I would not be too quick to give up on Grice coming to UT just yet. There are a lot of headwinds, but there is some logic behind him selecting Tennessee over TAMU.
We have been in the SEC since the beginning and know all the competition. He would not have a whole lot of competition at RB next year, at least from what we have seen so far. We are an up and coming team in the SEC east and when we get all our guns back next year we should be firmly in the mix for the SECe championship race. Finally, Dooley has often stated a preference for a more balanced offense when we are able to develop a running game.
The only negatives I see for Tennessee are 1) our O-line, which is scary bad. Hiestand will have to fix that or I am 95% certain he will be gone next year, with my blessing -- not that Dooley could give a damn about that. And 2) the distance factor. But keep in mind there that with TAMU in the SEC, most of their conference games are going to be a long ways away anyway.
As for TAMU, they already have a pretty good stable of RB's with more on the way this year so he will face more competition for playing time. Their conference schedule will be much harder in the SEC west than they are used to with yearly games against Ala, LSU, Arky, and probably still playing Texas, at least, from the murky 12. They will also be doing some serious travelling time to get to their away games. Their coach has shown a remarkable ability to blow games in the 2nd half this year.
Putting myself in Grice's shoes, I think the balance sheet favors him committing to Tennessee over TAMU. Like Patterson, his goal as a JUCO is to get into the pros as quickly as possible, not to have a warm and fuzzy place to play for the next 4 years. That can best be accomplished at Tennessee due to a better shot at a lot of playing time.
mlsoft