It’s that time again — time for the much anticipated annual release of EA Sports NCAA Football 2010. As we did last year, VolNation.com will be giving away a free copy of the game on the platform of your choice (xbox360, ps3). The game will be shipped directly from Amazon.com to the winner immediately upon release for FREE, compliments of the best Vol Community on the internet (us). According to the Amazon website, the game could arrive as early as July 14th.

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

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By: Knox McCoy

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.

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Given the recent events,  the easy thing to do is proclaim John Calipari the successor to Jerry Tarkanian’s throne as King of College Hoops Controversy. That would be a mistake. On the surface, it appears the comparison fits. However, a closer look reveals some striking differences inboth the situations and the men themselves.

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.

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We are headed back to Pahokee for more drama. Laughs will surely follow. Pick your lyric for what Eddie Gran may be singing in Pahokee, Florida right now.

“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.

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No matter what takes place during the weeks leading up to September 5th, the Vols will begin the 2009 season with two QB’s on scholarship.

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.

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Spring ball is officially over, the NFL Draft is over, and so is Tennessee’s quarterback debate….for now anyway. It has been an interesting off season so far, and it didn’t require any off field antics by our coach(es) or a quarterback defection for that to be the case. Those things just made it more so.

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.

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Like a fresh whiff of morning breath, most Tennessee fans are finding themselves smacked in the face with the unpleasant news of would-be QB contender B.J. Coleman’s transfer.

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.

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Just when we thought fans would have an extended topic to debate during the off season, BJ Coleman took his ball and went home. Now the VolNation doesn’t have much to debate during the off season. Frankly, I don’t know if I could have withstood 5 months of the great Crompton/Coleman debate anyway.

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:

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Barry Brunetti had a strong showing at Friday’s Elite 11 camp:

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.

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There are a few things that I noticed being in Knoxville for the big spring event. One of my observations has nothing to do with football. It seems that it is getting harder and harder to go anywhere around Neyland Stadium without running into Volnationals. Sitting on the upper level at the 50 yard line I had one poster/member on my left and two on my right. Sure, it is just coincidence, but I wonder if we thank Freak enough for the service he provides. I had a blast watching the spring game with them, and this board enhances my Vol experience. We all thank you very much for all that you do Freak.

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?

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