Nick Stephens' phone call went better than he expected.

Stephens, who moved into his University of Tennessee dorm Wednesday, committed to Ole Miss in June 2005. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback from Flower Mound (Texas) High School reopened his recruitment after Noel Mazzone was fired as the Rebels' offensive coordinator last November.

Stephens said his call on Jan. 21 to inform Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron of his decommitment made him nervous.

"I called him and told him I wasn't going to be attending Ole Miss and that I was going to either attend Michigan or Tennessee," Stephens said Thursday on The News Sentinel Sports Page on The Sports Animal. "He just said, 'OK Nick good luck. Have a good career.' It just ended like that."

Stephens said he was surprised by how well Orgeron took the news.

"I know how intense he is," Stephens said. "He has about eight Red Bulls a day. He's always up. My adrenaline was rushing when I was calling because I didn't know what was going to happen."

Orgeron was able to show less concern because Brent Schaeffer had committed to Ole Miss the day before. The former UT quarterback, who played at The College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif., last year, is still trying to complete two online correspondence courses before he enrolls at Ole Miss.

Stephens said he expects Orgeron to continue to sign the best players in the country each year because that's what he does best.

"He's a great recruiter," Stephens said. "He believes in himself and his team in what he can do. I have nothing against Ole Miss or coach Orgeron.

"I just think (UT) was a better place for me. He's a great recruiter and he's going to get the good players just because people are going to want to play for him."

Ironically, it was former Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe who led him to choose UT over Michigan. Stephens said he hit it off with UT's offensive coordinator the first time they met.

"I talked to him and instantly it's like we already knew each other," Stephens said. "We just got in touch with each other and were always talking. I had such a good relationship with him and I knew I could play with him for four or five years."

Stephens joins junior Erik Ainge, redshirt freshman Jonathan Crompton, junior Bo Hardegree and senior Jim Bob Cooter in UT's group of quarterbacks. Stephens said he expects to earn early playing time, but not too early.

"Hopefully Erik takes us all the way this year," he said. "That would be the best thing for this team. If something happens and I have to step in or Jonathan has to step in to try to help out the team; that's going to be done if it has to be."

Stephens said he was never concerned about UT's 5-6 record last year when he chose the Vols. He said he expects the offense to improve and have the same success it had during Cutcliffe's first tenure as UT's offensive coordinator from 1993-98.

"You see the results they had, and you just know that everything's going to get turned around," he said. "You saw how strong the defense was last year. The offense is going to step up this year and help out the defense, and things are going to get rolling. We're going to turn this around."