Posted by ATLVOL1 on January 8, 2008 at 8:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Jerod please goto to the Falcons in early 2nd rd

Posted by LouneyTom on January 8, 2008 at 8:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Good Luck Jerod...been a pleasure having you at UT.

Posted by dfreeman on January 8, 2008 at 8:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree TDTN!!!! I REALLY was hoping against this one leaving!! Good luck Mayo we will miss you and thank you for everything!!

Posted by AppStVol on January 8, 2008 at 8:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Thanks for playing like an animal down the strech, your a true 1st day pick(might even move up after workouts). Good Luck on Sundays!

Posted by alfrizzle097 on January 8, 2008 at 8:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Led SEC in tackles. Will be a first round pick. I promise.

Posted by GerryOP on January 8, 2008 at 8:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mr. Mayo, you have your degree, you will get a good draft spot, go forth and do well. You, more than any other single player brought our footVols to the success the team had this year. May you follow Al Wilson's path to the Broncos! God bless and God speed. Be well.

Posted by thesavageorange on January 8, 2008 at 8:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)

alfrizzle097, I tend to agree.Smart move Jerod.You don't put a winning lottery ticket in you're wallet for a year and hope you don't get hit by a bus.Mayo was a wild man.Closest thing I've seen to Wilson ,well, since Wilson.Thanks JM.We will be watching.

Posted by pdhuff on January 8, 2008 at 8:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Godspeed, Mayo. All the best. You and Berry were an oasis in the desert. Thanks again.

Posted by bd330794 on January 8, 2008 at 8:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)

At first this concerned me but UT has never had a problem replacing great linebackers with great linebackers. Donald, Myer-white, Wilson, Davis, or mathis whos it going to be?

Posted by KnoxVol_in_TX on January 8, 2008 at 8:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Freak of nature!! A pure beast. I seriously think he's got more talent than Little did. Here's to him proving it.

Posted by utkjoe29 on January 8, 2008 at 8:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mr. Mayo it was a pleasure to see you play here in Knoxville. You stepped up and became the leader this defense needed this year. Good luck to you at the next level!

Posted by leedsvol2007 on January 8, 2008 at 8:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)

If he is a projected first round pick then congratulations are in order.

He will be missed but playing a position where injuries are a fact of life then he should take the money and run.

We will miss you but understand. Have a great NFL career.

Posted by tennisvol on January 8, 2008 at 8:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Wishing you the best in the draft.

Posted by moose_47 on January 8, 2008 at 9:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I like the fact that Jerod has his head on straight, finishing his degree before heading on to the NFL. He's the best linebacker we have had here since Al Wilson. You would look good in a pewter headgear! Good luck. Go Vols!

Posted by nikesportsfan on January 8, 2008 at 9:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Why would he leave early when is projected as a 3rd or 4th round choice. Seems like he would stay in school another year to boost his stock.

Posted by MillisaAnn on January 8, 2008 at 9:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Good Luck to Jarod Mayo!!! He will be missed alot on Defense.

Posted by Plasticman on January 8, 2008 at 9:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I have to agree with nikesportsfan, if he's projected as a late second or third round pick, he could be costing himself millions of guaranteed $$ on the front end. Same as Jason Witten, who went out as a Jr. and lost millions of $ when he was a third rounder, thinking he was going in the first round. Either way, Mayo has been fun to watch and I look forward to following him on Sundays. Just think what might have been had he stayed another year.....

Posted by Ironcity on January 8, 2008 at 10:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)

As good as Mayo was he struggled when he blitzed. Wilson is very instinctive when he blitzes and may (and I say may) be a better fit in the Chavis attack type defense. As I have said before, I would be really disappointed if we couldn't find a better backer then Karl next year.

Posted by Hunter on January 8, 2008 at 10:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mayo will improve to a second rounder at least after the Combine in Indy. Anyone who knows John Chavis LB products (Kevin Burnett, Al Wilson, et al) will snatch him up and have a Pro-Bowler in 3 years. Best of luck, Jerod!

Posted by gtown_vol on January 8, 2008 at 10:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Good luck Jarod, Hope you do well!

Posted by cjraney on January 8, 2008 at 11:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Good luck to you Mr. Mayo. If he lasts past the second round there's been a mistake.

Posted by volunteer_cowboy on January 8, 2008 at 11:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Okay guys, I have information from an EXTREMELY credible source close to the coaching search that you all would be interested in knowing. Because I don't know how confidential the information was, and I don't want the person in trouble, I'm not going to give any details beyond saying that I'd bet my next paycheck on what this person told me. I'll first post the information, and then comment on some of it.

Dave Clawson will be introduced as our official offensive coordinator. I was told this will happen tomorrow (Wednesday).

As you can see, Stan Drayton is coming to Tennessee. He is bringing some top recruit with him. Because of restrictions on talking about recruits, my source was not able to tell me who that is.

Chad Loeffler is coming to Tennessee and he's bringing Ryan Mallet with him. The assumption is that he will be coaching quarterbacks, but oddly enough my source didn't say what position he would be coaching (this will make more sense in a second).

Mike DeBord is also coming to Tennessee. Again, my source didn't talk about what position he would be coaching. My assumption would be that he will coach tight ends and possibly special teams.

My source also told me that there is a big surprise that no one will see coming. If I understand correctly, it has something to do with a hire on the coaching staff. That's what makes me unsure about the positions these hires will take (Mostly what Chad Loeffler will coach). The only names I could eliminate off the list are Alvin Harper, Carl Pickens, and George Quarles. After that my source just told me that I'll find out Thursday when these other coaching hires are announced.

Posted by posivol on January 9, 2008 at 12:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

mayo you the man,hope you find your way down to nashville and the titans.

tabjack if fulmer pulls that off i hope all the negavols get down on their knees and fess up that ole phil still got a few tricks in his bag.

if you think coach has lost a step that just tells me you never had one to begin with.

Posted by agentorange on January 9, 2008 at 12:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)

mayo was not a dominant ut linebacker. maybe he could have been next year. won't ever say "that guy reminds me of mayo."

Posted by calivol on January 9, 2008 at 4:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Plasticman, I'm pretty sure Jason Witten doesn't regret a thing. His career in Dallas turned out quite alright, don't ya think? Pro Bowls, franchise records, endorsements, playing on the NFC's top team, etc, etc. I'm guessing he's doing OK in the money department.

Posted by Volker on January 9, 2008 at 7:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Mayo, you're one of the best players that I have ever watched. Congrats on your degree and all that you have done for the Big Orange. I'm sure that success will follow you. There is no doubt that you are one of the top three LB's in the upcoming draft.

I think that Marcus Witherspoon may be heading to UT too. He has a verbal with Michigan but he is visitng UT on the 11th. The buzz is that he is decommitting to big blue and is headed toward the Big Orange. It seems that our coaching staff is going to have a hint of Maize and Blue to it and that they are bringing a couple of the guys that they had recruited.
I hope this isn't false optimism.

Posted by orangebloodgmc on January 9, 2008 at 8:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)

We'll miss Mayo's experience, but we have more talent coming up if the other guys will seize the opportunity. Some pro team is fixin' to get a good man, Jerod Mayo.

Posted by 10ACVOL on January 9, 2008 at 9:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Ellix Wilson is a heckuva LB, probably the hardest hitter on our Defense. He'll make some plays.

Posted by NatiVol on January 9, 2008 at 12:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)

This loss hurts, but can you blame him? No, Take the $$ and run! As much as I love the Vols and my education, common sense kicks in. Good luck and thanks for 3 great years!

Posted by hueypilot on January 9, 2008 at 12:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mayo was very good, but to paraphrase that old fart Senator from Texas, "you're no Al Wilson"
Go back and look at Wilson's blitzes on the Florida qb in '98. Wilson had the quickest first two steps of anyone I've seen until Dwight Freeney. But I understand Jarod's reasoning. Got his degree, if he's good enough, the money will come, if not in the form of bonuses, down the line, and he's ready for school to be behind him. Good luck, kid. The Vols would not have won a few of those close ones and LSU would have been ugly(er) if you hadn't been in the lineup.

Posted by anthony on January 9, 2008 at 2:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

These guys sacrifice a lot to play football, and take a lot of guff for it sometimes. Even newspapers spy out on them and wait for them to get into trouble and then lay it on them. Where do your loyalties lie??? I personally would stay and play, instead of going on into the ESPN gameplan. I would not play their game, but be like Marlon Brando, and refuse the OSCAR!!! The ESPN Emmies!! For example, tell us what quarterback in the nation could NOT , could NOT, have led Florida to 4 that,s four loses. Peyton couldn't WIN the BIG one. I guess now that the standards have changed??? Or did Tebow WIN the Big One?? Remember that the people who vote against political correctness in this country are called conspirators!!! Fulmer has taken the brunt of losing seasons. The loses can be pinned directly on these people. Albert Haynesworth, Dante Stallworth, Jason Whitten, and other "defectors". The real heroes are Peyton Manning, darwin Walker, Al Wilson, Johnnie Henderson, and the rest who stayed and played for the Big Orange. These made the supreme sacrifice. The rest are passing through, and ESPN's of the world merely aid and abet this process. Politicians chase the almighty dollar, why would i want to be like them????

Posted by calivol on January 10, 2008 at 12:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Is busybody back, and calling herself anthony?