What Tennessee softball is getting in Greeneville's Kyla Jobe, a former five-sport athlete

“How was your game?”

That was the first question Tennessee softball coach Karen Weekly asked Greeneville’s Kyla Jobe over the phone earlier this April. 

The junior softball shortstop told the truth. 

“We lost and I probably had the worst game of my season,” Becky Jobe, recalled her daughter saying as she overhead the call on speaker. 

Weekly cooly said everyone has bad games and it’s about how you respond. One poor outing also didn't affect the latter part of the conversation when she offered Kyla a scholarship to play for the Lady Vols. 

“She just went from kind of a low from a loss and not playing well to an all-time high of landing her dream spot,” Becky said. 

Kyla, now a Tennessee commit, has a .600 batting average, 46 hits, 21 stolen bases, 19 RBIs, 15 doubles, seven home runs and two triples this season for Greeneville (15-11).

Why Lady Vols softball

Kyla moved to Tennessee in July 2021 before her freshman year. The Macomb, Illinois native said the relocation to Greeneville was largely inspired by her aspirations of playing college softball at a prominent program in the South. 

“I felt I could get more exposure, especially in a little bit of a bigger school and honestly, we moved just because we wanted a change,” Kyla said. 

She was a fan of Tennessee even when she lived 600 miles away from the campus because her mom attended the university’s graduate school. Kyla’s affinity for Tennessee softball elevated when she moved and it quickly became a goal to hopefully play there. 

Kyla chose the Lady Vols (34-8, 14-4 SEC) because she envisioned fitting into their winning culture. 

“I love their mindset on how to win,” Kyla said. “They're really honed in on fundamentals and playing smart ball rather than just quick (even though) they're definitely quick.

“They’re a very cohesive unit together so I just really love everything about them, how they just want to win.”

While Greeneville softball has had Division I players, Kyla will be the first to play at a Power 5. 

“Her athletic ability is the best I've seen in my years,” said Greeneville’s second-year coach Matt Million who also has 14 years of experience coaching travel softball. “Tennessee’s got a good one.”

Top-notch athlete and approach 

Kyla’s strength is her explosiveness. The 5-foot-7 shortstop blends power and agility to be impactful on offense and defense. 

She credits her workout regimen for her athleticism and those around her also note that she’s a multi-sport athlete. She was an all-state basketball player and district player of the year in volleyball this season at Greeneville. 

At her Illinois middle school, Kyla was a five-sport athlete, including soccer and track & field. As a runner, she qualified for the state middle school tournament in all five of her events. 

Kerry Holcombe, Kyla’s travel coach at Georgia Impact, said that she makes “plays on the field that a lot of other girls can’t.”

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Kyla also takes seriously the mental side of athletics. She learned this from her mom, a college dean, who used to teach psychology classes such as Competitive Behavior at UT. Concepts such as visualization and positive self-talk help Kyla.

Becky said that outside of their psychology-related talks, her daughter does her own research on how to get an edge in competition. She's even told the Tennessee softball coaches that when they are permitted by NCAA rules to send her a lifting and nutrition program, she'll be ready for it. She wants to do everything possible to contribute to winning.

"You have to hate losing more than you love winning and I think that's what really stuck with me and what I felt really defined my motivation," Kyla said.

Toyloy Brown III is a Knox News sports reporter. Email toyloy.brown@knoxnews.com. On X, formerly Twitter, @TJ3rd_.