Nick Stephens leaving Tennessee
by Will Shelton on Apr 8, 2010 6:43 PM EDT
in Tennessee Volunteer Football
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PrintNews breaking this evening, from both Wes Rucker and Rob Lewis, that Tennessee quarterback Nick Stephens will leave the program. Rucker quoted Dooley as saying the split was amicable and that Dooley wanted Stephens to stay through the rest of the spring, but the only quarterback on campus with any game experience is no longer with the team.
Stephens had his reps decreased after the first two weeks of spring practice, in which he'd been working with the first team. He struggled in the first scrimmage of spring, though not incredibly more so than Matt Simms, and Tyler Bray didn't see much action with or against the ones. But in the last week it's been Simms and Bray who have taken first and second team rotations, leaving Stephens out of the mix.
This hurts Tennessee in terms of depth and experience, as the Vols will now have only Simms and Bray in their quarterback competition, before Nash Nance joins it this fall. And for Stephens, this ends what I'm sure was a frustrating relationship with Tennessee - #17 played in seven games in 2008 under Phillip Fulmer, had an injury that prevented him from competing with Jonathan Crompton for the starting job under Lane Kiffin last spring, and now apparently wasn't going to be the choice of Derek Dooley and Jim Chaney to start in 2010. An unfortunate situation all around.
If there's any light at the end of this particular tunnel, it's that both Simms and Bray will get more work with the ones, and we might get a clearer picture of who the starter will be coming out of spring. But on the whole, this is another blow for the Vols this spring, as Stephens joins Bryce Brown and Aaron Douglas - three guys who were expected to be key players for the Vol offense - on their way out of town.
More news as it comes in...
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One thing I noticed:
Though Stephens was still new to Dooley, he had been evaluated by Chaney for a solid year at this point. So if there was any coaches-didn’t-seem-to-think-I’d-be-starting about this, at least it’s not based on only a couple months of evals.
Other than that, I have nothing.
If he left, this means he wasn't going to play
Hurts our depth, but not much else. Certainly not comparable to Douglas, probably not to Brown either. I guess he goes I-AA or DII for his last year of eligibility? Best of luck, Nick.
by Incipient_Senescence on Apr 8, 2010 6:52 PM EDT reply actions
doesn't strike me as a big deal
he’s clearly not that good. might as well give the experience to a young guy with multi-year starter potential.
The Dual Threat, Official Enforcer/Stat Geek of MCM.
Good luck to him.
That does make 3 different coaching staffs that didn’t want to start him though, hard to argue with that.
This is the best view of this whole situation I've seen
Have fun in FCS football or wherever you end up Nick
That is a classic point, GOMV
Can’t say I’d do it differently myself, if football was my life and it was my last shot.
Comments from Dooley
from UTSports.com:
“In light of the way the first eight practices have gone and some of the competition we’ve created, he doesn’t want to be here and risk not playing his senior year,” Dooley said. "Nick is in his fifth year and has been trying to get on the field his whole career. He just felt it was too risky to go through another season, because he just wants to play.
“We hate to lose Nick but I certainly understand it. It’s a fifth-year quarterback who hasn’t played. You go play football to play, and I understand the emotion of it.”
Am I mssing something?
Dooley came out and said that he just wanted to get Simms and Bray some time with the first team. Maybe I’m just naive, but I believed him and didn’t think it had anything to do with how Stephens played. As others have said, this really doesn’t affect a whole lot of anything anyways. Best wishes to Stephens wherever he goes, as long as it’s not in the SoCon.
Why would you want the TV and the stereo on at the same time?
'Cause I like to party.
Armanti Edwards
Almost came to Georgia Southern. Oh well, the guy did run over his foot with a lawn mower last summer.
Why would you want the TV and the stereo on at the same time?
'Cause I like to party.
lol
As long as he didn’t complete a 21 point 4th quarter comeback against Tennessee next season……
"I condone fun things" ~~ Cortland Finnegan
Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn't me.
Why was this guy practicing with the first team in the first place?
What you're seeing is team spirit. It's like the Holy Spirit, but more powerful.
-Hank Hill
Senior quarterback and the only one with more than one year with the team (JUCO Lamaison also had one year).
You have to start somebody with the ones when practice opens.
Have we heard Lamaison's name at all this spring?
I didn’t even include him in the QB competition because I totally forgot about him
by Will Shelton on Apr 9, 2010 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions
Local radio talks about him on occasion, and I heard Dooley refer to him recently.
It appears he’s behind the BraySimms tandem at the moment. Other than that, nothing. Of course, we did have three quarterbacks to chatter about up until yesterday – the longsuffering veteran, the famous last name JUCO, and very highly touted freshman – so we might hear more about him now.
by David Hooper on Apr 9, 2010 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions
The cliche caravan was full.
Simulated Gameday Experience - just like the real thing, only we have smoke machines.
by Chris Pendley on Apr 9, 2010 5:35 PM EDT up reply actions
I should have said exclusively with the first team.
What you're seeing is team spirit. It's like the Holy Spirit, but more powerful.
-Hank Hill
Well, shucks.
I don’t think this would affect the on-field product much, but …man, it hurts to lose a potential team leader who’s been through the fire a couple of times. I feel for Stevens Stephens, though; for some students it just doesn’t work out for whatever reason, and he fell into that group. It’s a rough way to go.
Simulated Gameday Experience - just like the real thing, only we have smoke machines.
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