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Meanwhile, the AJC is acknowledging the rumors that Vandy has rescinded its offer to Nance, while Old Man Nance says that's a lie.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