This column is usually reserved for the ridiculous, the outrageous, the “classic SEC” stuff that earned the conference its reputation as the most unique, passionate group of fans in college football.

A start like Tennessee’s could easily prompt such reaction. An 0-2 start with home losses to a pair of Power 5 teams hasn’t exactly led to happy times on Rocky Top. People are calling for Jeremy Pruitt to be fired, fans are wondering if the program will ever get back to national relevance and a team many thought was on the rise is suddenly searching for answers.

Times aren’t great in Knoxville. The Vols are the butt of every non-Hugh Freeze joke, and so naturally, positive attention is hard to come by.

Call me a cynic, but that crept into the back of my mind the more I thought about this feel-good story involving the young, bullied Tennessee fan. And then something happened that made me go back to thinking this really is just a feel-good story. A really good one.

Let me explain.

For those of you who haven’t seen this story or have only skimmed past headlines, here’s the rundown.

A boy at a Florida elementary school (in Altamonte Springs, which is where I live) wore an orange t-shirt that had a stapled piece of paper with the letters “U.T.” drawn on by the boy. It was College Spirit Day at school and the boy wanted to show his Tennessee pride, but he couldn’t afford an official Vols shirt.

His teacher shared a post saying that the boy was devastated when he was made fun of by some classmates at lunch for wearing the homemade shirt. The teacher posted about it on Facebook and asked if anyone could help her get connected with Tennessee. That was shared more than 10,000 times. Tennessee then sent the class shirts, hats, pens, water bottles and plenty of other UT gear.

Just in case that wasn’t enough, Tennessee started selling the boy’s homemade design on a T-shirt at the university book store, which saw its website crash after over 16,000 pre-orders came in. All proceeds of the shirt go to the Stomp Out Bullying charity.

Fans even painted The Rock to honor the boy’s design:

Awesome. The fact that there will soon be a bunch of these T-shirts filling the stands at Neyland Stadium on fall Saturdays is incredibly cool. I mean, 50,000 pre-orders (and counting) is insane.

(I’m assuming it’s been pretty insane at the university book store based on my 6 calls to 4 different lines getting a busy signal.)

The power of social media in 2019 is strong, and in this case it was used for good and not evil.

For a fan base that took so much heat for the Greg Schiano fallout, seeing Tennessee fans step up like this in the midst of a frustrating time on the field was bigger than sports. That, I had zero skepticism about. Tip of the cap to you, Vols fans. That’s the anti-#ItMightMeanTooMuch move.

But seeing all of that, I couldn’t help but think about the university’s angle on this.

At some point, somebody within Tennessee’s marketing/public relations team recognized the benefits that would come with this. That is, instead of only talking about the program’s worst start in 31 years, we’re talking about what a great gesture it was to send the boy’s class a bunch of Tennessee stuff and to sell an anti-bullying T-shirt.

My wife works at a PR firm. I know how these things work. And in the sports media business, we get PR pitches all the time. If I had a nickel for every time a PR specialist followed up with me to see if I was interested in doing a story about some random cause, I’d be rich.

There’s great return on investment of sending down gear to an elementary school and becoming a viral story, no matter what intentions that gesture was made with. “Good Morning America,” CNN, Saturday Down South and other major media players — see what I did there? — all did stories on it. Of course they/we would. It’s an awesome, feel-good story.

Had that been the entire story, that skepticism would have stayed in the back of my mind. But then there was another development that got me back fully on board with what Tennessee did here.

Just in case the gear, T-shirt selling and overwhelming outpour of support wasn’t enough for the boy, Tennessee offered him a 4-year scholarship.

(I know what you’re thinking, Tennessee fans. I don’t think the kid can play left tackle next year.)

That’s right. The university announced that as long as the boy can make the grades, he’ll have a home in Knoxville in 9 years when he’s ready to start college.

“In recognition of the fourth-grader’s Volunteer spirit, the university has extended an offer of admission for him to join the Class of 2032,” the university announced in a press release Thursday. “In addition, he has been awarded a four-year scholarship covering his tuition and fees beginning fall 2028 should he decide to attend UT and meet admission requirements.”

OK. That deserves a real, skepticism-free tip of the cap. Why?

Tennessee already had its part to make sure it was going to look really good publicly for this whole story. And not just for this week. When those shirts come out and Tennessee fans are wearing them to games, you can bet the farm that the ESPN cameras will zoom in on those and tell the backstory of how they came to be.

The story already made for the perfect way for Tennessee to show in any national ad, alumni newsletter or donor function that “hey, we’re Tennessee. We stand up for what’s right.” And quite frankly, I wouldn’t blame them for that. The story would have faded nicely for Tennessee.

Instead, the Vols decided that wasn’t enough. Making a 6-figure investment into a 4th-grader is a far greater gesture than sending gear to the school.

And sure, the university will also get some good press from that, too, but you know what? They deserve it.

Now even cynics like me won’t question if Tennessee pounced on an opportunity to benefit its brand from a bullied 4th-grader.