Fitz Lassing is a Vanderbilt scholarship football player

It's a shame we had to wait until the very end to offer Fitz Lassing a football scholarship, but he's got one, and that's what matters.

Don't know if we were going to offer all along or if Fitz got the call from Bobby Johnson because Sharrod Golightly withdrew his Vanderbilt commitment yesterday. I'm sure somebody will set me straight on exactly what happened.

I do know that the 6-3, 225-pound Lassing had offers from Wofford, Furman and Harvard. In that regard, he's a throwback to the days not so long ago when many Vandy players had no other Division I offers. But in this heady recruiting season, when we're battling to keep our recruits from the likes of Steve Spurrier and whoever's coaching Tennessee these days, it's nice to have one throwback.

Lassing is a two-star linebacker from Nashville's Montgomery Bell Academy, and also a scholar and a gentleman and the subject of thousands of incredulous chat-room postings from Nashville insiders — why in the world won't we offer Fitz Lassing a scholarship?

Well, it's done, and I'm glad. He'll probably redshirt just like all those three-star linebackers with other DI offers — Chris Marve, DeAndre Jones, Blake Southerland, etc. — before him. Or maybe he'll win the punting job as a true freshman. We need a punter, and he was one of the best in the state.

He's a local kid who really wanted a Vandy offer, but this is not Rudy. Fitz Lassing is going to make a name for himself as a student and a leader and a citizen, but he's also going to make a name for himself as a Vanderbilt football player, and not for a single play he made during mop-up duty.

Welcome aboard.