Tennessee has not selected a starting quarterback (officially).

We all know neither George MacIntyre aka GMac  nor Faizon Brandon has entered the transfer portal.

Nevertheless, Tennessee message board has begun the grieving process over the departure of whichever one eventually loses the job.

It resembles a family preparing to put down an elderly dog—except halfway through the vigil, everyone starts mentioning that the dog shed constantly, busted anal glands, and once bit the FedEx driver.

VolSince82 opened the grieving process:

“The reality is that whoever loses this competition will probably transfer. That’s just college football now.”

A moment of silence followed for the unidentified quarterback who had not left.

Then the emotional distancing began.

SectionQ asked:

“How many quarterbacks have transferred away from Tennessee and actually done anything?”

This was not a question. This was direct challenge to the Board.

It was the message-board equivalent of deleting an ex-girlfriend’s pictures, blocking her cheating ass on Socials and announcing that she was never that attractive.

Still, the names began to appear:

Nathan Peterman.

Riley Ferguson.

Quinten Dormady.

Brent Schaeffer

Will McBride.

Jarrett Guarantano.

Brian Maurer.

Branndon Stewart.

Harrison Bailey.

Kaidon Salter.

Tayven Jackson.

Nico Iamaleava.

They were recited slowly and wistfully, like former members of a Southern gospel quartet who had either died, moved to Missouri or stopped speaking to the piano player.

Each name carried their own set of unique memories and baggage.

Peterman, who escaped the wreckage at Tennessee, revived his career at Pitt and somehow reached the NFL.

The tatted-up Ferguson, who left quietly and became a star at Memphis, forcing Tennessee fans to insist the American Athletic Conference was roughly equivalent to a  private high-school classification with lesser facilities.

Dormady, Guarantano, Maurer and Bailey—each once discussed as Tennessee’s future, then repackaged as evidence that the coaches had been right to move on.

Salter, whose talent became more impressive with every mile he traveled away from Knoxville.

Jackson, another former solution who became somebody else’s quarterback.

And Nico, who left Tennessee carrying several truckloads of resentment, NIL baggage and message-board psychological evaluations.

For a few minutes, the board remembered them fondly.

Then it remembered why they all sucked.

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