Published: June 18, 2009 03:11 pm      

ROCKY TOP BEAT: It is only 78 days until it is "football time in Tennessee"

Here we are just a few days from the official start of summer but more importantly only 78 days until it is “football time in Tennessee."

Well, at least we are within three months and the summertime distractions of vacations and other activities will help ease the pain of another few months without Vol football.

I hoped by now that perhaps at least one quarterback for the 2010 recruiting class would be on board but no such luck. This week saw another quarterback recruit, Memphis area’s Barry Brunetti, commit to West Virginia.

If that wasn’t bad enough, another recruited quarterback, Richard Hendrix from Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio is gushing superlatives about Notre Dame. If that plays out in the Fighting Irish’s favor, then we can then start looking to Jesse Scroggins from Lakewood, CA and Munchie Legaux (I don’t make up these names, really) from New Orleans, LA as the targets for the 2010 class. Maybe in a few weeks the situation will be clearer following the next high school football camp at UT.

The big news out of Knoxville this past week didn’t revolve around football but rather Coach Pearl’s basketball team.

Tyler Smith has decided to return to UT for his senior season. Tyler removed his name from the upcoming NBA draft and also decided that his heart was not into taking his talents overseas at this point in his career.

With Tyler returning, Coach Pearl should have the experience and talent to make a serious run at another SEC title and take the Vols to new heights in the post season. Time will tell.

Thanks to the Vanderbilt fans that assured me that they had a spring game over in Nashville and that it was attended by a couple of thousand rabid Commodore fans. Unfortunately no one remembers seeing our Jim Butler there. (Can’t blame you Jim, it probably wasn’t worth the gas to get there.)

With less than three months until we hear "Rocky Top" live again, I hope all Vol fans are as anxious as I am for Sept. 5 to get here. I must admit though that not all loyal Big Orange supporters are in the Kiffin camp yet. That too is OK, because I still feel that his success at UT will ultimately be tied to the coaching staff he has assembled. No matter what your feelings are for the head coach, he has surrounded himself with a great staff. Is it September yet? Go Vols!!

Frank Gale is a Chronicle correspondent, and his column appears regularly.