Vandy tried to keep Nash Nance on board, but God told him to go to Knoxville

OK, I know we've spent an awful lot of words on Nash — I mean Knox — Nance, but it's been interesting and kind of funny, hasn't it?

Anyway, Nance committed today to Tennessee. And as much as the Vandy faithful would like to think that Bobby Johnson just got fed up and yanked his scholarship, the AJC reports that Johnson, Ted Cain and Jimmy Kiser visited Nance at his home last night, and Nash told them that he'd prayed about it a lot and that God was leading him to Tennessee.

Click here to read Nash's entire statement. It's a long, gracious missive praising Bobby Johnson and everybody at Vanderbilt but then talking about how Derrick Dooley's a real man of integrity and Tennessee's business school is really pretty darn good and he's really "relieved" and "blessed" to be going to a real football school.

Here's just a taste: "In my opinion the Vol nation has a new head coach with integrity, extreme drive to be successful, and a common man that all young athletes will relate to and will love going to battle with every Saturday."

Oh, the solemnity! The camaraderie! The joie de vivre! After he finished writing this, young Nance sat down and ghost-wrote Kurt Warner's retirement speech.

Anyway, the best part are the comments attached to the AJC story. If you're feeling bitter about this and want a pick-me-up, check them out. Here's just a few:

GADAWG: Bad decision on Nance’s part. TN already has two QB’s (one four star & one three star) from this class already enrolled that are better than him. He will never see the field except maybe for the scout team... I wish him the best but if it were me I would have gone to Nashville and actually got on the field and I also would have received a better education from a more respected educational institution... A degree from Vanderbilt carries more weight than a degree from TN (and yes even GA). I have a feeling this was all for daddy and his daddy just screwed him.

YOUBETCHA!: Well Da’Rick's job is done. He was just helping his buddy get an offer from UT. I look forward to Da’Rick signing with UGA next Wed. Go Dawgs!

DEAN: Yeah, I got to say a degree from Vandy is quite an accomplishment that in and of itself would carry you a long way. The other SEC schools are football factories. Unless he has real NFL talent he may have just made a huge mistake.

GADAWGS: Nance’s father is a millionaire, he made it on carpet; and to be in the know at UT probably means more to his future than an excellent education at Vandy. And remember the old saying: it's not what you know but who you know.

WHERE'S MY CRACK PIPE?: No way Dooley broke down his junior year film. Unless they wanted to see how not to play QB. If Dooley wanted to see a highlight film of INT’s, fumbles, and just pure dumbass plays then he saw that on his junior year film!

CALHOUN BOY: I think the decision is easy for DaRick. Follow Nash to college and be financially secure or go on his own a be broke just like any other college student.

JASON: Probably a good choice by Nance. If he went to Vandy, he’d be holding the clipboard for 2 years before transferring to Furman.

Thanks for the memories, Nash Nance

OK Nash, you can take off the Vandy cap now.

Rivals has removed Nash Nance from its list of Vanderbilt commitments and reports that he no longer has a scholarship offer from the Commodores. But he does appear to have an offer from the Vols.

I've got two theories on this:

(1) Nance has told us he's decided to attend Tennessee and so we've pulled our offer as a way to say, "Don't let the door hit you in the butt on your way out," and "Don't think about changing your mind and coming back."

(2) Because young Master Nash and old man Nash have thoroughly screwed around with us — since we told a good half-dozen quarterbacks in June that Nash had committed to us and so we were committed to him even if most of the other quarterbacks appeared to be better candidates — we have decided to stop waiting around and make a play for the best available quarterback, which appears to be Tyler Arndt of Texas. Or we'll just start making a play for one or even two blue-chip quarterbacks (and hopefully three or four blue-chip receivers) who'll be members of the 2011 class.

Meanwhile, the AJC is acknowledging the rumors that Vandy has rescinded its offer to Nance, while Old Man Nance says that's a lie.

I suspect it's No. 1, because I doubt Bobby Johnson is going to break his word to a kid (regardless of whether the kid was going to keep his word). Yes, it'd be gratifying to think we told Nash to stick it, but it doesn't much matter. I think it's good riddance that Nash is gone. We don't need him next season, and there was no way he was going to walk on campus and start in his first or even his second season.

We've got:
• Larry Smith, a still young quarterback with raw talent in whom we've invested a lot of time and energy, who was improving when he got hurt, and who'll hopefully have the support of an improved offensive line and receiving corps.
• Jordan "My Name's Not Aaron" Rodgers, quarterback of a national championship junior college team who can step right in and either push Larry to be a better starter or be a better starter himself.
• Charlie Goro, our first Parade All-American who spent last season learning the system and even getting practice reps with the second team and by all accounts is a good leader and a kid who'll be competing for playing time sooner than we might think.
• Jared Funk, a former three-star recruit who's never thrown a pass and is an insurance policy if all the other guys get hurt and if he decides to return for another season of covering punts.

So we don't need Nash. Sure, it would be nice in 2011 to replace Funk on the roster with a redshirt freshman, and maybe Tyler Arndt could fit the bill. He's rated roughly the same as Nance, though he's got a stronger arm and has a reputation as a gunslinger. But we don't need to throw a desperation scholarship to a kid who never has a shot to start — unless he has an adopted brother who's a five-star wide receiver. Ha, ha, ha.