Lane Kiffin, Vols Have This Fan Squirming

Wyoming essentially kept the Tennessee Volunteers out of the PapaJohns.com Bowl last year and that was probably the final straw in the hat of former Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer.

Replacing Fulmer after his resignation was young gun Lane Kiffin.

Kiffin, the former Oakland Raiders coach, did not hold the position long before he made his presence known.

The off-field, off-color comments have been well publicized as have his on-field practice styles.

The comments made about Florida coach Urban Meyer, the state of South Carolina and many more have been blown out of the water by media outlets, and it makes for great offseason news.

However, we are less than a month away from the field now, and Kiffin has me squirming.

Sept. 5 is the debut of the Tennessee football team, and that is what I am worried about.

Jonathan Crompton could not get the job done last season. Without David Cutcliffe, the Vols have always struggled to find consistent quarterback play.

Has Kiffin's offensive style along with Jim Chaney given Crompton the tools to be successful in the SEC?

Can the Vols protect Crompton and open up holes for what could be the surprise player of the year in Montario Hardesty?

Is the "Tampa Two" successful in the college game? Will Monte Kiffin's combover make it through the season?

Tennessee returns one of the top defenses in the country from last season, the questions mostly lie with the sputtering offense from last season.

Not that the loss of leadership and many wide receivers from last year's squad to graduation or injury will help the Vols cause either. Especially losing top pass catcher Austin Rogers for the season and two others for, at least, fall practices and even a few games possibly.

A lot of questions have to be answered for me to judge Kiffin.

His off-field antics have kept me trying to find a way to defend my beloved Vols, but I could not find any way to do that.

The only way to defend all that has happened so far is to win.