Stars Volta Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Brandon Holtz won the 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Troon Country Club in Arizona last September. Along with lifting the Robert T. Jones Jr. Trophy, that victory also earned Holtz the opportunity to compete at The Masters and The US Open in 2026. Like the Amateur champions before him, Brandon was a division 1 student-athlete, just not in golf. The Bloomington, IL native played college...

Send us Fan Mail Brendan Perlini was drafted 12th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft. Born in the UK and raised in Canada, Perlini was the 3rd in his immediate family to play in the NHL. Brendan has taken the ice with some of the best players in the world while suiting up for the Arizona Coyotes Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and the Edmonton Oilers. The 6'3" winger is currently playin...

Send us Fan Mail DAP The Contract is a Rapper, Producer and Lawyer based in NYC. He grew up in Nigeria, attended boarding school in London, went to the US and became an Ivy League graduated at Brown University and got his law degree from Columbia Law School. He drop his mixtape in 2014 and The Source Magazine named it the best mixtape of the year. Since then he's release 9 solo produced album...

Send us Fan Mail Hayden Coffman is one of the top independent Country Music Artist in world right now. The Knoxville native has generated over 285 million streams globally and his breakout single Better Off recently turned Gold. We sat down with Hayden to talk about his career and new EP Goner which you can stream everywhere you get your music.  

Send us Fan Mail JP Kennedy is a rising artist in Nashville making waves with his hit singles Reasons To and Leaving with the Reason. JP grew up in PA and played college football in the Washington DC area. Shortly after graduating Kennedy moved to Nashville to becoming a singer/songwriter.  

Send us Fan Mail Tom Luginbill is the National Recruiting Director at ESPN and Lead Analyst at the ACC Network. As an athlete, Tom was the starting Qb at Palomar Junior College helping his school win the National Championship in 1993. He would later transferring and becoming the starting QB at both Georgia Tech and Eastern Kentucky. Luginbill is the son of a coach and followed in his father's...

Send us Fan Mail Coach Richard Shaughnessy is the Director of Strength and Conditioning at Troy University. Shaughnessy's elite training program has been the bedrock of Troy's success since 1997. Coach and his staff have helped hundreds of athletes take their talents to the next level including DeMarcus Ware, Osi Umenyiora, Lawrence Tynes, Leodis McKelvin, Jerrel Jernigan and Kimani Vida...

Send us Fan Mail Will Pruitt plays Professional Basketball in Belgium for the Leuven Bears. We first spoke to Will in season 2 as he was entering his Senior season at Lipscomb University with the goal of making it to the NCAA Tournament. Pruitt accomplished his goal in 2025 and shares his experience of playing in the "Big Dance" and what it's been like playing pro ball overseas. 

Send us Fan Mail Mac Harris is the starting middle linebacker for 18th ranked football team in the country, University of South Florida. Harris led the Bulls in tackles last season and currently has 56 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and 1 interception that he returned 93 yards for a touchdown. The Villages HS alum has led USF to victories over #25 Boise State and #13 Florida in the Swamp. 

Send us Fan Mail Bill Pidto is a sports journalism pioneer. When ESPN2 launched in 1993, Bill was the first anchor delivering sports news and highlights to America. Pidto would go on to anchor popular ESPN shows like NHL 2Night, Baseball Tonight and NFL Primetime. Today you can find Bill on the MSG Network as the lead anchor for the pregame, halftime and postgame shows for the New York Knicks and...

Send us Fan Mail Scooter Gennett is a former MLB All-Star second baseman who played 7 years in the Bigs for the Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants. He is one of 21 players in the history of the league to hit 4 home runs in one game. In this episode Scooter talks about making it to the majors leagues, his approach at the plate and his mission since retiring from the gam...

Send us Fan Mail Landon Smith is a Folk/Country singer & songwriter based in Nashville. Before moving to the music capital of the world, Smith was rocking frat parties at Georgia Southern just like Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell. Landon's strong voice and stage precence has won over large crowds while opening for Gavin Adcock, Ella Langley and Riley Green. You can listen to the first 6 song...

Send us Fan Mail Dwayne Harris is one of the most dynamic special teams players to ever lace 'em up in the NFL. Drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, a Pro Bowler with the Giants and a dangerous weapon for Raiders. Harris shares great stories about his playing days at ECU, getting yelled at by Jason Witten, catching balls from Tony Romo and Eli Manning and everything in-between.

Send us Fan Mail Skyler Higley is a standup comedian/writer who's written for Conan O'Brien, The Onion, The New Yorker, After Midnight, Going Dutch and The Mark Twain Prize on Netflix. You can see Skyler's Comedy Central standup special and his Just for Laughs showcase on YouTube.  

Send us Fan Mail Lee Beebe Jr. is a redshirt Junior running back at Indiana University. Before the Big Ten, Beebe walked-on to UAB football team, earned a scholarship and became the Blazers starting RB. While in Birmingham, Lee accumulated 1,600 all-purpose yards and 12 touchdown in 2 active season. This off-season he decided to transfer to IU to join Coach Curt Cignetti and the nationally ranked...

Send us Fan Mail Ellory Smith is an Emmy nominated Writer and Standup Comedian in Los Angeles. Original from Upstate New York, Ellory got into comedy over a decade ago cutting her teeth in New York and Boston before moving to LA where she's been performing and writing for the last 7 year. Smith got her big break in writing when she was noticed by the creators of Robot Chicken, a stop-motion a...

Send us Fan Mail Bryce Walker is a former Notre Dame lacrosse player who won back-to-back National Championships with the Irish in 2023 & 2024. Bryce sat down with us to talk about his lax journey from West Lake High School in Austin, TX to winning the first two lacrosse titles in school history at South Bend.  

Send us Fan Mail Michael Turner is a stand-up comedian who's known for his Road Warrior Tour where he travels to Cincinnati Bengals road games, does standup in that city and then interacts with NFL fans on game day. Turner has been on Netflix is a Joke Radio and his stand-up special can be seen on Don't Tell Comedy. In this episode we talk to Michael Turner about his beloved Bengals, his...

Send us Fan Mail Pug Johnson is a rising country artist who's opened for Midland, Clint Black, Steve Earle and the Eli Young Band. The Beaumont, TX native's sound is a mixture of old school country and swamp pop. We talked with Pug about his journey to the big stage and the impact his wife/manager, Mindy, has had on his life/music career. Pug also shared the meaning behind his lyrics inc...

Send us Fan Mail Jackson Woodard is an All-American Linebacker from UNLV, he was 4th in the nation in tackles (135) and was named Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year. The two time captain led the Rebels to a 11-3 record in the 2024-2025 season which concluded with a bowl victory over Cal. Woodard is now preparing for the 2025 NFL combine which will take place at the end of February in India...

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Halpin is an award winning Presenter & Content Creator for Everton FC. She's our first international guest who joined us from Liverpool, England to talk about the history and current state of Everton football (soccer). Later this year, we'll be crossing the pond to join Sarah for one of Everton's final matches at historic Goodison Park. For more content fr...

Send us Fan Mail Jax Biggers returns to the podcast to talk about his last two seasons in the Texas Rangers organization. Jax is an infielder who spent 2024 at AAA Round Rock where he won Texas Rangers Minor League Defensive Player of the Month and the True Ranger Award. Biggers shared his experiences with the new Robo Ump, challenging balls/strikes and what it was like squaring off against Cy You...

Send us Fan Mail Fozzy Whittaker is ESPN college football analyst and former running back/kick returner who played in the National Championship (2009) with the Texas Longhorns and Super Bowl 50 with the Carolina Panthers. We talked with Fozzy about playing football at an elite level and the experiences he shared with teammates Colt McCoy, Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly. We also talked about the curre...

Send us Fan Mail Joe Maldonado aka Joe Exotic aka The Tiger King is a reality personality best know from the Netflix documentary, Tiger King. Joe operated the GW Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, OK from 1999-2018. Exotic was arrested in 2018 on suspicion of hire for murder of his depicted rival and the owner of Big Cat Rescue, Carole Baskin. Joe talked to us from prison in Fort Worth (TX) about hi...

Send us Fan Mail Conor Enright a 6'2" 180 pound (RS) Junior G on the DePaul University basketball team. Enright played the first half of his college career at Drake University where he help the Bulldogs reach the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons ('22-'23 & '23-'24). We sat down with the Mundelein (IL) native to talk about playing under the bright lights in...