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In the long run, Tennessee's Nu'Keese Richardson, Mike Edwards and Janzen Jackson have much bigger issues after being charged in an early morning armed robbery, such as their personal freedom for the next seven to ten years. But as far as the freshman trio's status on the Vol football team is concerned, there's a pretty strong consensus: The kids have to be booted from the team.

It's a fairly easy call with a serious felony charge that could lead to jail time -- unless, that is, you're the 20-year-old kid the players are alleged to have stuck up outside a convenience store at 2 a.m., in which you would be a) Uninjured from the altercation; b) Not out of any money, because you didn't have any; and c) A huuuuuge Volunteers fan. And because you love the Vols with all your heart, you might also be wondering what the big deal is -- I mean, what's a little armed robbery among members of the Vol Nation when there's a game in, like, two days, right?

If you've ever struggled to understand the deep, intense slightly insane relationship of Southerners with football, no exchange has ever captured it quite as well as this one:

Corey Zickefoose: I think they should still be able to play football, regardless. Tennessee is my place. You know, it's my football team.

Reporter: Even after they put a gun in your face, you say let them play football?

Corey Zickefoose: Yeah. It's Tennessee. That's the way it is sometimes.

"It's Tennessee. That's the way it is sometimes" is certain to make Corey Zickefoose the most quoted man on Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Auburn, Memphis and especially Florida message boards for at least the remainder of the Lane Kiffin era in Knoxville, but they shouldn't kid themselves that his sentiments are unique to the Volunteers -- for a certain subset of fans everywhere in the SEC, personal well-being, consistent legal justice and fundamental social norms spanning the recorded history of human civilization are all mere trivialities when standing to the well-being of The Program.

Kiffin, on the other hand, may not see the good of the program in quite the same terms. The first-year coach was steadfastly silent on any of the players' future status with the team amid "a circus-like atmosphere" following UT's final full-speed practice before heading to Oxford to play Ole Miss on Saturday morning. For his part, Jackson was reportedly inside the convenience store when the robbery went down in the parking lot and "vehemently asserts his innocence" via his attorney; unlike Edwards and Richardson, he was released on his own recognizance after his initial $15,000 bond was waived. If we don't know his or his classmates' official fate by Saturday, here's guessing they won't be spotted anywhere near the Vol sideline against the Rebels -- much to the chagrin of Corey Zickefoose, I'm sure.