Photo by Clay Owen // Buy this photo
University of Tennessee freshman quarterback B.J. Coleman tosses a football up in the air Saturday during Media Day at Neyland Stadium.
I'll say this for Byron Elwyn Coleman Jr.: He caused more of a stir by leaving the University of Tennessee football team than he ever created when he was a Vol.
On Thursday, B.J. Coleman quit in a snit and attempted to throw new UT Coach Lane Kiffin under the bus. Speaking to his hometown newspaper, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Coleman called his decision to transfer from UT "the best move for me."
"What changed my mind is, after this spring, I don't see myself getting a fair shake. Based on conversations with coaches and things that happened this spring, I feel the staff has goals that do not include me.
Continue reading at The Tennessean.
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Comments » 130
nicksjuzunk#646117 writes:
Lacked class BJ.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Ouch!
DAWGSSUCK writes:
This really concerns me, I wasn't worried when we failed to go after a QB this recruiting class, but now knowing we only have Stephens and Crompton......this can't be good.
give_him_6 writes:
Kiff is saying the best will start. If in his mind, after BJ beat Crompton head to head in all stats, and he chooses to go with Crompton, I hope he can live with consequences. I am having a Fulmer flashback...it's like Deja Vu. Wasn't he going to only play the best kids too......
rocky_topper writes:
classless actually. if you want to move on, then be a man and do so without trying to justify reasons for doing so.
nicksjuzunk#646117 writes:
Yep, even though we love to hear why people leave (lennon creer???) we never respect them when they do. At least Lennon still has some respect amongst vol fans because he didn't trash his former team or staff... just moved on.
rocky_topper writes:
In all fairness here man, there were two different defenses on the field which people fail to realize! Crompton was against the primary defense and BJ played against the secondary defense! It's really comparing apples to oranges.
Netmom writes:
At UT, even as third string, everyone knows the name BJ Coleman. At UTC, he could be the best they've ever had, but nobody outside UTC is ever going to hear about him.
Grow up, kid.
dvhill100 writes:
You have to have ego to compete at this level, but more importantly, you have to have the physical and mental ability skill sets. BJ has the ego, but apparently not the rest.
Drop the attitude, leave and move on. That kind of departure will NOT endear you to another program.
99gator writes:
if he left without saying why, then everyone would be asking why he left.
he's not classless. bottom line, he didn't feel like he would get a chance to play. he wants to go somewhere where he can play.
so, he transferred.
there will be more and not just before the season.
happens everytime with a first year coach.
GreerVol22 writes:
We will never know how much of the offense BJ actually was picking up vs Crompton regardless of meaningless spring stats. Cutcliff recruited him because he was coachable, but coachable is one thing, execution is another. I can't help but think the strightforwardness of this staff is too much for some of these prima donnas. Time will tell if the CLK method is bred of Pete Carroll or Al Davis. Either way, BJ could have handled it better.
rocky_topper writes:
Looks like some Gators are feeling lonely and in need of some attention today!
101st_AIRBORNE_VOL (Inactive) writes:
Easy there bud. I hate the Gator lopers as bad as anyone, but 99 is pretty straight up. Just about everything he says is fair and balanced. It's DC and gatorz that are total tools.
marinevol writes:
We had a lot of quitters last year. Now we have one less.
99gator writes:
having read the article it appears the author was writing about crompton, not coleman.
can't talk like manning and play like c.j. leak.
has there ever been a player who spoke bigger than crompton and delivered less?
BIGEJ writes:
Opinions vary....GO VOLs
VOLinDAWGland writes:
bye bye BJ and good luck!
UTGrad97and99 writes:
"But it doesn't help to talk like Peyton Manning if you play like C.J. Leak."
Ouch!
VOLinDAWGland writes:
A bunch of you guys are stuck in the mediocre time warp that was TN football the past 5+ years and BJ is mediocre at best SEC level talent. He might be All American potential at conference USA but not SEC. Kiffin is going after the best, BJ is not one of the best.
BIGEJ writes:
Hopefully, these coaches will prove out their worth and the "drama" can go to the actual game rather than "the he said, she said game".....GO VOLs;
VOLinDAWGland writes:
This is actually a very good article...nail meet hammer.
Joey Matthews is exactly what I was thinking regarding BJ. Nice kid, hometown product, good highschool and probably lower tier D1 or D2 QB. Not a top SEC talent. I don't understand why everyone is upset about this? The thing that struck me was how classless he left...I thought he was a bit more mature and savvy than that.
londonvol writes:
Bye, take care and good luck, moving on
GeneralSherman writes:
It's very obvious B.J. was the best quarterback on the field in the O & W game. He's a leader, takes care of the ball, and makes good decisions. Crompton doesn't have any of those qualities. To say B.J. lacked class, then you don't even know him.
give_him_6 writes:
Be careful what you wish for. We only 2 injuries away from having to have a wlk on lead the team. You can run off the players you don't want and that is fine. But cutting off your nose to spite your face is wrong. I hope it doesn't come back to haunt Kiff.
poppachuck writes:
He is probably right, but since when is it being selfish in the world of sports when you have to look out for yourself? The coaches do it with their jumping from program to program, or by holding up the school for a bigger contract under the threat of leaving (can you say Bruce Pearl?), when they make promises to recruits and after they sign they leave, etc. I do not blame him, the handwriting is on the wall, get while you can!
knoxdude32 writes:
I don't understand where people say he trashed the team. The guy wanted to play and didn't feel as if he was going to get a fair shot. If he saw the writing on the wall, I don't blame him for leaving. No one knows what went on in his meetings with the coaches. I'm sure it was a tough decision because I believe Coleman truly wanted to play at UT. But as a player, you want to play, not sit on the bench. Unlike other positions, there is only one qb position on the field.
Apparently, its ok for a coach to publicly respond when he informs a kid he won't fit, but when a player states it, he is trashing the coaches.
Kiffen is trying to run this as a professional team and unfortunately you can't in all aspects. You can't cut/dismiss a player and just call the director of player personnel to get a player off the waiver wire like pro coaches do. Looks more and more like he is sacrificing the 2009 season by purging scholarship players in order to have more scholarships to offer after next season.
82cat writes:
Here the truth:
Coleman would have to be head and shoulders above Crompton to start and in the judgement of this staff he wasn,t
The reason he had to be is because of one guy------- Jake Heaps. He is the QB Kiffin wants and with a senior starter this year the QB job is his from day one if he comes to UT.
Go to You Tube and check out Jake Heaps and you will see what Kiffin envisions for the future.
From everything I have heard Coleman is a good kid and I really don't blame him for leaving. He is smart enough to see the writing on the wall.
He did not do a very smart thing in burning his bridges though--- there is one thing he needs from Kiffin and that is a release from his scholarship. Kiffin could make it harder for him if he chooses. I don't think Kiffin will though he has made it clear from day one he is cleaning house and building for the future.
John Mellencamp said it best in Peaceful World
"It's what you do
not what you say
If your not part of the future
get out of the way"
DirtyVolsack writes:
Ok. So here is my input. I wanted BJ to be the starter from day one. I felt he had all of the tools to be a good SEC QB. I liked what he did during the spring and liked how he carried himself through the whole process...until today. After listening to that interview, I think that he has the completely wrong attitude during this situation. Listening to his tone and some of the things he said, I think that he is a "ME" and not "WE" person. and IMO we don't have room on the team for people like that. I lost a lot of respect for this young man after hearing everything he had to say. Now I understand that I wasn't at all of the meetings that he had with Kiffin and I don't know what Kiffin said to him and vice versa. But I will say that that he is going about this the wrong way. He should have stayed on the team and kept trying to show that it was his time to shine. I think Kiffin might have been testing him to see if he had the mindset to tough this out and EARN his spot. He was well on his way to being our #1 QB but he blew it today. I have no hard feelings for BJ and I wish him well in his future but he QUIT. Plain and simple. He walked out on his state, his friends, and most importantly his TEAM. And isn't the TEAM what this is all about? I don't mean to be harsh on him because everytime I talked to him in person he seemed like a very polite young man. But today he came off as having a very self-centered attitude and I do have a problem with that. He let down a lot of people and eventually I think that he will realize that. Maybe not now, maybe not next year, but he will look back on this and ask himself, "What was I thinking? Why did I quit on them when they needed a leader?". I do not want him on this team and would not want him BACK on this team if he tried to stay. This was the wrong decision. But I wish him well in where ever he decides to go. May God be with you and help you do what you feel is right. Now straighten out the attitude and go play some ball.
HtownVol writes:
All this talk about crompton and BJ. Wasnt it clear that Stephens was the best QB on the field last year?
UrbanStopCallingMe writes:
Of course we wouldn't like Kiffin if he were the Alabama coach. We hate Alabama and everything about it.
The fact is our 3rd string QB quit because he wasn't the starter. I wish he would stay because of depth but he chose to leave. I wish him luck and I'm moving on.
StroVol writes:
What a bunch of garbage. Crompton couldn't hit 50% against high schoolers. This is political BS. Stephens has no choice but to stay now, he knows Crompton will screw it up against UCLA in the first half.
campvol#212157 writes:
Climer is an idoit. I disagree with his article.
Ironcity writes:
WLVol you make some good points. I don't like Saban but I do respect him and the job he does. Same goes with Spurrier and Meyer. I do understand that they are good coaches. Being a nice humble guy is not always the ticket to success. If you thought everyone was going to stay in the program and live happily ever after, then you were pretty foolish. It doesn't happen when you had the type of house cleaning we just had.
You may not like Kiffins personality and you probably didn't like Coach Pearls personality. None of us will like all the moves he makes but in the end it all comes down to the type of kids he recruits and the results on the field.
BSweet writes:
Kiffin didn't run Coleman off, he just didn't make him the starter. It was BJ's decision to quit.
It's obvious by your posts that you're a Coleman fan. That's cool, not going to attack you for that, but I will say there are two sides to the story. Just because BJ says he wasn't given a fair shake doesn't make it fact. If he wanted to leave, that's his decision, but he didn't need to sling mud. IMO, he made himself look bad by doing that, not the coaching staff.
Singaporehillbilly writes:
Buckle up football fans. Hamilton has dropped the orange nation down a rabbit hole and it will be a rough three (3) years till the next coaching staff, but they will have to deal with probation. This kid coach is nothing more than an inexperienced mercenary that could care less about the tradition or the university. Does the boy wonder even know our that our school’s primary color is orange?
steve22043#233791 writes:
Who would want him now. His stats weren't any better than Stephens or Cromptons--how does he come off thinking he's the obvious choice above upperclassmen with game experience. I had high hopes for him but since he's such a prima donna I'm gald he's moving on. I think he may have been a little intimidated by Rozier and some of the prospects in the next class. Oops, did I say "class"?--doesn't apply to BJ
Stumps writes:
sounds like Kiffen is about team -
sounds like Coleman is about Coleman
good riddance. TN fans have seen enough of what selfish egos can do to our team.
(hey stephens - rehab rehab rehab!)
HollySpringsVOL writes:
I could not have said it better myself. GO VOLS!
MrBamSeydu writes:
BAM!! Perfect article to explain the situation. BJ Coleman does NOT matter in the grand scheme of things. I mean, my God, Lennon Creer was 100x better than him and noone made this big of a deal about him leaving. Why? Because we know we have Bryce Brown and David Oku coming. So, just because it's the QB???
No, that's not it. It's because he's from TN. Well, here's reality, TN High School football is horrible. BJ Coleman was a 3 star QB in a bad state to play high school football, and he's a 3 star (at the very best) in college as we speak.
*If he's really that great, let's just see how many top notch programs roll out the red carpet to offer him a scholly for transfer........... (sound of crickets).....
Yeah, that's what I thought. See you at UTC BJ Coleman, or if you're lucky Duke. Wow. Get over it people. Joey Matthews sucked too.
MrBamSeydu writes:
WE NEED WINNERS!!! NOT WHINERS!!
maholt49#632667 writes:
"Here" the truth. What's that???
smokey90 writes:
Climer is an idoit. I am not happy about Coleman's departure, but the article ignores the spring stats. Coleman's stats look better than Crompton's to me, but was against second team. Climer was dead set on trashing Coleman, and that is classless. UT fans cannot enjoy Climer articles. Climer is a bitter vandy (no cap for a reason) fan.
CrankE writes:
Doug Johnson, UF, QB.
Or did you mean Tennessee players?
Kelly Washington. Rick Clausen comes in a close second with me for his, "If you don't like it, don't watch us" comment in the middle of a dismal 2005 season.
chad_t31 writes:
You can't blame the kid for wanting to play. You can, however, blame him for what he said on his way out.
slsmithsr#269458 writes:
Who do you think BJ is: Matt Cassell? Somebody that can hide for 4 years and still make the pros?
Everbody knows that he wasn't going to play. He's almost 21 and made a decision he's going to have to live with forever. I think he has grown up. He knew when to leave. A person has the right to chose weather or not they can live with pain. And riding the pine painful, especially when you know you can play elsewhere. Give the young man a break. He'll still bleed Orange,he always has. He just won't be wearing it.
BSweet writes:
Why do people keep misspelling "idiot"? It's kind of funny.
b_neas writes:
winners when facing adversity and tough times fight through it......obviously BJ is not a winner, but a whiner
TommyJack writes:
If, BIG IF, CLK is choosing JC in an attempt to land a 2010 5*, we are in the deepest of doo-doo for '09.
VOLinDAWGland writes:
Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer he stayed. But if he will only stay if assured a starting spot that he hasn't clearly earned then he can go.
99gator writes:
while doug johnson was not the greatest qb in the world, he did a heck of a lot more than crompton.
kelly washington same thing. while an overall negative contribution to the team because of his attitude, washington still made plays during his career.
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