Bryce Brown has left Tennessee

[Salt City Sooner]

per the front page of thier Rivals site.

[Leroy Lizard]

VolNation not happy

http://www.volnation.com/forum/tennessee-vols-football/

[JLEW1818]

lol another classic meltdown?

[JLEW1818]

Dooley says Brown will remain enrolled at Tennessee for the rest of the spring semester. He did not indicate if he would then transfer elsewhere.

:confused:

[Jacie]

BB = was a 5-star recruit, sophomore RB, second on the team in yards in 2009, second on the depth chart to Taurean Poole going into spring practice. Since he came in with Lane, not surprising that he would transfer. The timing is funny but maybe he wanted to see how things would shake out after a new coach came in before deciding whether to stay or go to another team.

Vol fans are not pleased about this but BB will be just another piece of the puzzle to be replaced in what will be yet another rebuilding year.

[I Am Right]

Transfering to Wichita State, now thats funny

[Scott D]

smart move on his part actually.

[JLEW1818]

will he transfer there for 1 year then D1 ?

[Scott D]

I wouldn't be surprised if he transfers there for 1 year and to K-State after that.

[soonerboy_odanorth]

Who cares? He didn't want to be a Sooner. We're not hurting for talent there.

Really, once these recruits drift off whatever direction, I don't know why anyone follows or gives two whits. I practically forgot about Robert Meachum until the Tulsa World brought up all the recruiting silliness surrounding him. While he was at Tennessee were we really hurting for WR's? Can't see that he would have made a difference given his injury history at Tennessee.

[Curly Bill]

I like it when they don't choose us and they fail!

[ouwasp]

I like it when they don't choose us and they fail!

Yes... and I bet 90+% of fans feel this way but most won't admit it...

[Collier11]

not sure why anyone would want an 18 or 19 yr old kid to fail, I just want them to fail if they play us head to head or if they are a doosh which he may very well be :D

[Harry Beanbag]

not sure why anyone would want an 18 or 19 yr old kid to fail, I just want them to fail if they play us head to head or if they are a doosh which he may very well be :D


Bryce and his brother may or may not be actual dooshes, but the "handler" that was controlling them was a major league racist doosh.

[MclOUvin]

young athletes these days have far too many people in their ears, parents need to start stepping up

[KantoSooner]

On the other hand, we're witnesses to history. Most of these self appointed 'advisors' have the opportunity to ruin the careers of one major talent. In the case of the Brothers Brown, the same guy has been able to ruin two potential D1 stars. AT THE SAME TIME.
hat's off to new heights in arrog-incompetence!

[Leroy Lizard]

There must be more to this story than I know. AFAIK, Bryce Brown chose to play for the University of Tennessee and could have competed for a starting spot. HE chose of his own free will to leave the team. As much as I disrespect Kiffin and Brown's handlers, there was nothing that they did that required Brown to leave UT. If Brown ends up working at Burger King because of his decision, he only has himself to blame.

[My Opinion Matters]

I like it when they don't choose us and they fail!

You take pleasure in 19 year old kids failing?

[Scott D]

There must be more to this story than I know. AFAIK, Bryce Brown chose to play for the University of Tennessee and could have competed for a starting spot. HE chose of his own free will to leave the team. As much as I disrespect Kiffin and Brown's handlers, there was nothing that they did that required Brown to leave UT. If Brown ends up working at Burger King because of his decision, he only has himself to blame.

Well, perhaps it's just me, but I think this is actually only interesting because it comes on the heels of his older brother transferring from Miami to K-State. Realistically speaking, what are the odds that two siblings who chose to go to two very different schools would be transferring (albeit temporarily in my opinion) to two different schools within weeks of each other.

The only real difference I see here is that Bryce is going somewhere that won't force him to miss a year, while Arthur is not.

[KantoSooner]

I don't recall any mention of these guys being other than normal, upstanding kids, until the recruiting circus started. Since then, it's been pretty much downhill for both. What changed? To me, it's at least a logical supposition that the 'new' person in the mix, their 'advisor', is what changed. And it doesn't seem to have been for the better.

I may be wrong, but I'll stick with this as a working theory until somebody has something better to offer.

**************
That said, I hope both of them get their heads back together and resurrect their college careers. They are fantastic athletes.

[Collier11]

I did read that his GF is prego and he is moving closer, anyone else hear this?

[budbarrybob]

Yes... and I bet 90+% of fans feel this way but most won't admit it...

I feel that way for EVERY school/player (especially :texan: )

Just as long as their failure is not related to injury ;)

[badger]

Tennessee has been on full-on meltdown mode lately that would make OP.com blush.

They have been the biggest "woe is me" fanbase in the world ever since Kiffiekins came to town (then left after one year, lol).

They went from being the once and future king of the SEC to being the little bratty kids that whine "It's not fair" when it's other kids' turn to play with the favorite toy.

In any event other-UT has been stealing Oklahoma's recruits for awhile now, so good riddance!

[BoulderSooner79]

Bryce: "Arthur, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
Arthur: "Crap! We have to fix that."

[Curly Bill]

not sure why anyone would want an 18 or 19 yr old kid to fail, I just want them to fail if they play us head to head or if they are a doosh which he may very well be :D

Listen, if they don't play for OU then they are the enemy! It's as simple as that. :D

[soonerfan28]

I actually feel sorry for these kids who turn to somebody to help them through the recruiting process and then get screwed in the end. Wish these kids were just smart enough to realize that they only have their hands in your pocket.

[badger]

More info on the kid here. (http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/blog?name=feldman_bruce&id=3869869)

I would feel bad for the kids, but it's not like they're not getting anything out of it themselves. The SEC schools take care of the players and their families *wink wink* and even if those programs have gone legit and follow the rules, the kids are at least getting a free education. Outta state tuition is about five figures now per semester, so by the time these players are finished, they probably got at least $100k in tuition alone, not to mention room and board expenses and professional training in a sport they love along the way.

[Sabanball]

Look for more attrition at Tennessee in the coming months. It's all part of the 'process'. We went through the same thing in 2007 and we survived it.:)

[badger]

Look for more attrition at Tennessee in the coming months. It's all part of the 'process'. We went through the same thing in 2007 and we survived it.:)

Tennessee's karma was overflowingly bad. They are the reason by the "Stop Snitching" mantra is out there. They are just as guilty as other SEC programs (no offense, Sabanball) of paying off recruits, families and runners, but they went and tattled on someone else!

Oh man, the donut man was so incredibly deserving of his downfall. He got so many of the other SEC coaches fired after taking their state's recruits, then all of the sudden, he can't recruit anymore and is getting outcoached but continues being a whiny jerk :D

And the fanbase.... even if Fat Phil was a whiny jerk that cheated, snitched and stole recruits, he was one of their own and got them a title and BCS berths and conference championships. They kick him to the curb! For who?!

Lane Kiffin. Omg, wtf. I realize it was kind of a package deal to get his daddy and ace recruiter and insane-o extraordinaire Coach O, but Lane Kiffin, who can never shut up despite never putting up.

Tennessee football, please suck. For a long time. You've earned it.

[Leroy Lizard]

I have no problem with Tenn snitching, as you call it. This isn't junior high. Coaches are duty bound to report illegal activities to the NCAA when the discover them. It is one of the very few ways the NCAA can keep such activities under control.

My problem was that Tenn was engaged in some shady practices themselves.

[Sabanball]

I have no problem with Tenn snitching, as you call it. This isn't junior high. Coaches are duty bound to report illegal activities to the NCAA when the discover them. It is one of the very few ways the NCAA can keep such activities under control.

My problem was that Tenn was engaged in some shady practices themselves.

Yea, I wonder what's become of the 'hostess' that dealt with BB during his recruitment. Something tells me that she is not all torn about him leaving. After all, she was only doing her job, right?;)

[badger]

That's what I meant - just tattling in and of itself is not an issue. It's when you, yourself are guilty of the crimes that you are turning others in for that it becomes "snitching." Think Michael Vick's friends all testifying against Michael Vick in the dogfighting thing so that they'd all get lesser sentences while Vick took the fall.

[Leroy Lizard]

Think Michael Vick's friends all testifying against Michael Vick in the dogfighting thing so that they'd all get lesser sentences while Vick took the fall.

Those are criminal charges and they need to cooperate with the investigation. We don't want to run our society on the Mob's principles.

[Scott D]

Those are criminal charges and they need to cooperate with the investigation. We don't want to run our society on the Mob's principles.

Ok work with me on this, I believe she's saying Fulmer 'rolling over' for the NCAA on the recruiting violations that implicated Alabama and to a lesser extent some other programs, on the idea that the NCAA might turn a slight bit of a 'blind eye' on the Tennessee program itself.

The premise is the same as someone agreeing to testify against another criminal on the promise of receiving a lighter sentence.

[badger]

Ok work with me on this, I believe she's saying Fulmer 'rolling over' for the NCAA on the recruiting violations that implicated Alabama and to a lesser extent some other programs, on the idea that the NCAA might turn a slight bit of a 'blind eye' on the Tennessee program itself.

The premise is the same as someone agreeing to testify against another criminal on the promise of receiving a lighter sentence.

Scott D gets it - and I heard that's about what happened. The NCAA looked the other way for Fat Fulmer while Bammer was on a bowl ban

[Leroy Lizard]

I understand, but I wouldn't use an informant seeking a lighter sentence as a comparison. The informant is facing serious jail time and has a much more compelling reason to turn state's evidence; Fulmer was only trying to escape NCAA scrutiny. They're really not that comparable.

[badger]

I understand, but I wouldn't use an informant seeking a lighter sentence as a comparison. The informant is facing serious jail time and has a much more compelling reason to turn state's evidence; Fulmer was only trying to escape NCAA scrutiny. They're really not that comparable.

I'm not going to keep arguing this, but I think it was entirely to Fulmer's advantage to turn in Bammer, seeing how they're in the same conference and competing for the same recruits. I think they're entirely comparable, but like I said, I'm not gonna argue it more.

[Leroy Lizard]

Okay, if a person turns in a rival business competitor to the police to gain a marketing advantage, then... yeah, that would be comparable to what Fulmer did.

Informing on the Mob to avoid the death penalty, resulting in a vicious criminal being put away behind bars... not so much.

[Scott D]

I've thought about it, and the analogy of Fulmer as a police informant is probably a better comparison. He's the child molester that cops know is dirty, but he has ways of getting information on more 'dangerous' baddies out there, so the cops let him 'slide' so long as they don't see him doing what he does to keep him on the street so that they can go after the other guys.

[Leroy Lizard]

I think the cops tell the child molester that he can't continue doing what he's been doing and the penalties for getting caught will be severe.

I don't care much for Phil, but I'm not quite ready to compare him to a child molester.

[prrriiide]

It sounds to me like he bought into Lame Kiffin's line of BS like everyone else around here. Now that Kiffin is no longer there, the checks his mouth wrote are bouncing.

From the Knoxville News Sentinel

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2010/mar/18/a-brown-out-for-vols/


Brown out for Vols on first day of spring practice

Running back 'not a part of the team'


By Austin Ward (http://www.govolsxtra.com/staff/austin-ward/)
Posted March 18, 2010 at 9:16 p.m.The first practice was meant to announce an arrival.


A departure overshadowed it.


a.inline_topic:hover { background-color: #EAEAEA; } Derek Dooley (http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/topic/derek-dooley/) officially debuted as the a.inline_topic:hover { background-color: #EAEAEA; } football (http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/topic/football/) coach at Tennessee. But the curtain apparently dropped on Bryce Brown as a Vols running back at roughly the same time.


The former No. 1 recruit in the country was a no-show as UT took the field under Dooley for the first time on Thursday afternoon, just one day after rumors of Brown's possible departure were seemingly put to bed. Officially the door is not closed for Brown, but UT is moving on without him either way.


"Bryce Brown came to me today and indicated he's dealing with a lot of personal and family problems right now," Dooley said. "Concerns that I believe stem from, and what he told me stem from, No. 1, some of the reasons why he came here, and No. 2, his experience over the first six months when he was here.


"As of right now, he's not a part of the team. It doesn't mean we've kicked him off by any means. We want Bryce here, and he's going to be here through the rest of the semester. But our focus really is on the 85 guys who are here."


There are still a handful of talented tailbacks among them, and Tauren Poole, David Oku and Toney Williams certainly soften the blow delivered in the backfield. The Vols also have talented signee Rajion Neal on the way this fall, but none of the others come with nearly as much hype or promise as Brown.


His delayed decision on National Signing Day in 2009 and eventual pledge to UT made national headlines and was frequently pointed to by former coach Lane Kiffin as evidence of his impact on the roster. Brown struggled through injuries and played a complementary role behind Montario Hardesty, but even after the coaching change he made clear he planned to stick around through spring practice before making a decision about his future.


After going through offseason conditioning with the team though, apparently Brown had a change of heart just before it started.


"I was a little surprised, but you can only control what you can control," Dooley said. "He went through the entire offseason, but I also think this wasn't something from the last three weeks.



"This was probably something for six months, and I'm not sure what the pressures are, but I'm not here to recruit (players already in the program). I'm here to coach. He's dealing with a lot of issues."


Dooley obviously has some concerns as well, starting with a thin group of defensive tackles, a handful of injured linebackers and a quarterback battle to oversee - which he started to address during a roughly two-and-a-half hour practice.


Those storylines were expected to be the focus of Dooley's first workout with the Vols, but that changed when they opened it with one less option at running back.


"Everybody makes their own decisions and things like that," Oku said. "All we can do is just hope that he doesn't (leave), but we can't control what somebody else does. You know, coach Dooley says we're just worried about everybody taking care of themselves and getting team chemistry going.


"I think it caught a lot of people (by surprise), it really did, it's one of those things that you never think something is going to happen, but then it does. It's kind of crazy."
.
http://media.knoxnews.com/kns/static/images/icons/icx_prc.gif © 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.

[prrriiide]

Tennessee's karma was overflowingly bad. They are the reason by the "Stop Snitching" mantra is out there. They are just as guilty as other SEC programs (no offense, Sabanball) of paying off recruits, families and runners, but they went and tattled on someone else!

Oh man, the donut man was so incredibly deserving of his downfall. He got so many of the other SEC coaches fired after taking their state's recruits, then all of the sudden, he can't recruit anymore and is getting outcoached but continues being a whiny jerk :D

And the fanbase.... even if Fat Phil was a whiny jerk that cheated, snitched and stole recruits, he was one of their own and got them a title and BCS berths and conference championships. They kick him to the curb! For who?!

Lane Kiffin. Omg, wtf. I realize it was kind of a package deal to get his daddy and ace recruiter and insane-o extraordinaire Coach O, but Lane Kiffin, who can never shut up despite never putting up.

Tennessee football, please suck. For a long time. You've earned it.

Badg, there is a lot more to it than that.

AFA as narcing on Bama, Fulmer, as you said, is one of Tennessee's own. UT hates Bama as much as OU hates texass and tOSU hates Meatchicken. There are plenty of examples of coaches kicking their rivals in the nuts. Darrell Royal comes to mind.

AFA the fan base, they really wanted Fulmer to right the ship. Year after year, they hoped that something would change, and the Vols would return to the top of the SEC. Realize: the Vols won the NC with David Cutcliffe as the OC. After Ol' Mrs. hired Cut to land Eli Manning, UT's offensive production plummeted under OC Randy Sanders. Also remember that Phattus was OC under Johnny Majors, who's motto was "I don't care if it takes 59 minutes, we're going to establish our middle running game."

When the heat got too hot for Fulmer, he cut Sanders loose. As luck would have it, Ol' Mrs got rid of Cut before the ink was dry on Eli's degree, so he was available to take over his old position at UT. Lo and behold, UT makes the SEC CCG with a QB that couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat under Sanders.

Cut takes the Duke job, exit stage left. Enter new OC Dave Clawson. His success at Richmond and other places left the Vol faithful with very high hopes for the offensive side of the ball. In fact, most people thought Clawson was hired to become HCIW at UT. But his offense was very complex, and most of it had to be stripped out just to get plays on the field.

But the real problem here was that Phattus never really turned loose of the OC reins to anyone but Cutcliffe. When Cut ran the offense, UT won the big games. When other OCs were on headset, Phattus overruled them more often than not. This became common knowledge to the fan base. When the offense is sputtering, the call is usually for the head of the OC on a platter (can you say Kevin Wilson?). That call was answered when Randy Sanders (also a UT product and East Tennessee native) was handed his arse after a 5-6 season. The fans got their OC sacrificial lamb, but nothing changed. It was clear that the problem was in the general, not the sargeants. Add to it that recruiting was not in the elite category over Fulmer's last 3-4 seasons, and you have a recipe for a coaching change.

The fans wanted Fulmer to turn it around. He didn't do it. They gave him years of chances to make the changes that were obviously needed. In fact, very few coaches would have lasted as long as he did given the same performance/expectations. They didn't just kick him to the curb.