Wilson played 25 games at Georgia and was named to the  Football Writers Assn. of America Freshman All-America Team as a red-shirt freshman and in 2019 was named to the Associated Press All-SEC 2nd Team.

The Titans are scheduled to make two more picks on Friday – one in the second round (pick No.61) and one in the third round (No.93). On Saturday, the Titans are scheduled to make four picks – one in the fifth round (No.174) and three in the seventh round (No. 224, No. 237, No. 243). Thunder Radio will once again bring you the Titans Radio Network broadcast on Friday night. Our live coverage will begin at 6 PM.

Braves manager Brian Snitker recently received a text from Bobby Cox’s wife, Pam, that read, “Bobby wants to know when the [heck] are you going to start playing baseball?”

You can almost see the somewhat ornery smile Cox may have shown when he decided to send this message, knowing there was still too much uncertainty to determine when the season might begin. But at the same time, this text provided more reassurance that the stroke Cox suffered last year has done nothing to diminish his love and passion for baseball.

“I know baseball would give him something to look forward to, to watch those games,” Snitker said. “I would go visit him about once a week last year, and you knew he was keeping up with what was happening. I remember one time after Max Fried had a good game, Bobby talked about it the next day and I left there thinking, ‘God, he watched every pitch and saw things a lot of other people might not have.’”

Unfortunately, the quarantine lifestyle necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic has prevented Snitker, Roger McDowell, Terry Pendleton, Eddie Perez and others from continuing to regularly visit Cox, who is at his suburban Atlanta home as he continues to recover from that stroke on April 2, 2019.

“Before I went to Spring Training, I went to Bobby’s, and Snit came over about an hour later,” Pendleton said. “We’re just sitting there talking about things and Pam says, ‘Terry, I’ve got a question for you.’ I was like, ‘What’s up, Pam?’ She was like, ‘Has Bobby ever gotten after you about something?’ I was like, ‘Uhhh, yes.’”

At this point, Pendleton refers back to May 28, 1993, when he walked off the field during a game in Cincinnati because Marvin Freeman had not thrown at the Reds’ Tim Belcher, who had hit Deion Sanders with a pitch in the top of the seventh inning.

“You have to remember, to get to the old clubhouse in Cincinnati, it was a long walk up those stairs,” Pendleton said. “Skipper wore my butt out the entire way up those stairs. It was the longest chew out I’ve ever had. I don’t think my mom and dad ever wore me out as long as he did that night. When we got in the clubhouse, he wore my butt out for another 10 minutes and then he said, ‘Now, this is over. Neither of us is speaking to the press or anybody else about this again.’ To him, it was over — and it was. That’s why coaches, players and everybody loved Bobby.”

Calculated combustion
On his way to racking up a Major League-record 158 ejections (161 if you count the postseason), Cox proved that he could be quite fiery when he felt it was necessary. Perez’s first introduction to this occurred during the early 1990s, when he was informed that he was coming over from the Minor League side to serve as an extra in a Spring Training road game played in Fort Myers, Fla.

Instructed to wear pants and a collared shirt, Perez wore black jeans because he didn’t own khakis or dress pants. Cox said it was fine after being informed during the team’s 2 1/2-hour trip from West Palm Beach, Fla. But when the Braves lost that day, he unloaded in a postgame tirade directed toward Sanders, David Justice and Dwight Smith, who had worn shorts and T-shirts.

“Bobby got everybody in the clubhouse and started cussing,” Perez said. “He said, ‘If you didn’t wear dress pants, you owe me $500.’ This is the first time I’ve met Bobby, and I’m looking at my pants and I was scared. But he came back out and said the rookies didn’t have to worry about paying the fine. The next day, when some of the guys brought the money to the office, Bobby said, ‘What is this for? I don’t remember nothing. Get out of here.’”

Influencing the atmosphere
Along with having a good feel for when the time was right to deliver a message in a heated manner, Cox also had the ability to maintain a sense of calmness. Snitker was reminded of this on Aug. 4, 2007, when Octavio Dotel surrendered a grand slam to Garrett Atkins in a 6-4 win over the Rockies.

“I’m sitting there raising hell and cussing, and he’s sitting there like there’s something wrong with me,” Snitker said. “He was like, ‘No big deal, we’ll just go on to the next thing.’ That’s the way he was during games. We were still winning. He had things under control. And he wanted his players to feel the same way.”

After becoming Cox’s third-base coach during that 2007 season, Snitker quickly realized the players weren’t the only members of the organization the loyal manager regularly protected.

“I’d get somebody thrown out and I’d say, ‘Man, I screwed up there,’” Snitker said. “He’d say, ‘No, you didn’t.’ That was the greatest throw I’ve ever seen or [the player] wasn’t running hard. It was never my fault, even though I knew it was.”

‘It’s OK’
Snitker still laughs about the day former Braves coach Glenn Hubbard approached him and asked, “How do you always get invited to dinner?”

“I said, ‘Haven’t you figured this out yet?’” Snitker said. “If [Cox] sees you, he’ll invite you. I told Hubby, ‘Why do you think I sit there and drink coffee every morning in his office?’ Whenever I get the invite, I say, ‘I’m in,’ and then I leave.”

One of those meals away from the stadium created a running joke between Cox and Perez whenever they would dine together over the final few years of Cox’s managerial career.

“Eddie orders this real nice bottle of wine, has it decanted, and he really wants to impress Bobby,” Snitker said. “Bobby comes in about 20 minutes later. Eddie pours him a glass and says, ‘What do you think?’ Bobby just shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘It’s OK.’ But if Bobby had known Eddie was trying to impress him, ‘He’d have likely told him it was the greatest bottle of wine ever.’”

What Snitker didn’t know was that Cox was simply reacting to what Perez had done a year or two earlier.

“Bobby bought this nice bottle of wine and he put it in the decanter thinking I was going to say, ‘Bobby, this is great,’” Perez said. “When I drank it, I said, ‘It’s OK.’ He was like, ‘What do you mean, it’s OK?’ So anytime after that when we went to dinner, every time I’d pour him a glass, he’d say, ‘Eddie, this wine is just OK.’”

Now, as Cox anxiously hopes for the resumption of baseball, his many friends are looking forward to the chance to once again spend time with the man who had the pleasure of playing with Mickey Mantle, managing four Hall of Famers in Atlanta and seemingly having fun every step of the way.

“We were on a train one time as he told stories and I was thinking, ‘God, we’re on a train like this with the ultimate baseball guy,’” Snitker said. “It was a really cool, special time. I don’t even remember where we were going, but I know nobody wanted to get there. They just wanted to keep riding and listening.”

After beating Columbus Crew SC in an all-eMLS showdown, Doolsta is back to represent Nashville SC in another virtual version of a postponed match.

Nashville SC eMLS athlete Cormac “Doolsta” Dooley will take on D.C. United’s Mohamed “KingCJ0” Alioune Diop this Friday at 7 p.m. in a EA Sports FIFA 20 clash presented by Hyundai. The match will be streamed live on Nashville SC’s Twitch, Facebook and Twitter.  

Here are all of the details on how you can get your soccer fix this Friday night:

The Basics

Competitors: Cormac “Doolsta” Dooley (NSH) vs. Mohamed “KingCJ0” Alioune Diop (DCU)
Venue: EA Sports FIFA 20
Time: 7 P.M. CT
Stream: Nashville SC Twitch, Twitter and Facebook

Format

Doolsta and KingCJ0 will face off over two legs, with the winner decided based on aggregate score. They will be using rosters built using the FIFA Ultimate Team tools. Both squads will wear their respective club’s jerseys, as Nashville SC’s jersey was recently added to the Ultimate Team mode.

Roster Rules

Normal FIFA Ultimate Team roster rules apply, with the additional caveat that each gamer must build their rosters with 10 club players and one Icon card.

Tale of the Tape

Doolsta joined Nashville SC for the 2020 eMLS season after completing a sweep of all three eMLS events in 2019 with the Philadelphia Union. Before this season was put on hold, Doolsta performed well with a quarterfinal finish in eMLS League Series One Philadelphia. After an early exit at eMLS League Series Two Portland, Doolsta found himself in 10^th place in the eMLS standings. Meanwhile, KingCJ0 was having a solid year on the eMLS circuit, landing in 12^th place before the season was paused. He was preparing to enter the Last Chance Qualifier at eMLS Cup with a first-round bye. At eMLS League Series Two Portland, Doolsta and KingCJ0 drew 2-2 in a hotly-contested match.