KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Big Orange Country is continuing to celebrate Saturday's big win against Kent State. The Vols beat the Golden Flashes 71-0. There were plenty of touchdowns and that meant, plenty of fireworks.
Pyro Shows, Inc. is based in LaFollette, and it puts on the fireworks display.
According to Chris Honeycutt, the director of Human Resources for Pyro Shows and the crew leader of UT Football fireworks, the company has been handling the fireworks for UT Football games since the mid-80s.
"Once the university decides what they want, it goes to our show design team, which, they do an incredible job of finding new and innovative ways to entertain the fans. And one of the things that we have done is we have a digital simulation of a chase and an all-fire that you would see on a Saturday," said Honeycutt.
At Neyland Stadium, fans won't see a touchdown without fireworks to follow. Honeycutt said at Saturday's game around 600 fireworks were set off.
"There's technically 30 positions around the stadium and each one of those is a single-shot product. So when I say 600 pieces of product, that's coming from those 30 positions," said Honeycutt.
He said his team of six people overestimate the amount of fireworks they'll need at a game, to make sure they don't run out.
"We always overestimate based off how well the team is doing and just our standard, but we will always plan for 15 touchdowns — which is impossible to happen. But, that allows us an overage for extras if they want additional game wins or whatever," he said.
Honeycutt said for the national anthem, his team cues themselves. But for the touchdowns, UT lets them know when to set the fireworks off. He said fireworks go off after the national anthem, touchdowns, halftime and while the team runs through the "T."
"That one is, it's kind of iconic in college football — especially on night games when they're lighting up that 'T.' It looks amazing. And then we get to add our element, we do an all-fire and a chase around the stadium," said Honeycutt.
He said in recent years, the fireworks have moved to be set off at the stadium. He said 2021 was the first year fireworks went off inside Neyland Stadium, instead of being shot across the river.
"There were some housing developments that came in and we lost that site. And at the same time, you know, Danny White was brought in as the athletic director and I think he had this new vision for this Neyland experience and it just really worked out, that we had to find a new site and we had this kind of this plan already in place that, 'Hey, if there was ever an opportunity we would love to come inside the stadium and provide a new look for the fireworks for UT football.' And it's just really been a big hit," said Honeycutt.