Shannon will be a Vol as long as Mr Hale let's him.
Hopefully his dad let's him then.
It probably shouldn't come down to that at this point in his life though. If you feel you've done a good job raising your kid, you should trust their decision and let them be their own man.
I get that he's teaching his son to be a man of his word and that's admirable but he should also let his son be his own man by deciding what school he'll be at for the next 4 years. His son owes nothing to Alabama and hasn't signed anything. Coaches tell commits to look elsewhere all the time if they find better players. That wouldn't be an issue in this instance since he's only 1 of 2 Alabama recruits but I'm just putting it out there that many coaches don't hold up their end of the deal unless that name is on the dotted line.
I won't question his father because he sounds like a good dad and is just trying to make his son a good person but at the same time, if I had a son that decided he'd rather spend the next 4 years somewhere other than the school he originally committed to, it would be his decision. He may be 17 now but he'll legally be an adult by the time school starts and will have legally been one for 4 years by the time school ends. I think in that case, it should be up to your child to make one of their first real life decision. They'd be getting a similar education regardless. It's not like he's taking a flyer on Yale or anything if he changed his mind and chose UT over Bama.
In the end, neither choice would be bad for him. Bad for us if he sticks with Bama because we'd have to up against him
. Hopefully his dad won't hold him back from changing his decision if he decides he'd rather spend the next 4 years somewhere other than Alabama. Doesn't even have to be Tennessee. I just think you'd want your kid to enjoy his time at school and let him go where he feels most comfortable. The goal is to keep your kid out of trouble and set them up to succeed. If you've succeeded in doing that and your kid has a choice of multiple scholarships to choose from, I think the least you could do is let them have the final say in the school they attend.
Regardless... best of luck to Shannon and his family, even if he ends up at Alabama. Although, I can say with certainty that I won't be rooting for him if that's the case. Nothing personal and it's not him I'd be pulling against, it's Alabama I'll be pulling against. I just can't find it in me to pull for a rival of Tennessee or any other SEC team for the most part.
