I’ve been busy at work the last few weeks, and I thought about blogging a couple of times, but personally I prefer to blog on facts as opposed to rumors. Sal Sunseri and Sam Pittman were both hired this week, and by the time I had a chance to write, Derek Dooley stepped up and held a presser. So, another round of Dooleyisms follows!

On Sunseri and Pittman:

Obviously, a lot has happened since we last talked not long ago. We hired Sam Pittman as you know. Sam has done a great job the last five years at North Carolina. Some of these hires happen quickly. I know it looked odd. Some of them take forever. There’s no real rhyme or reason why. Every coach has different interests. They’re in a different situation. They have to go through diligence differently and we have to do the same thing. It just so happened the Sam thing fell on us quickly and I’m glad he’s a part of us. He’s going to do a great job…Of course we hired Sal (Sunseri) as our defensive coordinator. I first saw Sal in I think it was the 1983 (1982) Sugar Bowl. I was down there just a coach’s kid on the sideline and he was an All-American linebacker. I worked with Sal in 2000 at LSU andd eveloped a relationship with him and just watched his body of work over the last 10 years. I’m so excited he wanted to be a part of Tennessee. He’s an outstanding football coach. He’s an outstanding recruiter. He has great energy. He is an awesome human being. I think he’ll be a really good fit for us.

I’ve been reading a lot about both these hires and it’s hard to find a negative word. From a recruiting point, both hires are fantastic. As far as on the field performance, Pittman’s lines at North Carolina great improved under his watch. (I am looking at you Juwuan James, Zach Fulton, Alex Bullard, Marcus Jackson and Dallas Thomas anchors of our 107th ranked rushing attack.)  Sal Sunseri has already made a recruiting impact. 6’6″ 380 lb nose tackle Daniel McCullers committed yesterday afternoon. Sunseri has also developed, Courtney Upshaw, Donta’ Hightower, and Nico Johnson for Alabama. I am legitimately excited to see what Sunseri can do with AJ Johnson and Curt Maggitt. All around great hires by coach Dooley.

If Coach Sunseri can get AJ Johnson and Curt Maggitt to this level, we will all be happy.

On Roster departures:

Now, let me go to the roster. As every program has, we have a little attrition at the mid-year; DeAnthony Arnett, Martaze Jackson, Art Jeffery, Matt Milton, Nash Nance and Robert Nelson are no longer a part of the team, all for different reasons. Some of it is family, some of it academic pursuits, some of it opportunity to play at other places and we wish them well. We support them. We never like anybody to leave our program, but sometimes it’s in their best interest and it’s a good mutual parting of ways. We move on. JerQuari Schofield is here, but not a part of the team right now because he has a lot of work to do academically and I want him to focus on that.

Nance is going to Harvard, I love UT more than most everything on the earth outside of my family, but even I would admit that if you have a chance to go to Harvard, you go. He might play there as well. We’ve covered Arnett. Matt Milton has been an enormous disappointment since he arrived in Knoxville, this year having a grand total of 1 catch for 7 yards. Art Jeffrey seemed to have trouble staying eligible grade-wise.  Martaze Jackson probably won’t ever see the field if he stays, and I don’t remember who Robert Nelson even is.

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I haven’t been doing much posting recently, and for that I apologize, I am sure you all missed me. There have been several mumblings around Rocky Top, DeAnthony Arnett and Justin Wilcox are gone, and somebody will replace each of them. Who those people are remain to be seen. So let’s start 2012 off right with a batch of Dooleyisms.

On DeAnthony Arnett

Over the holidays, I got a message and a phone call from his brother. Of course, it was a little bit of a surprise. I had never met the father. Our typical response in these, as you guys know, is that we don’t release guys especially in their first year out of the NLI (National Letter of Intent) and certainly not to competitors. But we felt like at least the initial emotion of it, we should at least start the conversation by carving some exceptions to allow him to get home.

“I want you guys to know that the most important concern for me is the welfare of our student-athletes. That’s number one. I also have a responsibility to Tennessee, and so I needed some one-on-one dialogue with DeAnthony. These are big issues. They’re complex. They’re emotional. Like every issue that we deal with our players, it’s no different than a parent and a son trying to talk through and sort through the heart of the problem and help him make a good decision that’s the right decision for his future. Over the last five weeks or two weeks I guess, I’ve had some real good one-on-one conversation since all that hit out there on the social media.

“I’m very comfortable carving out an exception for him when he makes his request, which is not until today because our offices have been closed. That’s another reason there’s been a delay in releasing him where he wants to go close to home to get back to his father. There was a lot of confusion on what had happened there and that’s why I just wanted to clear that up. I’m really supportive of DeAnthony. He has a great future as a person and as a player. He’s been very mature through this thing during a tough time and an emotional time. Once we started the one-on-one dialogue, it’s been very comforting for both of us. I’m wishing him well there when that time comes.

This was getting pretty ugly. Twitter is a great source of info, but also a great source of consternation. I think overall releasing Arnett is the best thing to do. They are releasing him to Michigan or Michigan State, maybe we’ll see him in a bowl. (After this past year, that would be a good thing.)

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