As the late, great Chuck Rohe used to say, “What a day!”

There is so much to talk about today in Big Orange Country (that descriptive phrase came from the fertile mind of the late Ray Mears).

This is the first day of Tennessee spring football practice, the official kickoff of competition for the quarterback job. Most think it is between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon. Colorado transfer Ryan Staub wants you to know he’s in the race and definitely intends to compete.

There are many other new faces on and around the team – five new coaches and several analysts I haven’t met, 20 other transfers, 23 others prep stars recruited from high schools.

Remember the name Derek Owings. He was the strength and conditioning coach behind the national championship Indiana team. He left the Hoosiers’ celebration party to fly to Knoxville and begin the Volunteers’ “reconstruction” program.

Indeed, there is a rebuilding project under way. Last year’s 8-5 record wasn’t good enough. Owings’ goal is to help the Vols get stronger, faster, bigger and better focused on objectives. Stay tuned.

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You can talk about Georgia. It is having a lot of fun at Tennessee’s expense. Nolan McGill, a fifth-grade student at Rivermont Elementary School in Chattanooga, threw out the ceremonial first pitch Sunday at Athens before the Bulldogs and Volunteers played an important Southeastern Conference baseball game.

Nolen gained fame by refusing to sing “Rocky Top” at his school’s Christmas festival. He kept his space on stage but just stood there, arms crossed, determined no-way expression. Enthusiastic classmates delivered the Tennessee theme song but Nolen shook his head.

“I’m never going to sing that trash. It’s just a bad song. I’m a Georgia fan. Go Dawgs,” Nolan later said.

On Sunday, Georgia added injury to insult. It defeated Tennessee, 8-7. The Bulldogs scored five runs in the seventh inning off Vol relief pitcher Brayden Krenzel.

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You can talk about Tennessee softball. That team had a better Sunday in Starkville, Mississippi. The story of the game against Mississippi State was the return of pitcher Karlyn Pickens after a week and a half off because of a strained arm. She pitched a one-hitter. Tennessee won, 4-1.

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You could talk about Tennessee’s tennis men. They won a doubleheader, 4-2 over Alabama and 4-0 over Mercer. Those Vols, an international geography lesson, are from Argentina, Poland, Austria, Japan, Romania, Tunisia, Pittsburgh and Knoxville.

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Lady Vols, 10th seed in the Fort Worth region, will play No. 7 North Carolina State on Friday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Kim Caldwell’s team record is 16-13. The Wolfpack is 20-20.

Rick Barnes’ team, No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region of the men’s tournament, will be in Philadelphia Friday to meet the winner of the play-in game between Miami (Ohio) and SMU. Tipoff is set for 4:25 p.m. on TBS.

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Barnes said his assistant coaches will gather information on Miami and SMU and the Vols will be ready to go. He is very aware that Miami won 30 consecutive games before losing last week to UMass in the Mid-American Conference tournament.

“Any time you win 30 games, it speaks volumes,” said the coach. “You get a big bullseye on your back. That means every night you go out, somebody’s trying to knock you off the perch … to win 30 pretty much says you’re a mentally tough team … certainly a well-coached team.”

Tennessee has a personal connection to SMU. Former Vol guard BJ Edwards transferred there. Barnes said he has not followed Edwards closely “but we certainly didn’t want BJ to leave when he left … he was one of the special people that we’ve had … I mean, he’s a great person.”

Edwards, former Catholic High star, is averaging 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds for the Mustangs.

Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com

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