Not a reply so much, but -
Seriously, though, this won't help the program's image much, even if he is as innocuous as he claims in the matter.  It's not so much that this kind of incident is unusual for a football program, but that it's much better reported now than ever before.  I grew up in the Rockies, and we'd get occasional stories about the Colorado program during their early '90s heydays that would make you pause.  Over time, we eventually found out that the stories we heard were just the tip of the iceberg.

Generically:
I love football, but it really is a convergence of a lot of elements that don't mix: very aggressive personalities, high prestige, the hope of making millions of dollars someday, publicity, national media, and very old boys / very young men with some maturing left to do.  It's a recipe for problems, and problems happen.  I honestly think most schools do a pretty good job at keeping these kinds of incidents to a minimum, but they'll never eradicate them.  It also helps to remember that there are a lot of these players who will have tremendous lives, in part because of the discipline and willingness to face a challenge that they learned in their football tenure.  UT seems to have had an uptick in problems this year, but we'll have to see if it continues in future years or if this is more of a bump.  (Full confession: I first became a UT fan back in the '90s because the program was a lot cleaner and had a much better public image than the Florida schools and Nebraska - the then-current perennial championship contenders.  That, and seeing 100,000 people singing at a football game - and singing rather well - was impressive.  I grew up in Wyoming, and Neyland holds 20% of Wyoming's population.)