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Tennessee football: Two more factors intensify Jon Gruden to Vols rumors

By Caleb Calhoun

TAMPA, FL - OCTOBER 14: Coach Jon Gruden of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers watches play against the Tennessee Titans at Raymond James Stadium on October 14, 2007 in Tampa, Florida. The Bucs won 13-10.(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - OCTOBER 14: Coach Jon Gruden of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers watches play against the Tennessee Titans at Raymond James Stadium on October 14, 2007 in Tampa, Florida. The Bucs won 13-10.(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images) /
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The Grumors continue for Tennessee football. And two more pieces of evidence gave credence to them for the Volunteers on Wednesday.

On Monday, the Grumors were hotter than ever for Tennessee football. We detailed the impact they had in our post here with links that confirmed his interest in the Vols.

Then, on Tuesday, talk started to circulate that he wasn’t interested again. It didn’t come with any hard evidence, but Tennessee football fans are too skeptical of any positive news surrounding the program at this point.

As a result, anything negative was going to be believable. And the idea of Gruden’s lack of interest was enough to deflate fans.

But then Wednesday came, and the excitement grew again. Two separate things confirmed that this was still a strong possibility.

It started that morning. Gruden was on Mike and Mike and was asked about becoming Tennessee football’s head coach. In an odd response, he just said, “You never say never to nothing.” He did say he hadn’t talked to anybody, but it was odd to leave the interviewers with that.

See the video here.

Sure, he may have said he’s committed to the job. But Nick Saban was much more vocal about NOT going to Alabama back in 2006. Jim Harbaugh seemed to be committed to finding another NFL job.

Gruden has left the door much more wide open than the others.

So while Paul Finebaum went on First Take later that morning and spoke with Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman about his skepticism of Gruden going to Knoxville, there was no reason for Tennessee football fans not to get excited.

But then came another report.

Former UT Chattanooga athletic director Dave Blackburn said in an interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he has a relationship with Gruden and the Gruden to Tennessee football is still on the table. Remember, Blackburn was at Tennessee for 20 years.

He has a deep connection to the program, and for him to say this is a real thing, well, it’s a real thing. In fact, nobody can deny it now.

Gruden to Tennessee may not happen. But it’s pretty clear there’s real interest on both sides. And that makes this very exciting for Rocky Top.

Add in the return of Jauan Jennings, by the way, and that could be a third factor. After all, could he know something nobody else does? He potentially could.

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