Somehow, given the six-ring circus masquerading as a recruiting process that led him to Knoxville in the first place, it’s beyond appropriate that the Bryce Brown era at Tennessee has ended this way.
The one-time Volunteers running back was scheduled to have a meeting Tuesday with head coach Derek Dooley about possibly returning to the football program, a program he abruptly left earlier this offseason.
Not only did Brown blow off the meeting with the first-year coach, but the sophomore informed Dooley that he no longer had a desire to return to UT. And he did this via a text message.
That’s class right there, Bryce, I don’t care who you are.
According to a tweet from Josh Ward of the Knoxville News Sentinel, the fashion in which Brown decided to leave Knoxville did not sit well with a prominent member of his family.
“Brown’s father was ‘ballistic that Bryce wasn’t man enough to tell Dooley to his face that he’s leaving.”
The news that Brown is leaving would not have come as a surprise to Dooley, who said last week that “at some point he’s going to have to ask for a release, which I expect to be soon.” However, the manner in which Brown left, after Dooley left the door open for a return far longer than most coaches would’ve, will certain leave a bad taste in the coach’s mouth.
So, Brown will now officially leave the school with 460 yards, three touchdowns and a name second only to Lane Kiffin on Volunteer Nation’s Most Contemptible List littering his collegiate résumé.
As to where Brown ultimately lands, it still appears, as it has since the RB took his leave of the program the first time, that his home-state Kansas State Wildcats remain the frontrunners for his circuses services.
Or, could the man who convinced Brown to come to the Volunteers in the first place convince him to rejoin him on the West Coast? Somehow, that scenario would be very fitting and most apt for both the parties.