Mass casualty disaster simulation educates, trains >>See page 4 Allison Maurer, sports nutritionist, makes fresh-pressed peanut butter in the Anderson Training Center. Taylor Gash • The Daily Beacon
420 Fest in Atlanta a success with Snoop headlining >>See page 5
Lady Vols legend still inspired by Pat Summitt’s lessons >>See page 11
Volume 128 Issue 64
Maurer “invaluable” to Tennessee Football program Jonathan Toye Sports Editor
In her office at the Anderson Training Center, Allison Maurer struggles to remember where she was in the moments after Tennessee’s 45-42 victory over South Carolina on Nov. 1, 2014. In between making arrangements for the team’s postgame meal, she was just having trouble believing the Vols really completed the seemingly impossible comeback against the Gamecocks. She recalls one memory, however, a recollection as clear as that November night sky in Columbia. She remembers seeing then-senior Jordan Williams on his knees, crying. A bowl game that had eluded him in his four years at Tennessee
was finally within inches of his grasp. The moment illustrated the resounding pathos of college football, but to Maurer, the image was especially moving. Maurer had developed a close relationship with Williams, instructing him on his diet regimen and dispensing advice to him on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle in his fouryear tenure at UT. So when she saw his uncontainable euphoria in the aftermath of the Vols’ victory, she too couldn’t help but feel thrilled. There is a possibility that Williams might have felt gratitude towards Maurer in this moment of joy. If Maurer wasn’t always around the team offering dieting advice, or instilling healthy habits into the players’ lifestyles, Tennessee might not have had the physical stamina or mental strength to overcome the 14-point deficit in the final two minutes in Columbia. Maurer works 55 hours a week in the spring.
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She considers that a vacation compared to the hours she works in the fall. Mark Elder, tight ends and special teams coordinator, says Maurer is a mother to the football players. Tennessee head coach Butch Jones calls her invaluable. Her official job title, however, is sports nutritionist. Her job responsibilities involve teaching athletes how to develop healthy eating habits, offering cooking classes and grocery shopping tours to the players and delivering lunches to the team on campus. She ensures that the players who are supposed to gain weight actually gain weight and players who are supposed to lose weight actually lose weight. She also assists any athletes who have special needs like medical conditions or food allergies. See NUTRUTIONIST on Page 12
Tuesday, April 21, 2015