Brandon Warren is a Volunteer, all the way
Transfers are always dicey affairs, involving truckloads of paperwork, timing, sour grapes and petty hurdles. But when he decided to transfer from Florida State in the middle of a semester to be closer to his sick mother, Brandon Warren entered one of the truly labyrinthine wormholes of NCAA bureaucracy last spring, complete with an ornery Bobby Bowden, an unsympathetic faculty panel, a stint at an improbably-named community college and the uneasy day-to-day of a man awaiting a hardship appeal.
A year and a half after his decision to leave FSU and enroll at Tennessee, Warren finally came out the other side this morning, when the Association notified Tennessee Warren will be eligible to suit up for the Vols this season. He's been practicing, and based on his outsized recruiting hype and initial impact at Florida State -- 28 catches for 300 yards and a touchdown as a true freshman in 2006 -- should be immediately regarded as one of the best tight ends in the SEC; of course, the same can be said for Jeff Cottam, another top ten tight end recruit for UT who's been in the program for three years and seems likely to follow his just-departed brother, Brad, into the pros in 2010.
But legacy aside, if there's any question about Warren's fidelity to his new school, just check out his MySpace page ("Body Type: 6'2"/Athletic"), shade your eyes from the orange and have fun trying to avoid the shower of Power Ts with your mouse.
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Photo of Warren waving goodbye to all that via Getty Images.
