To enter the contest, post either of the following in the comment section of this post:

1. Tell us why you deserve to win this copy of NCAA Football 2010. Alternatively, you can also choose to tell us why you believe another member does NOT deserve to win.

OR

2. Tell us about your most embarrassing memory as a Tennessee fan. Fans of other schools are also eligible — just be sure to identify your team.

I’m looking for creativity and entertainment value on these posts so put some thought into it. I’m a little flexible on the topic if your post is entertaining, but “one-liners” will be disqualified. The winner will be chosen at random from the group of best entries.

The deadline to enter is Saturday, July 11th at midnight. The winner will be announced no later than first thing Sunday morning so be sure to check back. We will need the pertinent information from the winner immediately so we that we can have the order placed with Amazon.com as soon as possible. While, we can’t guarantee the timeline for Amazon, it appears that the game will be shipped to arrive as early as Tuesday.

IMPORTANT RULES: Your username entered in this comment should match your VolNation username. Otherwise, you must clearly identify your VolNation name in your post. If you don’t have a VolNation account, register today, it’s easy and it’s free. One entry per person (and ip address). Please only post once. Multiple posts by the same poster will be subject to instant disqualification. Should you have questions us the Contact Us Form.

If you aren’t familiar with this years game and all the great new features be sure to check out our Official NCAA Football 2010 thread.

Good luck!

The Essence of Ed Orgeron

Of all the talent migrating into Knoxville this off-season, the most impressive “get” this recruiting season was the crazy Cajun himself, Ed Orgeron. No ordinary coach, Orgeron is a one-man stimulus plan and Kiffin is banking on as much as his chances for success rest squarely on Orgeron’s broad and scarcely clothed shoulders.

Take your worst shot at Coach O. He can take it. Shirtless probably. He is a dynamo of energy and focus and the foundation upon which Lane Kiffin is balancing his legitimacy as an SEC coach.

How so you ask? More than Monte Kiffin’s pro experience or Jim Chaney’s offensive innovation, Ed Orgeron is charged with the most difficult task: getting elite national recruits to Knoxville.

In and of itself, a task like that sounds overwhelming and impossible. But Ed Orgeron was built for impossible.

Detractors may point to his underwhelming stay in Oxford as the coach of Ole Miss. So maybe his time leading the Rebels didn’t go dynastically. So what? It’s freaking Ole Miss. They are the lap dogs of the SEC: Little body, big ego.

I get it. Ole Miss has given us The Grove, Faulkner’s Estate, Sandra Bullock in A Time to Kill and Archie Manning. But a sweaty Bullock does not an SEC contender make and the Manning’s have been more overexposed than Jon and Kate Plus 8 of late.

Seriously, give Houston Nutt a couple of years after Orgeron’s players trickle out and see how long before he’s run out of town by an army of seer-suckered, suspender-wearing blue bloods. (Hint: 3 years).

But all that is irrelevant. Some men like Scottie Pippen, Silent Bob, and Barney Rubble were born to be #2s. It is their niche within the universe and it is where they thrive.

Similarly, Orgeron thrives on the recruiting trail and not as a headman. Chitchatting high school football coaches? Check. Making half-time small talk with Holly Rowe? Not so much. This understanding underscores the massive faith Kiffin has placed within his recruiting coordinator.

For anyone who has read Meat Market, Orgeron’s life and path within the coaching profession is well chronicled. But as good as the book was, the scope was so large that it sometimes skimmed over Orgeron’s mythical motor and appetite for caffeine.

After reading, I was left wondering, beyond the Red Bull, colloquialisms, and relentless recruiting, how is he able to be so successful at what he does?

Simply put, there is an aura about the man. He’s a cross between something out of a Flannery O’Connor short story and a southern fried version of Thor the hammer god. Armed with boundless energy and immeasurable enthusiasm, Orgeron can connect with recruits across the country because of an innate passion for football.

In the business of the game today, attentions can be diverted and otherwise good coaches can meander off the path blazed by Bear Bryant, Joe Paterno, and Bobby Bowden.

Recruits are becoming more and more savvy to their own influence and to the institutional situations they shop themselves to. No longer are they beholden to certain coaches or programs. The players are now the kingmakers.

Not only that, but among the coaching ranks, lesser men find themselves trapped inside the labyrinth of balancing success on the recruiting trail and personal success in the form of promotions and personal branding. Ed Orgeron laughs at such men.

He is able to burst through the walls of distraction like the Kool-Aid guy due to one thing: his uncanny ability to communicate plain and simply to the heart of the matter. His passion for the game of football is first and foremost and every recruit he comes in contact with is witness to his maniacal approach to playing football.

Recruits are sharp enough to discern if their recruiter is more gimmick than gospel. Orgeron’s tactic is to appeal to a player’s most primitive and basic competitive instincts. The simplicity of his technique is both respectable and profound.

His approach has already paid tremendous dividends in his cultivation of a top-10 recruiting class that was scanted by his and Kiffin’s late start. Some programs may consider such a class a major achievement, but for Orgeron, it is just a stepping-stone. As the foundation for the program’s revitalization, he has his work cut for him. Time for another Red Bull.

From a distance, Tark’s tenure at Long Beach and the Cal Era at UMASS appear crafted from the same script. Aggressive coach takes over a downtrodden program, recruits like crazy, has remarkable success, enrages opponents, and faces allegations that their program is is cut from outlaw cloth. There is, however, a major difference. While Tark’s version of the Hundred Years War with the NCAA began at the Beach, Cal was able to escape Amherst with a clean bill of ethical health from the ‘AA. That’s a key thing to remember going forward.

Tark moved on to Vegas, where his blood feud with the governing body of major college athletics continued. Lawsuits abounded as the sides took turns bloodying themselves. On the other hand, Cal headed to the NBA and put time and professional distance between himself and the Marcus Camby controversy. That allowed him to land in Memphis without the Inspector Javerts of the ‘AA hopping the next Northwest flight into town to begin digging. John was able to go about the business of building the Tigers into a powerhouse in relative peace.

The third major college stop for each man, and the circumstances surrounding their respective hirings, illustrates that the differences in their situations outweigh the similarities. Tark, after a short stint in the NBA and years of de facto exile, landed at Fresno State, his alma mater. His hiring was generally attacked by the media as a desperate move by both parties. Tark was painted as a lifer who didn’t know when to walk away. Fresno was portrayed as a school selling its ethical soul for fleeting athletic glory. On the other hand, Cal landed at one of college basketball’s dynastic programs. While a few media members, most notably Mark Story and Pat Forde, mentioned the whispers surrounding Cal’s recruiting and disciplinary practices, most pundits lauded John as a brilliant hire that would put the Wildcats back on the top of college basketball’s mountain.

Now, to the crux of this column: What makes the two coaches and their situations different?  Cal’s ability to stay above the fray. Tark saw the ‘AA as an evil, vindictive body that picked on smaller schools. Thus, he chose to fight them at every turn. Cal, in contrast, sees the Keystone Cops from Indianapolis as a mere annoyance, one that can be circumvented by keeping a safe distance from the sausage making of the recruiting game. Cal’s media savvy and ability to create plausible deniability will allow him to escape the latest scandal as cleanly as he did the UMASS situation. By choosing to rope a dope instead of brawl, Cal has managed to outsmart the ‘AA. Tark , by fighting them at every turn, was left with finally bludgeoning college athletic’s Evil Empire in court. Advantage: Cal.

“If you ever go out to the Pahokee Swamp you better not go at night” or

“Please Mr. Kiffin…I don’t want to go…a ho oh oh” or

“You do the Hokey Pahokee and you turn yourself around, that’s what it’s all about”.

The chamber of commerce of Pahokee, Florida has to be licking their chops now. Once Gran pulls a few more recruits out of there, Vol fans from all over the world might plan an annual pilgrimage to their town, population 6,458. Note that the Wiki page says the population is 6,459, but Nuke is headed to Knoxville in a few months so I figured I would help the census bureau out a bit.

Where else could a town of that size get this much national pub? People all over the SEC are talking about Pahokee, and they haven’t spent a dime in advertising. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gran doesn’t leave with the key to the city today.

I’d love to see us take it a step further. Knoxville has already has 7 international “Sister Cities”. I say we round that number up to 8 by adding Pahokee, Florida. What have we got to lose?

Of course we are likely to face some opposition from the principle of Pahokee High, who up until recently had the Gator displayed on his profile on the school website. Considering those allegiances it isn’t hard to imagine how Kiffin questioned whether or not he would get a fair shake in the ongoing recruiting wars.

Lane Kiffin may have hurt a few feelings. Many even say that there has been a broach of ethical boundaries. Cages have been rattled, but they seem to be the right cages. The Gator is off of the website. Nuke is headed to Knoxville, and before it is all said and done Pahokee will get more press from Lane Kiffin and the Tennessee football program than they could have gotten from hosting Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears in a dance off.

Forget putting a fence around Tennessee. I say put a fence around Pahokee. After all it is Knoxville’s newest “sister city.”

Until next time, Go Vols!

The reason that we are in this position is because in the ‘08 class our sole QB commitment Casey Kelly was drafted (as was expected) by the Boston Redsox and chose Baseball over football. (If anyone wants to see how he’s doing go to this link.) Therefore, we ended the 2008 recruiting class failing to sign a QB.

During the following season we had commitments from 3 QBs at one time or another. One was 4 star Josh Nunes. During the Florida game last year when Nunes was in attendance. Jonathan Crompton was booed so much that Nunes decided to de-commit from the Vols and instead signed with Stanford leaving us with 3 star Bryce Petty as our only committed QB at that point.

Then just before the news of Fulmer’s release from the program, we landed the #1 dual-threat QB in the nation 4 star Tajh Boyd. One of Kiffin’s first tasks before even assembling a class was to go to the house of the gifted QB and tell him that it would be best if they all just moved in a different direction. Tajh ended up signing with Clemson.

3rd order of task was to tell Bryce Petty that he didn’t have what it takes to play at this level via a phone call made - not by Kiffin himself, but by the coach that had been recruiting him Jason Michaels.(no longer with the program.)

So we signed no QB’s in the 2008 class and considering we didn’t sign one in the 2007 season either, we are left with who is on the roster at that point, Jon Crompton, Nick Stephens, and BJ Coleman.

After Spring Drills, BJ decided on his own to leave the program and he did it by throwing jabs at the coaching staff and the way they do things on his way out. He is likely to sign with UTC.

So now we don’t just have the deficit of not signing any QB’s in back to back recruiting classes we are down to a Senior and a Junior who haven’t played well when given the opportunity.

Looking at the situation from the coaches perspective you would think they now want to signat least 3 QB’s in this recruiting class (2009) and they have several guys they are looking at right now and they are busy game planning the way they want the cards to fall.

I think we can unequivocally say that at this point we have at least one silently committed QB, but he is likely a JuCo guy. The coaches have not been very impressed by the names that are out there in this year’s crop and are not at all confident that one of those guys can take over the team next year after Jonathan Crompton graduates. That’s why they are looking JuCo for at least one guy.

It appears that that guy will be Robert Marve. Marve had some off the field trouble when he broke a car’s mirror - not his car - and fled from the police. He was suspended for two games and the charges were dropped. He was also suspended for another game for missing an English class for the fourth time in one semester.

Marve sat out the spring semester to concentrate on finding a new home with another team. He has been released by the program, just not to Tennessee due to Miami claiming there was tampering involved with Tennessee talking to the family before Marve was released. As a result, if he were to play at UT he would have to pay for one semester due to the fact that he has already sat out one semester from football and then he could be placed on scholarship.

We are also still looking at Cameron Newton — the former Gator QB that backed up Tebow. He got into some legal trouble of his own when he “allegedly” stole a laptop computer, spray painted “Cam” on it, and when the police came by to look for the notebook, he chucked it out the window behind a dumpster where it was later reclaimed.

Newton enrolled at Blinn (Texas) Junior College in an effort to repair his image while serving in a pre-trial intervention program for first-time offenders (no jail time, basically). Newton maintains that he didn’t steal anything and that he bought the laptop from someone anonymous.

Cam is a 6′6″, 450 lb guy that runs a 4.5 40. But he played in a spread system at Florida that is much different than the pro-style system Kiffin is implementing here at UT.

Then you have the HS Seniors. The top 3 on our board right now are Jake Heaps, (8th ranked Pro-Style QB in the nation) Jesse Scroggins, (6th ranked Pro-Style QB) and an up and comer who has plenty of big time offers himself in Andrew Hendrix.

Out of the three Andrew Hendrix seems the most likely guy to commit soon to the Vols. I don’t think you will see one of these Junior College quarterbacks commit until the coaches have the guy(s) they want out of high school committed.

So it makes for a really confusing mess, but with not signing QB’s in the last two classes and the defection of BJ Coleman, it is certainly possible that the coaches now want 3 quarterbacks in this class, possibly even four.

There are many different scenarios for what may happen. We may take 2 of the Junior College guys, but one wonders if Marve might be irked at having to pay for a semester’s worth of school when the coaches are bringing in a guy also that will directly compete with him for the starting QB position for 2010.

So we may just sign one of the JuCo guys (likely Marve in this scenario) and look to the HS ranks for the other 2 QB’s. It’s impossible to predict right now.

No one - not even the coaches it seems, know how this situation is going to play out on National Signing Day in 2010. We should know somewhat prior to that though. One thing we do know howwever is that it’s going to be a lot of fun following it.

Last week after the Orange and White game I posted a thread about my thoughts on B.J. Coleman’s attributes as a leader on this team. They were made not in the context of his skills as a quarterback, rather with how he carried himself, and the confidence he supposedly had heading to the final leg of the quarterback race for the up coming season. A week later, and all I got is….I was wrong. As I peruse the various opinions on B.J.’s departure, I’m only left with one emotion. Disappointment. No, I’m not from Chattanooga. No, I wasn’t a 2nd string QB in high school. I just remember reading articles about how he and Eric Berry were the ones that were getting guys to go to work outs, film sessions, trying to make sure everyone was on time to study sessions etc.., and how B.J. approached the competition he faced to be the QB at Tennessee. I’m disappointed because, whether or not he ever started a single down for us at Tennessee, he was a guy that I believed would be good for this team. He would push Jonathon Crompton. He would have the respect of his teammates. He would be ready to go play if and when his number was called. And yes, I’m disappointed because apparently I was wrong to boot.

But such is life when so much has changed over the last three years. B.J. was brought in by David Cutcliffe. David Clawson didn’t share his opinion. Lane Kiffin offered him a shot. And at the first sign it wasn’t going to go his way, he bolted. On some level I can understand. He wants to play, bottom line. In the end, that means more than simply being on his childhood’s favorite team.

Big picture wise, it think this is a big blow to our 2009 team simply because our options at quarterback fall off dramatically. I’m just not confident that Nick Stevens is going to significantly push Crompton for serious playing time, and with the incoming Mike Rozier, I’m equally not as confident that we’ve really added any depth to the position. The only possible good to come of this situation is that for every elite QB that is available for this next class, the promise of a legit shot at playing time can be believed starting next year. The rebuilding process continues……and now Kiffin and company have a real task at hand, find a quarterback that can come in and play, immediately. Building up the O line now has to be a priority and adding some serious threats outside. This incoming class of QB, OL and WR needs to be impact players right off the bat. So, get ready elite recruits, you’re going to have visitors soon!

As for the NFL draft, congratulations to Robert Ayers. Another 1st rounder from Tennessee. And then…..not another single pick from Tennessee. I can’t say that I’m all that surprised; it wasn’t like there was a plethora of elite talent coming out this year. I do think there will be more NFL bound talent in up coming drafts. But hey, what are you gonna do when UConn had 4 picks on “day 1”? It was just one of those drafts, and even with some of the recruiting that went on the past 4 years, there’s a good portion of that so called top level -talent that just washed out UT, much less had a chance at the NFL. If Eric Berry decides to forgo his senior season at UT he will no doubt be a top 10 pick as an underclassman, and will likely be the headline pick of what could be a decent Vol class heading to the NFL next year. So don’t fret Tennessee fans, there will be more Vols heading to the NFL in the near future.

Until then though, let’s continue to focus on their time on The Hill.

In the meantime, it’s time to settle in to the dog days of summer. A summer that just got a lot longer with no QB controversy to mull over for the next 5 months. On second thought, that might actually be a good thing….

GO VOLS.

The ill-advised taunting of conference power houses like Florida, Georgia, and Alabama drew very little ire from insiders even though it will result in all three match-ups being brightly outlined come this fall.

But this development has left many split and disappointed at the eulogy being given about Coleman’s brief Volunteer career. While the transfer itself is a shock, most are concerned not with the departure, but rather in the process of how it all went down.

Where exactly did Coleman stand in the minds of Kiffin and Jim Chaney? We will never know, but the perceived lack of opportunity was enough to push Coleman out the door and away from a program he loved and dreamed of representing on the field.

The superficial diagnosis of this development is that it will finally provide some clarity to a muddled position battle. Not only that, but it will also make Tennessee all the more appealing to the elite QBs in this year’s recruiting class.

Had Coleman stayed, started, and thrived, Kiffin and company would have had a difficult task of enticing QB recruits in coming to Knoxville to possibly sit for 2 years. In this age of Terrelle Pryor, Joe Flacco, and Twitter, kids have been conditioned to expect immediate results. Think blue chip prospects are eager to hold the same clipboards that were once carried by Jim Bob Cooter himself?

Even Coleman’s biggest fans drew blanks when trying to explain why he never undeniably emerged as “the guy.” His intangibles projected great things, but for Kiffin to tie himself to Coleman’s wagon would be a risky proposition for a coach who had already doubled-down enough over the past 5 months.

So where does this leave Tennessee? While Coleman wasn’t slated as the #1 guy, most considered him a shoo-in to receive decent playing time. If given truth serum, Chaney and Kiffin both probably expected to play all three QBs throughout this season.

Now? Tennessee will be forced to rely on two underachieving and (somewhat) fragile players in the most physical conference in the nation. Though not the end of the world, it is enough to provoke some acid reflux among Tennessee faithful.

The biggest consequence of the entire debacle won’t be felt on the field as it is Kiffin’s loss of political capital. It’s one thing for a guy with questionable character to be cast out of Rocky Top (see Demetrice Morley). But for a kid like Coleman to leave on such awkward terms? While it isn’t unforgivable, it does warrant questioning and some criticism over how the situation was handled.

B.J. was well-liked, respected, and devoted to the program, so the news that Kiffin was less than diligent in communicating with Coleman should come across as a concern for fans, because he deserved a little better than the double brush off he received.

Dare we attribute it to a lack of experience? One could argue that B.J. overreacted and interpreted Kiffin’s behavior as the silent treatment, when it was really just the new coach juggling a busy schedule full of obligations.

Regardless, Kiffin would have been better served to quickly name a starter and end the controversy before it escalated. The veil of ambiguity only served to complicate things as every drill and scrimmage felt like an audition when, in reality, very little will keep Crompton from beginning the season as the starter.

Time will tell if this unfortunate event is the exception or the rule. If Kiffin hopes to put a fence around Tennessee in the recruiting wars, he’ll have to start by making amends for a bad break-up with a native son.

For the last few years fans have clamored, begged and pleaded to end the “seniority rules” attitude on the UT sidelines. Attrition and defection will always be the natural result of such a drastic culture change.

Perhaps Vol fans will eventually learn to be more specific about their wish list. When begging for a culture change perhaps we should ask for fairly distinguishable characteristics among the remaining athletes. In other words, please give us a winner.

When was the last time that Tennessee had a “real”, clear cut starter at the quarterback position? That would have been Casey Clausen’s senior year. In the years following, the quarterback situation has looked more like a wrestling card than a depth chart. Think about it. Since Clausen’s departure we have had:

Yaw Yaw Shaffa’ vs. The Collarbone kid
The Collarbone Kid vs. Cajun Killer Clausen
The Collarbone Kid vs. Mountain Man-child (turned out to be more of an undercard than a main event)
Mountain Man-child vs. Big Red
Mountain Man-child vs. Big Red vs. The Chattanooga Hope

In the beginning it looked like the VWA would be fun and beneficial for the fans. After all, competition always allows the cream to rise to the top. Surely with all of the bouts a clear cut winner would emerge. Unfortunately the drama and the talent wouldn’t allow it.

This year, it appeared that we were headed toward a Fall Camp Triple Threat match. Then, without warning, The Chattanooga Hope hung his boots up. His departure was alarming to a lot of fans (the majority of which continue to be skeptical of the new head man on the Hill). The fact is that he wanted to be declared the winner half way through the match. He didn’t have the patience or the pain tolerance to deal with the steel chair. He thought he had Mountain Man-child penned, and that the referee was slow with the three count.

Stephens and Crompton are now left to duel it out.

The Vol QB situation personifies the paradox of open competition. It giveth the talent, but it also taketh the talent away. So, open competition is great when there is a clear cut winner. When that doesn’t happen, it serves as an omen for your program. It is a barometer for mediocrity.

Hopefully, one day in the near future we will look at all of this as means to a good end. I’m positive that Lane Kiffin is operating under the assumption that he and Jim Chaney can turn one of these guys into a serviceable, SEC quarterback.

With any luck, the retirement of the old commissioner will eventually shut the VWA down for good. Until then, let’s find a good home for the championship belt and get on with the season.

Until next time, Go Vols!

Barry Brunetti (Memphis, Tenn./University Christian) had a tremendous day and impressed multiple coaches and scouts, including ESPN’s Tom Luginbill, at the event. Though not the tallest quarterback, he’s tall enough to see over the line and make all of the throws. After watching his impressive film then watching him at this event, it’s shocking that more schools — in addition to Mississippi State, Tulsa, Memphis, Duke and Marshall — have not jumped in with an offer.

“This event was good overall,” he said. “When I first got out here I started off a little slow, but as the day went on I picked it up, and overall it was a great day for me. Dropping back from under center and making quicker reads are the two things that I need to spend a good bit of time on this summer.”

Talking to Brunetti and some close to him, it’s also clear that he has a lot of intangibles, is a student of the game and is very coachable. Whichever program signs the smooth 6-foot, 207-pounder is going to get a steal. Arizona is the latest to start showing interest.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/news/story?id=4098508

Now, let’s get down to business. The spring game wasn’t much to look at from a scheme standpoint. We had been warned of that ahead of time, and the coaches have been very quick on the trigger explaining exactly what they were doing on offense and defense. For that reason, rather than taking a literal look at the statistical results of the Orange and White Game, I think that it is better to approach this from a “philosophical” point of view.

For the last 5 years (even when Cutcliffe) was on staff, I have noticed a lack of rhythm in the offensive performance of the Vols. There has been something about the offensive performance that was just off or disjointed. Was it buried with Jimmy Hoffa? Did it fly over the Bermuda Triangle? Was it detained at Guantanamo?

Lately, the Vol’s offense has been like mosh pit at a Dead Milkmen concert rather than a well timed ball room dance. It has been the yen without the yang, the train without tracks, and the addict without a fix. Whether it was timing, poor play calling, or just poor execution, there has been a disjointed, “existential” quality that you just can’t put a finger on.

For the first time in five years, I saw a little of that rhythm return to Neyland stadium. Sure…Crompton still holds the ball for too long, and we still miss the burner to the outside. One thing that I saw Saturday afternoon that hasn’t really been a consistent part of this offense. Receivers were actually wide open on occasion. That alone is reason for celebration.

Yes, the Vols still need to find a quarterback, but it looks like they actually have an offensive plan. If you are looking for a pass happy offense this year you will be disappointed. Look for the Vols to run first and ask questions later. With that plan, and the exception of ineligible men down field (that happened twice Saturday), I would say that this offense seemed to flow better than anything we have seen recently.

That doesn’t mean that this team is ready to compete for championships. If we are lucky this coaching staff will have the talent assembled to make a run at an SEC championship in two years. That number will more likely be three. Seeing the execution at the game one should expect the Vols to win at least one game this year that they are not supposed to.

The weaknesses on this team are glaring. Foot speed and quickness is not completely there. The offensive line will have difficulty with the faster defenses in the SEC. The receivers will struggle to get open consistently, and the linebackers will have trouble shedding blocks.

In the straight up defense that was played on Saturday, the backers were playing with one hand tied behind their backs. I was still less than impressed with how long it took them to find the football at times. Before fans start thinking about 10 wins we will need to address these issues as well as the quarterback dilemma.

Spring is a time of rebirth. It is the unveiling of warmth, excitement, and new energy. Despite the shortfalls on this team, the return of rhythm should give us all hope for the future. This coaching staff knows what they are doing. When the right players are in the right places this team will compete for championships.

That is music that everyone in the Volnation can dance to. Until next time…Go Vols!