When you’re sitting in a nearly empty Neyland Stadium watching a 173-minute University of Tennessee spring football practice, you have a lot of time to consider the upcoming Vols season.
For instance, might new head coach Josh Heupel, 43 years young and the 2000 Heisman Trophy runner-up, be the best quarterback on UT’s campus?
Second, might defensive line coach Rodney Garner – who was an All-SEC performer at nose guard for an SEC championship team at Auburn in 1988 – be the best defensive lineman in Volsville? He certainly looked the most polished as he attempted to teach pass rushing techniques on Saturday.
Third, and this is most important: Given the uncertainty of the NCAA sanctions that may come UT’s way over its presumed self-reporting of so many alleged Level One violations in January, might it not be wise to voluntarily ban the program from any bowl games at the close of this 2021 season?
In a way it could be perceived as a hollow gesture, since the Vols currently seem unlikely to secure a bowl bid, and certainly seem all but certain to go nowhere attractive at the close of the upcoming season unless you believe spending the tail end of the holidays in Birmingham, Ala., or Shreveport, La., is money and time well spent.