KNOXVILLE, Tenn — A sophomore architect major at the University of Tennessee is helping keep a campus tradition alive.

Cole Davis painted "The Rock" for the first time in June 2024. He has painted it 12 times since then, with his most recent project taking nearly 10 hours to complete.

"The first time I painted the rock was last summer when UT won their baseball championship," Davis said. "After that, they reached out to me and said we want you to do more stuff. Since then, it's been about once or once a month."

Davis won the Dogwood Arts Chalk Walk in Downtown Knoxville back in 2024. He said he doesn't remember life without his brushes.

"There's not a definite start date. It's pretty much just been as long as I've been alive," Davis said. "Everyone draws when they're a kid, but I just

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