Longtime Tennessee fan and country music singer Morgan Wallen was in attendance during the Volunteers' 83-72 win over the Texas Longhorns in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinal on Friday. The famous musician sat courtside as the Vols proceeded to the semifinals of the tournament.
Wallen, who is worth $12 million (per Celebrity Net Worth), interacted with Texas mascot, Bevo during the game with his burly bodyguard who earlier stopped fans from taking selfies with him watching on.
Wallen left the game before the end of the fourth quarter, with Tennessee leading comfortably.
Morgan Wallen has a long association with Tennessee
Morgan Wallen hails from Knox County and he played baseball for Gibbs High School, even leading the team to the Class AA state championship, grabbing a pair of RBIs in the championship game against Spring Hill.
He attended Game 2 of the College World Series pitting the Vols against the Texas A&M Aggies in June 2024. He attended alongside Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel and basketball coach Rick Barnes.
The Vols won the series 4-1 and in September, the musician walked out at the Neyland Stadium with baseball coach Tony Vitello and captain Hunter Eansley to present the national championship trophy to the fans.
Wallen held a pair of concerts at the Vols' Neyland Stadium setting a record for fans who attended two of his shows in September 2024 (156,161 fans). For his second concert at Neyland last year, Wallen walked out with Tennessee legend Peyton Manning and Vols stars Nico Iamaleava and Bru McCoy.
During his concert at the Neyland Stadium, Wallen thanked the fans for selling out the famous stadium.
"When me and the boys first started playing shows, we started out playing bars, real small venues," Morgan Wallen said. "Worked our way up to places like Cotton Eyed Joe. Then we worked our way up to clubs, theaters, arenas and amphitheaters - we pretty much played any kind of venue there is, and all of a sudden you guys went and sold out Neyland today. Thank you.
"One thing that I miss though about the smaller shows is I could walk out on stage and I could look pretty much everybody in the eyes, so this is my attempt at trying to recreate some of that. To come back here and look some more of y'all in the eyes and say thank you for supporting me and my music."
Last year, the Tennessee Volunteers even changed their fourth quarter song at Neyland Stadium from country musician Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" to "The Way I Talk" by Morgan Wallen.
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