How Thomas Rhett And Lauren Akins Celebrate Game Day In A House Divided

No one loves college football more than Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins — they’re just on different sides of the field.

When Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins emerged from a black pickup truck at their farm on the outskirts of Nashville, they appeared happy, relaxed. and maybe a little sleepy. It was early morning on the Tuesday after Easter, and they had just wrapped up a long, exhausting, fun-filled weekend with their family. To change for the photo shoot, they ducked into a stately green cottage with cedar shingles that overlooks a pond stocked with largemouth bass. The sprawling property is a getaway when they need to escape the frenzy of life in Music City. It’s a place to ride horses, go fishing, host big family gatherings, and watch football.

A half hour later, they strolled down the gravel road to the barn looking wide-awake and photo ready, wearing their favorite colors. Lauren was dressed in a white top and bright orange pants — the loud, proud signature of The University of Tennessee’s Volunteers — and Thomas Rhett wore a red-and-black vest as a tribute to his beloved University of Georgia Bulldogs. They looked each other up and down with mock disdain. The game was on.

Thomas Rhett is best known as one of the most successful country music stars of the past decade, with legions of fans, along list of awards, and 20 number one hits (and counting). He’s also known for marrying his high school sweetheart, then Lauren Gregory, when they were just 22. Despite the warnings of family and friends, the young couple decided they were ready, and that firm conviction hasn’t changed after almost 11 years of marriage and four children. Their love story has been a common theme in his music, especially in hits like “Die a Happy Man” (“You’re a saint, you’re a goddess, the cutest, the hottest, a master-piece”). In person, their relationship is less earnest, more playful. These two have fun together. If there’s one thing the couple have had in common since they started dating it’s their love of football — not just the sport but the culture, the traditions, the spirit. They also share a lightning-quick sense of humor and a weakness for Frito pie, but when it comes to their team loyalties, they couldn’t be further apart.

For Thomas Rhett, pulling for Georgia has bordered on religion. His father, Rhett Akins, grew up in the football-obsessed town of Valdosta and briefly played for the Bulldogs prior to launching a music career. His grandfather was on the Georgia team, too, and his great-grandfather became a top recruiter after playing in the forties. “My dad was preached to about the Dawgs from the day that he was born,” the young country star says. As for Thomas Rhett, he didn’t make it to Athens as a student, but it wasn’t due to a lack of trying. “That was my first choice. I remember writing my paper and getting a rejection form as fast as you’ve ever seen a letter come in the mail,” he says. He didn’t get into Tennessee, his runner-up option, either, and his high school sports credentials were no help. “I weighed 141 pounds on a good day as a senior. Needless to say, my football career didn’t go anywhere,” he recalls. Thankfully, he ended up at Lipscomb University in Nashville, which he says was “always God’s plan for my life.”

Lauren grew up doing more than just watching games on television. “The first time I broke a bone, I was playing football,”she says. “I can remember my dad doing drills with my sister and brother and me in the front yard.” But she gives most of the credit to her mother, Lisa. “She was the big football fan in our family, and she’s really the one who instilled that in me,” Lauren says. As what she calls a “born-and-raised fifth-generation Nashvillian,” Lauren always knew she wanted to go to Tennessee, where she entered the nursing school. Her brother-in-law Tyler Page played there for four years. When her oldest cousin invited her to Knoxville to visit, “the passion just took over,” she says.“Once you walk onto that campus and step foot in Neyland Stadium, there isn’t a feeling in the world like it. And Thomas Rhett will agree, even though he might not want to.”

He admits to some fondness for the Vols when they aren’t playing Georgia, but for him, a game “between the hedges” is pure magic. “When you have a whole stadium calling the Dawgs, a lot of people would say it’s funny that grown men and women are out there barking on a Saturday,” he says. “But when you hear it all in unison, there’s something electric about that. ”Most of their game days are spent either on the road or (if they’re lucky) right here on the farm with a bunch of friends. “We’ll get a fresh keg, there’ll be TVs on all over the place, our girls will be running around, and everyone will be trying their best to watch the game in between changing diapers and feeding babies bottles,” says Thomas Rhett. “That’s kind of what it looks like these days.”The jury is still out on whether their four daughters (Willa Gray, Ada James, Lennon Love, and Lillie Carolina) will pull for Georgia or Tennessee. Thomas Rhett is the underdog in this battle, especially now that Lauren has season tickets for the Tennessee games. Their oldest, Willa Gray (7), was at Neyland Stadium with her mother and grand-mother last year when Tennessee beat Alabama for the first time since 2006, an earthquake of a game for Vol Nation. “It’s in her blood; she’s like her mama,” Lauren says. “She’s really started to love it, and that girl looks good in orange.”

But Thomas Rhett is still holding out hope. He has the advantage of back-to-back national championships, and he’s convinced the little ones are going to fall for the Dawgs.“ Every now and then, they’ll put on red cheerleading outfits, and it’ll make my day,” he says.

As the photo shoot was ending, there was one final picture planned by the barn, where Lauren was supposed to try to tackle Thomas Rhett. He could tell she wasn’t going to fake it and was really coming for him. She put her shoulder down and hit him with everything she had, doing her best to mess up his hair in the process. Lauren just about took him down, but he held his own, laughing the whole time. In a way, the two looked like they did when they’d shown up that morning—tired, happy, and ready to compete another day.