Country music star Morgan Wallen played two concerts at Neyland Stadium while the Tennessee Volunteers were on the road last month. His sold-out shows may have been responsible for a pair of season-ending college football injuries, including Florida starting quarterback Graham Mertz.
Field conditions on Saturday is getting a lot of the blame.
Wallen, born in Sneedville, grew up approximately 70 miles from Knoxville in northeast Tennessee. A lot of music references his roots, including his affinity for the state’s flagship university. He’s a Vols fan.
Thus, it was a very big deal when Wallen announced a tour stop at Neyland Stadium!
Tickets sold out within minutes. His two shows on Friday, September 20 and Sunday, September 22 set a new record for the largest concert weekend in stadium’s history. A total of 156,161 people attended both nights, which broke the record held by The Jackson 5 across three concerts in 1984.
Even Peyton Manning showed up — in full uniform — for the walkout!
Even though Wallen’s two-night run at Neyland Stadium was electric, it might’ve played a role in two season-ending injuries. The field conditions are being called into question.
Is the Morgan Wallen concert at fault?
Immediately after Morgan Wallen left the stage on Sunday night, Tennessee crews immediately went to work. They completely replaced the sod at Neyland Stadium.
It was out with the old turf and in with the new!
The Volunteers worked closely with its partner, Carolina Green, to get the new natural grass playing surface from North Carolina to Knoxville and in place before rains from Hurricane Helene arrived. Executive associate athletics director Jason Baum was proud of their work.
I just think the time the turf management team put in to get it done, there were a lot of early mornings and late nights to make sure it was down and in place and all that heavy rain really helped it to lock and be ready to go and as you can see it looks great.
— Jason Baum
He added that the rain from Helene helped to lock the new turf in place, which made UT Athletics even more confident that everything was ready to go.
No concerns at all. Dr. John Sorochan on campus with UT Agriculture School, is one of the leading turf management consultants in the country, the field has been tested twice it’s a plus, ready to go in game shape, so it should be a fast track tomorrow night for the Gators and Vols.
— Jason Baum
The track was indeed fast!
Tennessee returned home to Neyland Stadium on Saturday night for the first time since Sept. 14. Josh Heupel’s team was on the road at Oklahoma, had its bye week and then played at Arkansas. It put up 312 total yards of offense. The visitors put up 361.
Not only did Florida leave with another loss, Mertz went down with a knee injury that will end his season. He slammed his helmet on the ground after throwing a touchdown pass. There was not a single defender within 15 yards of the quarterback.
On the other side, Huepel announced on Monday that Volunteers star linebacker Keenan Pili will also miss the rest of the year with a torn ACL. That’s two different non-contact knee injuries on the same field. That field just so happened to be brand new.
Esteemed Fox Sports radio host Davey Hudson does not see the sequence of events as a coincidence. He attributes both injuries to an untested playing surface and might be onto something!
S/o @MorganWallen! His Neyland concerts only cost 2 players their final season of college football eligibility due to knee injuries thanks to the new turf. https://t.co/tNnw2iaimS
— Davey Hudson (@Davey_Hudson) October 14, 2024
Hudson is not the only one who feels that way. Tennessee and Florida fans started to connect the dots on Monday afternoon and they were not happy with how things went down.
Regardless of whether the new field played a role in the knee injuries or not, it certainly seems like the Vols could’ve held Morgan Wallen’s concerts until the offseason to avoid this headache all together.