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Mobile Register Sports Columnist Neal McCready
UT officials face tough decisions
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
One incident is just that -- one incident.
Two incidents usually are coincidental and unrelated.
Three or four incidents establish a trend.
Eleven incidents represent an epidemic.
On Tuesday, two Tennessee football players -- freshmen Jerod Mayo and Robert Ayers -- were charged with aggravated assault stemming from on-campus fights that broke out between Volunteer football players and UT fraternity members last month.
The charges against Mayo and Ayers come just two days after quarterback Brent Schaeffer and star wide receiver Bret Smith were arrested and charged with assaulting a Tennessee student who had been arguing with Schaeffer's girlfriend at an on-campus dormitory.
If you're counting run-ins with the law involving Tennessee football players since February 2004 -- arrests or citations that have included everything from felony aggravated assault to disorderly conduct to misdemeanor shoplifting -- you've run out of fingers and you only have nine toes left. At this pace, some of Tennessee's most ardent fans are going to need a refresher course from that fourth-grade arithmetic lesson they repeatedly failed before their daddies bought off the elementary school teacher with a bottle of homemade moonshine.
Tennessee head football coach/parole officer Phillip Fulmer finally issued a statement Tuesday, saying he is "not happy now."
To prove it, Fulmer indefinitely suspended Schaeffer and Smith from the UT team -- or until he needs them to help win a football game. All of the above will miss Saturday's Orange and White spring game.
Yep, that'll show'em.
On Tuesday, Fulmer also announced that reserve linebacker Daniel Brooks has been suspended from the Vols' first two games of the 2005 season. Brooks, who was accused of punching a Tennessee student in the face during an off-campus party in December, has been an on-field bust since signing with Tennessee after a heated recruiting battle that included Alabama and Mississippi. His absence will have no impact on the Volunteers' season-opening games against UAB and Florida.
Fulmer also ordered Brooks to complete community service. Shoot, he'll probably have to read aloud Diane Sanford's inspirational notes in the Vols' locker room during August camp.
"I think what you've had is a few guys who've been consistent problems and have represented us poorly," Fulmer told The Tennessean. "We've had a bad run of some bad decisions by a few kids, and we're nothing more than a reflection of society in many ways. The large majority of our football team is embarrassed by that. We're all embarrassed. When one of us doesn't behave well, we're all embarrassed."
Given the current rate of embarrassment, UT should consider redecorating its end zones from the traditional orange and white checkerboard design to blushing red or black and white horizontal stripes.
The episode involving Schaeffer and Smith, if reported accurately, is reprehensible. Police reports indicate that UT student Quantavious Emerson was hit in the neck by Schaeffer around 5:15 a.m. Sunday. Schaeffer allegedly threw Emerson to the floor, at which point Smith hit him.
"I can't put my finger on why we've had so many of those things, but we're trying to find out," Fulmer said.
Allow me to help. Tennessee has become a football factory. It is a microcosm of what is wrong with college athletics. Kids who have no business in college are turned into heroes and walk around campuses with a sense of entitlement. Coaches like Fulmer who direct winning programs get paid millions of dollars per year regardless of how many visits their players make to the local jail.
It's all about priorities. Tennessee needs to establish them. Here's betting UT officials essentially look away. After all, there are games to be won, even if the kids who are winning them are nothing short of thugs.
UT officials face tough decisions
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
One incident is just that -- one incident.
Two incidents usually are coincidental and unrelated.
Three or four incidents establish a trend.
Eleven incidents represent an epidemic.
On Tuesday, two Tennessee football players -- freshmen Jerod Mayo and Robert Ayers -- were charged with aggravated assault stemming from on-campus fights that broke out between Volunteer football players and UT fraternity members last month.
The charges against Mayo and Ayers come just two days after quarterback Brent Schaeffer and star wide receiver Bret Smith were arrested and charged with assaulting a Tennessee student who had been arguing with Schaeffer's girlfriend at an on-campus dormitory.
If you're counting run-ins with the law involving Tennessee football players since February 2004 -- arrests or citations that have included everything from felony aggravated assault to disorderly conduct to misdemeanor shoplifting -- you've run out of fingers and you only have nine toes left. At this pace, some of Tennessee's most ardent fans are going to need a refresher course from that fourth-grade arithmetic lesson they repeatedly failed before their daddies bought off the elementary school teacher with a bottle of homemade moonshine.
Tennessee head football coach/parole officer Phillip Fulmer finally issued a statement Tuesday, saying he is "not happy now."
To prove it, Fulmer indefinitely suspended Schaeffer and Smith from the UT team -- or until he needs them to help win a football game. All of the above will miss Saturday's Orange and White spring game.
Yep, that'll show'em.
On Tuesday, Fulmer also announced that reserve linebacker Daniel Brooks has been suspended from the Vols' first two games of the 2005 season. Brooks, who was accused of punching a Tennessee student in the face during an off-campus party in December, has been an on-field bust since signing with Tennessee after a heated recruiting battle that included Alabama and Mississippi. His absence will have no impact on the Volunteers' season-opening games against UAB and Florida.
Fulmer also ordered Brooks to complete community service. Shoot, he'll probably have to read aloud Diane Sanford's inspirational notes in the Vols' locker room during August camp.
"I think what you've had is a few guys who've been consistent problems and have represented us poorly," Fulmer told The Tennessean. "We've had a bad run of some bad decisions by a few kids, and we're nothing more than a reflection of society in many ways. The large majority of our football team is embarrassed by that. We're all embarrassed. When one of us doesn't behave well, we're all embarrassed."
Given the current rate of embarrassment, UT should consider redecorating its end zones from the traditional orange and white checkerboard design to blushing red or black and white horizontal stripes.
The episode involving Schaeffer and Smith, if reported accurately, is reprehensible. Police reports indicate that UT student Quantavious Emerson was hit in the neck by Schaeffer around 5:15 a.m. Sunday. Schaeffer allegedly threw Emerson to the floor, at which point Smith hit him.
"I can't put my finger on why we've had so many of those things, but we're trying to find out," Fulmer said.
Allow me to help. Tennessee has become a football factory. It is a microcosm of what is wrong with college athletics. Kids who have no business in college are turned into heroes and walk around campuses with a sense of entitlement. Coaches like Fulmer who direct winning programs get paid millions of dollars per year regardless of how many visits their players make to the local jail.
It's all about priorities. Tennessee needs to establish them. Here's betting UT officials essentially look away. After all, there are games to be won, even if the kids who are winning them are nothing short of thugs.
