On the Eve Of Orson Charles Announcement

I'd like to take this time and look over the past month and also take a look into the near future. A lot of things are about to change for us. Lane Kiffin will be opening up practices to the public, our recruiting chimera has made us a legit recruiting force, on however small of a scale, it is still a change. An altogether new attitude seems to be sweeping over Rocky Top: bold, stout, excited, and ambitious. The sky's the limits.

Tomorrow Orson Charles will be announcing which school he will play for. Charles himself has confirmed it has come down to Tennessee, Georgia, and USC. So here is what we know about the 6'3 230-ish Tight End. He has confirmed he does have a slight favorite, which is as good a guess as anyones. The Tampa native eliminated Florida over a week ago and surprised us. (Stole this link from Hooper.) And his favorite number is none other than the luckiest of all numbers, the number seven.

Charles will make his decision around 4:30 eastern tomorrow, March 6 and we'll all finally know where he'll be going next fall. This prediction is a hard one. One moment I feel so confident to say that he will be wearing Orange next season, but the next it doesn't seem so likely. I believe Orson Charles means it when he says it is hard thing eliminating anyone out of the race and he likes all three of these schools.

But whenever I consider all the factors I would have to say my prediction is: Georgia.

Orson Charles says that UGA was the first school to seriously consider him and seriously begin discussing things with him. His high school quarterback Aaron Murray has committed there and on his visits, Charles has made several other friends there. He likes the offensive scheme and likes his potential role there.

Bryce Brown is another one UT fans watching very closely. Brown has provided all of us, not just UT fans, with a lot to talk about. His handler, Brian Butler, has about as much mystery surrounding him as Area 51. No one can doubt, however, that Bryce Browns holdover has been in enticing to say the least. The number one overall player in the nation according to rivals wild ride is winding down. With visits to Missouri, Clemson, Oregon, Tennessee, Kansas State, and LSU under his belt, Brown will be making his decision on March 16 (if all goes according to plan, of course). He had planned to take a visit to Miami, but a family death may complicate this.

An interesting thing about Brown's situation is that he initially wanted to take a visit to USC, but made a last minute decision to visit LSU instead. USC assumed Brown wasn't interested and withdrew themselves from the Bryce Brown sweepstakes. This last minute decision to switch visits tells me one thing: Brown wants to play in the SEC and LSU was the one place he thought he could find USC talent in the SEC. Only one problem: Bryce Brown went to LSU hoping they would make an impression, not expecting them to. The only thing I could find regarding his trip to LSU was four sentences explaining that Bryce Brown enjauxed the visit and think's LSU is really grand and wouldn't mind geauxing there. I'm done, I promise. These type of statements are nothing new from Brown, which leads to me to think that the Tigers didn't make as much of an impression as I thought. Like I said, he was hoping not expecting.

My Bryce Brown prediction is: Tennessee

Bryce Brown has been committed to Miami for over a year, but that doesn't change much. The fact that his brothers goes there, does. But other than this fact, I don't see much drawing him to the team. The Clemson, Missouri, and Kansas State options died a long time ago in my opinion which leaves only Oregon, LSU, and Tennessee. As I've already said, LSU doesn't seem like it did much for Brown. Oregon has several capable running backs, but that doesn't mean Brown wouldn't play there. The biggest problem for Oregon in my opinion is the fact they're not in the SEC and they don't have large amounts of talent in extreme excess. No, I'm not saying the Vols do, either. But I believe that Brown thinks the recruiting staff here at UT is powerful enough to bring in the caliber of players he wants around him.

This leaves only one man. David Oku. There isn't much to say about him other than I believe UT's huge interest in Brown has made Oku want to look elsewhere. Oku has most recently stopped in Auburn. Oku will have to make a decision soon since April 1 is the last day someone can commit.

My prediction for David Oku: Auburn

Oku likes the coaching staff and the offensive scheme at Auburn.

To all the naysayers who say, "UT's recruiting class is done for this year" I really have to say I'm a little bit shocked UT fans could believe this when we have enjoyed so many surprises this offseason. The very fact the Kiffin staff was able to bring in players like Nuke and Teague is amazing. The fact they were able to retain some of the players, Jerod Askew, from the Fulmer staff is also amazing. And the very fact that our great recruiting staff was able to pull in visits from guys like Bryce Brown, Orson Charles, Nu'keese Richardson, and Janzen Jackson is astonishing. On only around 4 months on the job, no less!

Here's to hoping all of these recruits choose Tennessee!