One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Take a look, everyone. Count again. This is what we have to deal with, to look at in the mirror for the next however long this lasts. This is what we’ve come to as a football program, as a university, as a laughingstock. Soak it in. Deal with it. I’d like to say this is as bad as it gets, but who knows? This offseason has only just begun.
Five.
That’s how many separate incidents we’ve faced thus far as Vols fans since Jan. 11, involving six players. This is not including Antonio Wardlow and Dorian Davis, who were booted off the Tennessee Vols for God knows what. It could have been rape or trafficking heroin for all we know. (It wasn’t, but that’s beside the point.) It had to be something terrible for Phillip Fulmer to boot them off the team, obviously.
But look deeper at the number five. Take a long, hard look. Now realize that this is how many times SINCE HE HAS BEEN AT TENNESSEE that fifth-year senior punter Britton Colquitt has been cited or arrested for an offense involving alcohol. As a freshman, he was once cited THREE DIFFERENT TIMES in less than two weeks. This weekend, the senior, the All-American, the “LEADER”, was arrested for his second DUI and for fleeing the scene of an accident.
The fifth-year senior. The leader. For his FIFTH offense. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Are we looking at jail time for Britton? Of course not. Well, surely, after this, even though he’s not had any offenses for more than three years, we’re minus an All-American punter, right? He’s off the team, surely. Right? Nope.
Take another look at that number, Vols fans. FIVE. That’s how many games Colquitt has been suspended to start the season. He also must go to rehabilitation classes. And he lost his scholarship. Seems harsh, right? Doesn’t it?
Does it? Not to me, it doesn’t. As a buddy of mine said Sunday night, this is about as close to a lack of institutional control as you can get if you’re Phillip Fulmer. In less than two months, we had two FRESHMEN cited for smoking marijuana. THEN, we had another FRESHMAN arrested for being drunk and loud outside of his dorm. THEN, UT had the incident where SENIOR Anthony Parker was arrested, but all he was doing was waving his arms and shouting. No big deal. THEN, we had 26-year-old walk-on Vince Faison arrested for a DUI after being found asleep in his car at a drive-through window. THEN, Fulmer dismissed Wardlow and Davis.
Now this. From a fifth-year senior. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Five.
That’s how many alcohol-related offenses Colquitt’s had. That’s how many run-ins (so far) UT has had with the law this year. And that’s how many years Colquitt has had to learn to respect a man who obviously doesn’t demand it.
I’m sorry, Phil. This isn’t your fault completely. But it’s your problem. It’s your cross to bear. It’s your program. And you COMPLETELY dropped the ball this time on the punishment. This is five offenses, Phil. Five. This was your opportunity to put the hammer down, kick Colquitt off the team.
I know. I know what the family has meant to the program. I know that generations of this group have turned over the field for the Big Orange time after time after time. I know that they gave SO MUCH back to the university with a hefty donation last year. I know this. But I also know where this program stands right now, at a crossroads of the excitement felt from making it to the SEC Championship Game last year and the “embarrassment” of lopsided losses to Florida and Alabama and the “embarrassment” of a sub-par recruiting class.
Now, we are truly embarrassed, Phil. Or, I should say that I am truly embarrassed. You can strip away some wins over rivals and some of the joy we get from watching our team beat our friends’ favorite teams. But you can’t strip away our university’s dignity. In most eyes nationally, it’s gone, Phil. It’s not there anymore. We don’t have any respect as a program because we’re not winning as big on the field and we’re FLAT OUT LOSING off of it. If there are no more incidents this offseason, we’ve already lost. We’ve lost, and we feel it every day.
The pride we get from being University of Tennessee graduates and fans is covered up by the shame we feel as name after name pops up on the police blotter. And now, when the sixth game of the season rolls around next year, you expect us to pull for Britton Colquitt? To accept him along with the other men in orange jerseys who truly honor and appreciate the jersey they are wearing? You expect this?
Maybe you don’t care that that’s how we feel. Fifth-year seniors earn longer leashes. Fifth-year seniors with four priors don’t. What if there was a dead person in that other vehicle, Phil, and Colquitt is running like he ran after that kick returner in the Kentucky game? What then?
At this rate, if we want to pull for Tennessee in that sixth game later this year, we’ll have to pull for Colquitt. We’ll have to because everybody else on the team will be just like him. At this rate, everybody’s going to have been in trouble. Everybody will be worried more about his record off the field than on it. At this rate, we’ll have to root for the image of thugs in orange rather than the team we want it to be.
At this rate, that image is a little too close to reality.
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