Two days before a key road trip to Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin faces the first real crisis of his Tennessee head coaching tenure.
Three of his players, all guys he recruited, were arrested early Thursday morning on attempted armed robbery charges after police said they attempted to rob some people sitting in a car outside a convenience store in Knoxville.
According to police, a powered pellet gun was found in the car the players were in after they were stopped by police near the dormitory on campus where the freshman players live at Tennessee.
Kiffin hasn't made any comment yet and probably won't until he gathers more facts about the case.
Janzen Jackson already has a couple of strikes against him, but if you read the police report, it sounds like he might not have been with the other two players when they actually went up to the car and tried to rob the victims.
Here's the other thing: Jackson is the best player among the three and one of the top freshmen in the SEC this season. So it will be interesting to see how that dynamic plays out. His failed drug test, one of the things that led to his suspension from the Memphis game last week, won't help him.
Either way, Tennessee needs to act swiftly and decisively.
There's also a little cruel irony here for the Vols.
Remember Kiffin jokingly saying two weeks ago that maybe the Vols had earned a little "street cred" after rapper Lil Wayne dropped a reference to Kiffin talking (bleep) in one of his recent songs?
Well, this is the kind of "street cred" no program wants and can be poison for recruiting.
Three of his players, all guys he recruited, were arrested early Thursday morning on attempted armed robbery charges after police said they attempted to rob some people sitting in a car outside a convenience store in Knoxville.
According to police, a powered pellet gun was found in the car the players were in after they were stopped by police near the dormitory on campus where the freshman players live at Tennessee.
Kiffin hasn't made any comment yet and probably won't until he gathers more facts about the case.
Janzen Jackson already has a couple of strikes against him, but if you read the police report, it sounds like he might not have been with the other two players when they actually went up to the car and tried to rob the victims.
Here's the other thing: Jackson is the best player among the three and one of the top freshmen in the SEC this season. So it will be interesting to see how that dynamic plays out. His failed drug test, one of the things that led to his suspension from the Memphis game last week, won't help him.
Either way, Tennessee needs to act swiftly and decisively.
There's also a little cruel irony here for the Vols.
Remember Kiffin jokingly saying two weeks ago that maybe the Vols had earned a little "street cred" after rapper Lil Wayne dropped a reference to Kiffin talking (bleep) in one of his recent songs?
Well, this is the kind of "street cred" no program wants and can be poison for recruiting.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Chris Low
Low joined ESPN.com in 2007 after 10 years with The (Nashville) Tennessean covering the University of Tennessee and SEC. The Rock Hill, S.C., native lives with his wife in Knoxville and has three sons.
