A couple of quick bits of former Vol Super Bowl stuff this Saturday morning for you. First, check out this story about Shaun Ellis's car wreck and Deon Grant's assistance while they were both Vols.

And then there's the obligatory video, which you'll watch because nostalgia comes in many flavors, all of them delicious:

Ten months ago, I wrote this from a hotel room in Lexington, KY. I hadn't really thought about it or the emotions surrounding it in a long time. The Bruce Pearl situation was a mess, but thankfully Cuonzo Martin and these players have been good enough to help us move forward.

Even watching Tennessee continue to compete well in basketball under a different head coach, I think there's still a part of us that will always see Pearl in a special light. The Vols can still win big games - they've done so twice in this month - and the program can build on his success and hopefully one day achieve even greater accomplishments than the Elite Eight. But Pearl was unique. Something we had never seen before and won't see again. Something that will make us always remember. It's the same something that made last March so very, very hard.

I bring it up now because every day brings a new tweet or a new story about Peyton Manning never playing football again. I'm writing this at 12:43 AM from the comfort of my own home in Ceres, VA, but hearing John Clayton say Manning is likely headed for retirement, it feels an awful lot like that hotel room in Lexington the night before what would become Pearl's last game.

And when you start to think about it, the two stories are really very similar, Pearl and Manning. Or perhaps better said, the way Tennessee fans have reacted to them has been very similar.

It's in part because both made such a unique and lasting impact at this university, which allows for these feelings in the first place. Others associated with Tennessee have met much more tragic ends to their careers - Jerry Colquitt and Inky Johnson come to mind - but because Pearl and Manning were both so good and so unique, this sudden goodbye business feels so much worse.

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The writing on the wall is in large print in Indianapolis. Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star, to whom Manning spoke exclusively earlier this week on a variety of topics, spoke with Manning again yesterday after owner Jim Irsay called Manning a politician. Kravitz opens his column like this:

It is so sad and so hard to write it again, but it's true: Peyton Manning is done in Indianapolis.

After listening to Manning Monday night, after listening to owner Jim Irsay characterize Manning Thursday as "a politician" who should keep his concerns "in house," there's no other conclusion to be reached by a sane, sober human being: Manning's days in Indianapolis are over, and they have been over for quite some time.

Again, I write this as a UT fan first and, in this case, a Titans fan second, and am the expert on neither (for more on the Colts, check out Stampede Blue). Nor am I the expert on contract negotiations or anything to do with the NFL...but because even fifteen years later, Peyton Manning remains on the pedestal in Knoxville with thousands of fans waiting to hear who their new favorite NFL team will be, we offer a few thoughts on the matter today.

If in fact his time is done in Indianapolis, where will Peyton Manning finish his career? This is all hoping and assuming that he's healthy and capable of doing so, but he continues to rehab in such a way that suggests he believes he's coming back, and right now that's good enough for me.

Though I'm sure all of us would love Manning to land on our favorite team and take them to the Super Bowl, the reality is that even though Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, he's not going to land just anywhere. So which teams make the most sense? And where would you most like to see him land?

After the jump, we examine the candidates...feel free to agree or disagree, as always...

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As both birdjam and Caban have already noted, Tennessee defensive line coach Lance Thompson is leaving the Vols to take the Alabama outside linebackers position recently vacated by new Vol defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri. You can't really blame the guy; he's been passed over twice now for the UT DC position, and -- heads up, joke coming -- it appears that the quickest route to the top at Tennessee right now is to bounce off of Nick Saban. Yeah, I know he's worked with Saban before, but y'all know how bouncing works, right? Bounce, BOUNCE, BOUNCE!!!

Okay, so you can't fault him, and coach Thompson is saying all of the right things on the way out the door, so good for him. But having six vacancies on a coaching staff is having six vacancies on a coaching staff. Yeah, I wrote it that way because that's what people do when they want the conclusion to be forgone but don't really know what that conclusion should be. I see norcalvol's footprints on this road I'm traveling, a spongy path that smells faintly of maple syrup, and I think I'm going to end up in the same place he is, namely at a tepid conclusion that these varyingly traumatic moves may turn out to be just what we need for 2012. Or maybe not, but if not, what's the difference?

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Sal Sunseri certainly wasn't the biggest name floating around the rumor mill for the Tennessee Volunteers' vacant defensive coordinator position. But after speaking to several candidates, UT coach Derek Dooley hand-picked the national champion Alabama Crimson Tide's outside linebackers and associate head coach to replace Justin Wilcox in Knoxville.

GVX247's Wes Rucker -- who broke the news this morning -- suggested Sunseri was Dooley's top choice all along ... through the Randy Shannon rumors, the flirtation with Kevin Steele, discussions with Phil Bennett and interview with Buddy Green.

If so, Dooley got his man -- for better or worse.

Sunseri interviewed in Knoxville on Wednesday and left with an offer to come to Knoxville. Though there has been no confirmation, reports suggest the package UT offered Sunseri was for three years between $700-800K. He went back to Tuscaloosa to mull it over with family and to discuss the situation with Tide coach Nick Saban, who reportedly made a run at keeping him. Sunseri's decision wasn't just about money, however. His son Vinnie was a freshman defensive back for UA this year and is in line for major playing time with Alabama over the next three years.

In the end, though, Sunseri decided to take the money and run, leaving UA for a better title and another step closer to realizing his dream of being a college football head coach.

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According to multiple reports, Alabama outside linebackers coach Sal Sunseri will be in Knoxville today as a candidate to fill Tennessee's defensive coordinator vacancy. VolQuest says that Sunseri "has emerged" as the Vols' top target, and if Sunseri's in town to talk, he's at least interested despite the fact that he has a son who plays for the team he'd be leaving.

If all of that is true, it would explain the delay. I'm told that Randy Shannon was never a viable option. Kevin Steele and Ron Zook were both in play, but Sunseri is apparently who Tennessee really wants, and you can't really have serious in-depth conversations with him while he's preparing for the national championship. At least not publicly.

So who is this guy? The Alabama media guide, of course, says he's All That, including the kitchen sink and the bag of chips, and that he's fat- and gluten-free to boot. The puffery-free version: Sunseri walked-on at Pitt in 1978 and became a team captain and consensus All-American linebacker. His teams were 33-3, and he has a list of Playing Days Accolades that you'd expect from such an All-American with three losses.

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Tennessee Volunteers head football coach Derek Dooley held an impromptu press conference Tuesday morning. Absent was a self resignation, the sight of any new defensive coordinator [GASP! No Randy Shannon!!] or even the on-camera presence of athletic director Dave Hart.

Instead, it was spinning time in Tennessee, and Dooley addressed plenty of news-of-the-day items ... and even hinted we might not be finished with the not-so-savory news. Despite the pumping of orange sunshine and smell of orange roses, there was little positive news for the football program. Instead, it was a hodge-podge catch-all of the things he'd not gotten to discuss with the media since the season-ending loss to Kentucky.

So, let's run down a list of the topics addressed, and if I miss something, please feel free to catch it in the comments.

• DeAnthony Arnett. Whether it was caving to media pressure, changing his mind once all the facts were gathered or coming to an alternate conclusion after meetings with Arnett and his family, Dooley has decided to back off the conditions in Arnett's release and grant him an unconditional departure from Tennessee. He cited his comfort level with making the change after having discussions with the Arnetts. The former four-star receiver who had the second-most catches of any freshman receiver in UT history will be allowed to transfer near his Saginaw, Mich., home to wherever he wants -- including Michigan or Michigan State. This comes less than a week after Arnett told ESPN and other media outlets that Dooley was limiting his transfer possibilities to MAC schools near his Michigan home. [On a personal note, I know it makes Dooley look weak to backtrack, but I don't care. This is what is best for Arnett, and this is the right move in my opinion. This will be best for everybody in the long run.] Per KNS reporter Andrew Gribble's twitter, here is Arnett's statement: "I will never be able to express fully my appreciations and gratitude for his decision. I want to ensure that all recruits, current players and fans know that Tennessee is headed in the right direction. UT has always surpassed the rest, and I believe in due time they will be back to the number one program in the SEC. I just want to thank Coach Dooley and Tennessee for leaving a footprint in my life that will never be erased. I have developed a friendship and bond with so many people at Tennessee that I will never be able to replace."
  
• The Departure of Justin Wilcox and Peter Sirmon. Dooley said he harbors no ill will to those guys -- or special teams/tight ends coach Erik Russell -- for heading back home. He said those guys worked their butts off for Tennessee while they were here, and he understands this is a business. He never got into any specifics about the conversations he had with those assistants leading up to their departure or the parameters surrounding it. He also said this is also an opportunity to get better. Dooley spun the departures as those guys wanting to get closer to home, which I'm sure did have something to do with it. There was no discussion about whether or not UT tried to keep them. Later in the press conference, it seemed he indirectly was addressing the departure of Wilcox and Sirmon when he said something along the lines of "if you don't feel like you're absolutely in and bleeding orange ... you should go." He also stated seven schools in the SEC are seeking coordinators.
  

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I think the following sentence is a good representation of where we're at right now:

According to Michael Palardy's twitter feed - and yes, that's Tennessee's kicker - the Vols have hired former Miami head coach Randy Shannon to replace Justin Wilcox as defensive coordinator.

If this is true - and that's still an if at this point - most Tennessee fans will step off today's twelve hour roller coaster feeling better than when they started. That's not a knock on Wilcox's coaching ability, but to get Shannon is a huge move for Derek Dooley and the Vols. Shannon was the defensive coordinator at Miami in the early part of the last decade, including the 2001 team that is on the short list of the best college football teams of the last thirty years. He then took over for Larry Coker as head coach from 2007-2010.

Shannon is also a huge get for recruiting, and with Peter Sirmon's departure the Vols have an additional opening to fill on the defensive side of the ball (plus another opening with Eric Russell's departure). Shannon could bring some firepower with him.

But for now this post has a question mark at the top, because, well, it's a kicker's twitter feed. We'll see.

But I think this, if true, would be a move almost all of us would love.

Derek Dooley will speak to the media at 10 AM ET on Tuesday. Whatever will we talk about?