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Again, that fluke possibility is keeping him from moving higher than he is. I've not heard anyone put him higher than a possible second round QB, and most have him third or later. If his junior year wasn't so bad, he could be looking at getting as high a grade as late first round after last season. But the poor junior year, and possibility that his reality is closer to it than his senior year, is keeping him from boosting up more. Most opinions I've heard are pretty high on his physical tools, so that's helping him as well.

Yeah, me either. I don't get the hype he's getting nationally. Guys must have short memories, because while is TD/INT ratio was pretty elite last year, he's one year removed from like a 20-pick season. The poor junior season is really what's keeping him from really shooting up boards. Guys I've followed (Mayock, Bunting) really like his arm and mobility and the improvement he made from his junior to senior year is very promising. I wouldn't take him before Newton, Gabbert, Mallett, Locker, Devlin or Kaepernick, but he's a safer pick than most of those guys.

4 star OT/TE Cameron Clear commits to UT. This was pretty much assumed, but it's nice nonetheless.

I like Newton a lot. At this point, if the Titans take a first round QB, I want it to be Newton or Gabbert. Both due to their upside. And I'm actually a really big fan of Devlin. Stanzi is probably a decent starter as his ceiling, but I see Devlin as a guy with quite a bit of upside. He could be a better version of Joe Flacco. Kaepernick has the highest upside of any QB in the draft, though, I think. Kid has an absolute cannon of an arm and he's probably pretty competitive athletically with Newton.

That's excellent news, thanks Raisin. We always had a west coast presence under Fulmer, so getting back to that with Dooley would be great. There's an amazing amount of great prospects in California. And apparently the coaching staff is planning to play Moore at corner rather than safety, according to Moore on the radio show he announced on.

It's interesting to see names like this pop up again a few years later. I remembered being totally pissed when he picked Southern Cal over ND a couple years ago when we were desperate for safeties (still are). Then he goes JUCO and ends up at TN. I know this has been happening forever, but I've only been following recruiting closely for 10 years or so and it still cracks me up. Tennessee is in desperate need for simply warm bodies in the secondary (we didn't have enough players to run dime packages last year), so getting any DBs is nice. I don't know that much about Moore, but everybody who does know about him raves about him.

4 star JUCO safety/corner (with 3 years of eligibility left) Byron Moore has committed to Tennessee over Miami. Very nice pickup. Cam Clear will announce his decision tomorrow - that's another key announcement for the Vols.

My main reasoning behind that comment was you telling me a little while ago to quit listening to Hubbs, that he was out of the loop since Fulmer left. I'll be pretty disappointed if we miss on both Wright and Jernigan at this point. Almost all the news I've heard on Wright has been positive for a while now and with Tennessee jumping up Jernigan's list so fast, it'd be a letdown to miss on both. How much news it is probably depends on who it is that they lose. Is it Tino Thomas and another 3 star going to a mid-major, or is it DeAnthony Arnett to Michigan and Tom Smith somewhere else? That's the key, I think, and will determine whether the coaches let them go or lost them. Getting Clowney would more than make up for it if we lose both Wright and Jernigan. Assuming he can qualify (I've heard of academic questions), he'd be a huge get. Normally I'd dismiss the possibility, but seeing how fast we skyrocketed on Jernigan's list, I guess there might be a chance.

Yeah, they're the guys that I generally understand what they're seeing – I rarely disagree with their analysis.

John Bryce of VolQuest said Jernigan was "blown away" by his visit and he told Bryce UT was definitely in his top three now. I was happy we got a visit from him, especially this late, but didn't really expect to have a good shot at him. I know you're not a big Hubbs fan, but he seemed to think there was a much better shot at Maggitt on the radio Thursday. He'd been pretty negative on our chances previously, I believe.

Yeah there's really only 2-3 guys I pay attention to when it comes to evaluating tape on players. Kiper and McShay are generally pretty good and assumed, but I also keep up with Mike Mayock (NFL Network) and Wes Bunting/Matt Bowen at the National Football Post. Those three (Mayock, Bowen, Bunting) have all been pretty consistent on who was most impressive through practices and the game.

I think so. It was a decent enough game, guys played hard and there were some impressive performances. I DVRd it and watched it.

Just what I've seen from the perspective of a Titans fan. Overall fans view Fisher much more negatively than I think he ought to be, but I can certainly understand where they're coming from. His record is what it is, though I think he's better than it indicates. It's a little like my view on Hendry as a GM – there just aren't that many great ones out there. Fisher isn't up there with Marty Schottenheimer, Belichick, Dungy, etc., but he's much better than most head coaches in the league.

Not good at all, but consider we were in salary cap hell for 3-4 of those years and the first 2-3 years of his tenure, he inherited a horrid team. The records were always pretty inconsistent, but a lot of that was player development and having the right personnel more than coaching. There were very few years I felt like the team underperformed significantly what it should do and far more times they outperformed what they should have done. If you bring in a good GM and don't give complete personnel power to Fisher, I think he'd be a great hire. He's still better than most anyway.

We could probably use some of Julio Zuleta's voodoo (or whatever it was he would do).

Timmy Jernigan is apparently going to visit UT's campus this weekend. All signs indicate him not coming to Tennessee, but getting a visit out of him this close to signing day has to be a good sign even if it turns out to not change the outcome. I'm still hoping we close out with Clear, Richardson, Byron Moore and Gabe Wright. If you add Jernigan to that list, Dooley has done very, very well.

I don't know that Fisher would have ok'd taking Newton, but all mobile QBs are not the same. Vince's problem is that he doesn't have the work ethic or study habits to be a good NFL QB. If Newton is willing to do those things (I don't know either way), he'd be more successful than VY was. Purely on body type and physical abilities, Newton reminds me more of Steve McNair than Vince anyway. And I'd take another McNair in a heartbeat. Big Ben's another good comparison in body type and physical abilities, I think.

The biggest reason I'm leaning that way is because I just don't see a clear difference between the first round guys and the second group. Newton and Gabbert are very intriguing, though.

Not where they currently are. What about trading down and taking Locker, though? Might feel more comfortable if they could take him lower. The interest level in Locker will probably depend on the new coaching staff. I was hearing Fisher and his scouts were high on Locker, but if Munchak is the new coach, I don't know if he's as high on Locker. With each passing day I'm warming up more and more to the idea of filling a defensive need with the 8th pick and taking Devlin/Stanzi/Dalton/Kaepernick in the second round.

I now have no idea whatsoever who the Titans will draft. I was hearing they really liked Locker, but I would expect whoever the new coach is to be less thrilled with him. With the roster makeup the way it is, though, I have to think QB will be addressed in one of the first two rounds.

Yeah, he doesn't like Kaepernick (late round guy who probably won't be an effective starter) or Locker. He really liked Stanzi in the Senior Bowl practices, though. I keep hearing people talk highly of Andy Dalton as well. He's very intriguing.

In case anybody cares - Jim Wyatt tweets: Not thrilled if this is the hire. Great OL coach, but never even been a coordinator. Better than most of the retreads, though.

It did, until Bud got pissed again. Sounds like the VY decision won't be retracted, though, so we're looking for a QB and head coach now.

That would be the best decision AJ Smith ever made. No chance he makes it though. I figure Fisher will sit out a year, wait for the new CBA and then let teams bid for him next year.

Wow, something must have come up with Bud Adams. Wonder what Dew's thoughts are? Shocked, most definitely. Once it was announced VY was out and Fisher was staying, I figured that'd be a definite thing. Apparently, though, Fisher wasn't heeding to Bud enough on coaching moves and Bud finally blew up. It's being speculated by Titans beat writers that Bud made the decision after Fisher wanted to hire his son, Brandon, as offensive quality control coach. I hate to see Fisher go, but making a move this year is likely to provide some stability (something this organization really needs) if Reinfeldt/Adams make a good hire. Problem is, I'm hearing a whole lot of really bad names. I doubt Cowher and Gruden are in play and I'm almost certain Dungy isn't (though he'd be far and away my first choice). Names I've heard include guys like Gregg Williams, Jim Mora Jr, Jim Zorn, Marty Morhniweg, Mike Sherman and others. Outside of Williams I really don't like any of those names and I'm not excited about Williams. My preference: Marty Schottenheimer. Almost certainly won't happen, but I'd be pretty thrilled if Bud hired Marty on a short term basis and brought in Brian Schottenheimer (he's the Jets OC, right?) as the OC and head coach in waiting (not as excited about this, but it may help draw Marty out of retirement). As for my realistic favorite: Steve Mariucci. I don't know that he wants to leave the NFL Network, but GM Mike Reinfeldt has Holmgren/GB ties and if he knows Mariucci it may help to prod him out of retirement. He's a retread, but it sounds like we're getting a retread one way or the other. If we are, he's probably the best. Double digit wins in 4 of 6 seasons in San Fran - he was terrible in Detroit, but that's Detroit (sorry sneakypower).