Well, I was jogging when it hit me… God is showing His handy work with the UT Vols football team without a 2023 National Title. As I jogged in the cloudy, Sunday morning of November 27 ( My mother’s 82^nd birthday!!) I was talking to God in the Spirit, and I was able to focus on the blessings my household, the Tennessee Vols, and the NCAA football world have received since Tennessee’s losses to the University of Georgia on November 5, 2022 and South Carolina on November 19.

1. I/ We would have never known of the awesome friendship between Hendon Hooker and the talented Joe Milton III. Hendon cannot finish his college career because of his torn, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and his best friend has taken over the “star quarterback” position. Even the SEC announcers says they have never seen such a friendship between quarterbacks (lot’s of envy / jealousy I’m sure) . We need friends who love us and support us during the good and bad times, clap for our successes, weep with us in our sorrows, and put up with our crap. Joe Milton and Hendon Hooker have a special bond, indeed.
2. During their previous 2022, eleven (11) games, I had absolutely no recollection of hearing names such as Walker Merrill, Princeton Fant, Dee Williams, and Dylan Sampson…. Okay, okay… and, Squirrel White (Love that name)!!?? The recent events have brought these young men “to the light”.  Sure we have heard the names Jalen Wright, Jabari Small, Jalin Hyatt, and Cedric Tillman all season, but God wanted us to see some other people in action.
3. God wanted to show the flaws in the Vols’ defense. Will it be corrected by the playoffs and the bowl games? Probably not, but folks, if Heupel continues rolling like he has since January of 2021, the Vols defense will be crushing the opponents’ offense by the big games (Alabama, Georgia, LSU) October of 2023.

We are not going to the 2023 National Championship yet, but I am standing by what I wrote “…God will use this Vols team to glorify Him, and it WILL BE CLEARLY VISIBILE before the January 9, 2023 NCAA Football Championship in Los Angeles.” The team is glorifying God, but He, in turn, is showing us some “hidden talent”, a wonderful friendship, and a defense (yes, perhaps even a new Defensive Coordinator) that needs to improve. Our God is an awesome God, and “It’s Great to be a Tennessee Vol!”