I’ve been looking for a “real” fan to help me figure something out. Are players that transfer out still VFLs? What about coaches? Was Fulmer still a VFL after he got fired or did it go away while he was gone and come back when he was named AD? Was Jennings still a VFL when he got kicked off the team by an interim coach who was about to get fired?
I look at it like this.
Jalen Hurd
I thought he was a quitter. He looked like a quitter.
But, ...I thought about jobs I have had and abusive/neglectful bosses that were hurting us all. I have walked away from jobs like that. He did that when he walked away from Butch Jones. I see now he walked away from that man, not UT. He sacrificed his body. He took a pounding. He earned his orange.
He clashed with a coach, and had support and the means to take his talent elsewhere. He thought he could contribute better in another role. He was right. Coach was wrong.
Jalen Hurd is a VFL in my book. And it is hard to argue with his results. We are damned lucky Kamara did not do the same.
Don't get me wrong. There are quitters and there are young men who light a match and try to start a fire on their way out the door. I have no qualms turning my back on them.
If they take themselves elsewhere with class: VFL.
JG = VFL , for example.
There is a right way and a wrong way to do things.
You can call me a real fan or not. I am bound to the University by family history. John Barnhill was my Great Uncle (His grandchildren and their part of the family is, of course, of the Sooey Pig variety, but I understand that). I will always wear my orange. I did give up my season tickets after Butch's last season. So, I have standards. My loyalty is to UTK, my blood is orange. I might buy season tickets again when the University is more aligned to my beliefs, but I consider myself a real fan.