Mike Edwards and Nu'Keese Richardson have been dismissed from the Volunteers football team.

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 2:42 PM EST in Tennessee Volunteer Football Comment 39 comments

Lane Kiffin has made his first pronouncement on the Thursday incident: Mike Edwards and Nu'Keese Richardson are no longer Tennessee Volunteers:

After extensive and thorough research of the situation over the last four days and considering various disciplinary options, I’ve decided it’s in the best interest of our program to remove Nu’Keese and Mike. As I’ve said many times before, we hold our student-athletes to an extremely high standard on and off the field. Our student-athletes must be responsible members of society, and this type of conduct will not be tolerated.

(per GVX)

This is no surprise to anybody who's been following the situation. Neither they nor Janzen Jackson have been involved with any team functions at any level since the incident. The case against Edwards and Richardson was fairly decisive, as they were the two to approach the car. Jackson's case is far trickier, and the extra time needed for judgment is going to be very important.

The reasons for the expulsion are further explained by Kiffin:

We want a positive culture for our student-athletes that allows them to succeed in the classroom, on the field, and in life after college. My hope is that these two young men will learn from their terrible decision. Clearly, their actions have no place in our program.

We now await (with much patience) word on Janzen Jackson. Don't expect anything soon on him; the devil will truly be in the details with him. But so far, Lane Kiffin passes the first test of team discipline: even his own prized recruits are not above the law, no matter what Zickefoose may think.

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What a waste of potential

Hopefully these kids get their heads on straight and learn from their mistakes.

Nuke was given such a good chance to rise up from the difficult situation he was raised in. Such a disappointing result after all the drama associated with his recruitment.

Mike Edwards, the son of a coach. His choices are bewildering. Perhaps he succumbed to peer pressure, perhaps he participated purely of his own accord. The end result is the same. I imagine his father is embarrassed and disappointed.

Janzen, if he somehow manages to make it through this ordeal with his scholarship intact, has a lot of work in front of him to repair his image and show he has improved his decision-making abilities. The talent is off the charts, but the Vols cannot afford “me-first” cancers on the team. In my opinion, the rumors of failed drug tests, rumors of theft in Gibbs Hall and this incident warrant a season-long suspension at the least.

The Vols cannot go back to the Fulmerish ways of tolerating criminal behavior based on physical talent. This coaching staff and the other players who are buying into the system and working their butts off deserve better.

Go Big Orange.

Ball, oskie, cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.

by pound the rock on Nov 16, 2009 2:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I hope this jars them enough

that they get their lives turned around. But as far as the program goes, good riddance. Shame it happened, but keeping folks like this on the team would’ve been bad news. Kiffin has handled the situation thusfar as well as is possible.

by Incipient_Senescence on Nov 16, 2009 2:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The Nuke has been let loose

sad day and wasted talent

RIP Steve McNair (1973 - 2009) Retire #9!
Member of the Committee to Keep Keith Bulluck.
Eric Berry for Heisman!!

by Pride of the Southland on Nov 16, 2009 2:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Handling it well

I would agree that I have been very pleased with how Kiffin has handled this whole situation so far. Kicking Richardson and Edwards off the team was the right thing to do. The tricky part to all this is going to be Jackson. Even he is somehow proven innocent, he was still in the wrong place at the wrong time. So if he is let back on the team at some point (hopefully not until next year), I’m afraid Kiffin and the program will be heavily criticized for that. But maybe out of all 3 he deserves a second chance? The whole thing is just a big mess!

by Solid Orange on Nov 16, 2009 2:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

This was the easy decision for Kiffin

The Janzen decision is much more difficult.

________________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.

by kidbourbon on Nov 16, 2009 2:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

This was the easy decision for Kiffin

The Janzen decision is much more difficult.

________________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.

by kidbourbon on Nov 16, 2009 2:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Good for Kiffin

He did what needed to be done.

First time I shot her, shot her in the side.
Hard to watch her suffer, but with the second shot she died...

by btcoop71 on Nov 16, 2009 3:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yes.

And I’ll freely admit that those two were blindingly obvious decisions. If he had tried to keep them, he would have lost all credibility in the discipline department.

Jackson’s going to be the precedent that matters, and I don’t envy him this one.

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 6:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

KLC should have disciplined nuke when he skipped practice the Sunday before the Memphis game,

instead, he gave into the players demands and allowed him to play against Memphis. This only enforced nuke’s belief that he could do anything he wanted and get away with it. CLK should have suspended nuke for the Memphis game as that would have sent a message to nuke, and the other two players with him.
I am a Gator and I know our boys have been in a number of scrafes since UM has been here so please beleive me when I say, I am not casting stones. In fact UM kicked two 5 star defensive tackles off the team this past summer due to their skipping summer workouts. One of them, Torrie Davis, made the stop on the goal line stand in the BCS championship due to his great penetration. Both of these young men were great atheletes, but they put themselves above the team and had to go.
Kiff should put this Jackson kid down the road after (minimum) violating team rules twice in the same week. If he doesn’t, I’m sure it will look to everyone else like it is looking to me: nuke and ed are expendable, give ’em the boot! Jackson is a star, we should let things cool down and see if we can somehow put a spin on his situation and keep him on the team. All this could have been avoided if you would have followed the subject matter at the start of this post.

by pLANEolG8RB8 on Nov 16, 2009 7:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

No Gator felony comments from me on this one.

Not that I’m one to go down that road, though. We always appreciate candid discussion on the topic. I like to think that some things are worth setting rivalries aside for once in a while.

As far as Nuke and the missed practice: I have to leave that one alone this time. I’d love to have that discussion (and I’m not disagreeing with you), but I’m in a position where I really can’t talk about it.

As far as Jackson goes: this one is worth taking time on – and not because of his role on the team. For what information is publicly available, it is an entirely plausible scenario that Jackson was innocent in the matter (although rather dumb for being out so late in the first place) – as it is entirely plausible that he was not so innocent and others are trying to cover for him. For what it’s worth (which isn’t much), I think the minimum for him will be a suspension for the rest of this season, including a bowl game. That would give him about 9 months between now and the next football game to prove to the staff that he can learn from this.

But of equal importance to the precedence that the Jackson case will take is the process that Kiffin uses. Because this is his first tough test, he has to show that he’s being judicious in the matter, and taking time to get the information first – no matter how it will end up breaking – is the right answer.

Of course, if it comes out that he was the lookout man in all this, he’ll be gone as well.

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 8:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And if it comes out...

…that he was merely along for the ride when Edwards and Nuke did an impromptu pellet gun cheeseburger robbery, then he should get nothing.

Unless of course he violated a team rule by being out past curfew, or if he did in fact have weed on him.

What I’m saying, though, is that I don’t like the rather ubiquitous notion that JJ should be suspended merely as a result of association. Kiffin shouldn’t split the baby. If he deserves to go, kick him off. If he did nothing, dress him this weekend.

________________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.

by kidbourbon on Nov 16, 2009 10:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I could make a good argument that, even if a curfew hadn’t been imposed on Jackson(which almost certainly seems to be the case, or we would have heard about it), that to put himself into a high-risk position (i.e. out way late – on a school night, even) when he should have been more conscious of rebuilding trust was indicative of a lack of judgment. Because of that, I could see keeping him out for a little while longer and telling him he has to actively rebuild coaches’ confidence.

That would be more of a judgment call by Kiffin and I could see the argument either way.

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 10:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

So what you are saying...

…is that if you were Kiffin and you were on your way home from a late night of film study, and you saw JJ out at a convenience with a couple players and a girl, that you would suspend him for the remainder of the year on that basis alone (this is assuming that there was no attempted robbery).

And if your answer is ‘yes’, then we’re cool. But if your answer is ‘no’, we’re still cool and all….:)……but I would just respectfully point out that you are advocating punishing JJ for the actions of Edwards and Nuke.

________________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.

by kidbourbon on Nov 16, 2009 11:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I know.

I’m not resolved on the whole thing, to be honest. I’m really glad it’s Kiffin making this call and not me. I’m also a huge minimal-involvement guy (hey, I grew up out in black helicopter country; don’t judge) and the idea of restricting a guy’s motions is always irritating to me.

But I also have a hard time believing that Kiffin didn’t lay out some basic ground rules to Jackson (i.e. you better show you’re serious), and having this happen immediately after Jackson pronounces that he’s learned some lessons and all that: it does look bad. So I think it’ll hinge on information we don’t (and won’t) have.

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 11:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I believe kiff keeps JJ in the fold

but the odds are that JJ will screw up again and I believe LK’s image will be hurt in the public eye if he keeps this kid around, whether wrong or right. It will hurt in recruiting, public opinion, etc…….true or false, the public outside of Vol nation will see it like i said before. nuke and ed were expendable, JJ is a star so we will spin it to look like he had no part in any wrong doing. Kiff could really open some eyes across the nation if he were to cut ties with this kid. we’ll see, and GO GATORS, couldn’t help myself there

by pLANEolG8RB8 on Nov 16, 2009 10:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If the kid is not guilty...

…then I would certainly hope Kiffin doesn’t cut ties with him for the sole purpose of “open[ing] some eyes across the nation.”

There is this thing called fairness.

________________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.

by kidbourbon on Nov 16, 2009 11:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

heh.

I’d expect nothing else. Like the ~~fullback~~ quarterback dive, it’s predictable. ;-)

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 11:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

if memory serves me correct i believe that fb/qb is 4-0 vs UT

by pLANEolG8RB8 on Nov 16, 2009 11:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

the fb/qb + 21 other players too.

Let’s not give him all the credit….he gets plenty as it is.

________________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.

by kidbourbon on Nov 16, 2009 11:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sure,

if you include Chris Leak’s year.

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 11:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

TT's legend was started in Neyland stadium

with several third down conversions and that infamous jump pass

by pLANEolG8RB8 on Nov 16, 2009 11:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

here i thought i'd found me some new friends and ya'll have to go all FB on me, dang

by pLANEolG8RB8 on Nov 16, 2009 11:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

FB?

________________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.

by kidbourbon on Nov 16, 2009 11:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

fullback.

It’s because everybody always references Tebow’s bad passing mechanics by calling him a fullback or tight end. And by bad mechanics, I mean that his throw is not NFL-ready because his windup takes too long and is too prone to deflection at the line.

He’s a heck of a player, but if the NFL refuses to take any of Leach’s video game quarterbacks because they play out of the shotgun, it’s hard to see Tebow getting top-10 draft status as a quarterback when he both plays out of a shotgun and has an undeveloped throwing mechanic.

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 11:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, gotcha

If you would have asked me last year, I would have told you that Tebow could make it as a pro QB. But now I don’t think he can. He just really isn’t that effective as a pocket passer. And I think his shortcomings in that regard have gotten more exposed this year.

planeolg8rb8: I’m not saying this to rile you up…seriously. Just my observations from this year.

________________________________
Eric Berry is better at football than you.

by kidbourbon on Nov 16, 2009 11:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

hey man, you started it. ;-)

nobody’s questioning the effectiveness of the dive. Honestly, I don’t blame them for running it a kajillion times a game. Gator fans may think it’s somehow inferior football because it’s boring, but it still has you undefeated and #1. There’s really nothing to complain about there.

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 11:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i agree with both of you guys but there is a lot to say about winning and this ain't the pros

by pLANEolG8RB8 on Nov 16, 2009 11:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

No, this isn't the pros.

And he gets his due here. He’s a great player and a once-in-a-generation guy.

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 11:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

enjoyed spending some time with you fella's i'm fixin' to hit the hay, God bless

by pLANEolG8RB8 on Nov 16, 2009 11:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

'night man.

stay cool. :)

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 11:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

and God bless

by Hooper on Nov 16, 2009 11:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i like to see Gators go on to have good pro careers

but it isn’t that important to me, my heart is in the college game. back as far as Danny Wuerrful i was arguing and telling folks that he didn’t have “pro” arm strength and i was correct but man that guy was a winner in college where arm strength doesn’t mean as much. 3 SEC and 1 National Championship

by pLANEolG8RB8 on Nov 16, 2009 11:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs