Recruiting Season Is Officially Over

Just kidding, y'all. Recruiting season is never over, at least not in this conference.

But the recruiting season for guys eligible to play in 2009 is now over, what with Bryce Brown now officially becoming a Tennessee Vol. Some would say the fact he visited Knoxville last weekend was a big tell that this was coming, but that's not entirely true given how long and convoluted the process with him was.

Since some recruiting services pegged Brown as the top player in the country (never mind that they often bump uncommitted players up higher to drive more page views), it is big news. Is it definitely good for Tennessee though?

If you're a Vol, the answer is yes. It's a coup for a staff with such a small amount of time together to nab the top recruit in the land.

If you're a rival fan, he's a ticking eligibility time bomb that will blow up in Lane Kiffin's face when Brown is declared ineligible because of his association with handler/sketchball Brian Butler. For what it's worth however, AAU basketball often involves characters much shadier than the bombastic and self-promoting Butler, and college basketball has few eligibility snafus.

Now that the somewhat creepy (don't try to deny it) recruiting season is over, it's time to focus on solely football for a while. Tennessee's new head coach clearly can recruit, but guys like Ron Zook and Kiffin's own wingman Ed Orgeron have been fired despite considerable recruiting prowess.

The disclaimer is as always: nothing else matters if you can't get it done on Saturdays.