Vols fan's giant flag outside NCAA hearing earns Big Orange applause

A judge at the federal James H. Quillen courthouse in Greeneville heard a request Tuesday for a preliminary injunction that would suspend NCAA rules regarding name, image and likeness benefits for athletes.

The issues behind the antitrust lawsuit are complicated and the judge has yet to issue a ruling.

But Vols fans made their allegiance clear, including some who made the long drive from Knoxville and showed up an hour before the courthouse opened to get a front-row seat. The most visible sign of Big Orange love, however, was a giant University of Tennessee flag flying 60 feet in the air on a crane.

What did Vols fans think of the UT flag?

The Vol Nation fan forum was quick to chime in, with the first post coming well before the courthouse even opened. Most loved the idea, with one fan commenting the banner is just a way of "saying, 'yes, we care, and we're paying attention, even while we give you your space.'"

An OutKick-Fox sportswriter was at the courthouse and posted photos on X in a tweet that has more than 140,000 views. Barstool Sports picked up Knox News' coverage, with a tweet that had more than 689,000 views.

"We are as passionate as we are ridiculous," commented one Vols fan.

Who was responsible for bringing the UT flag to the Greeneville courthouse?

All the attention has flag-raiser Brandon Hull somewhat flummoxed.

"I'm not even really on Facebook," marveled Hull, who is the CEO/President of Greeneville Federal Bank in non-Vols life. "It's been fun. ... Everybody's got an opinion."

Hull is a UT grad, and so are his son, two daughters, wife and even two of his sisters. He noted that his father, Senior U.S. Judge Thomas Gray Hull, went to law school at UT and served on the bench at the Greeneville courthouse for 20-plus years.

"This was one way of supporting the Vols," Hull said, adding that the idea was sparked when he realized that he could use land that he owns across from the courthouse as well as a crane from his rental equipment business.

Hull credited friend Johnny Honeycutt, a longtime UT fan, with helping with the logistics of attaching the flag to the 65-foot lift.

Honeycutt told Knox News the last time he had seen such a buzz around Greeneville's courthouse was for the "Popcorn" Sutton trial. Sutton, a notorious moonshiner, died by suicide shortly after he was sentenced in 2009 to 18 months in prison for illegally brewing spirits.

Liz Kellar is a Tennessee Connect reporter. Email liz.kellar@knoxnews.com.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee Vols fan raises giant Power T flag outside NCAA hearing