clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Did a Tennessee Volunteer special teams player quit against the Florida Gators?

By Joel Hollingsworth

If you haven't heard yet, Gatorcountry.com reported on Wednesday that an unnamed Tennessee player not only gave up on a play late in the game against Florida, but also told Florida special teams player Derek Baldry that he was giving up. From the FanHouse:

On the point-after attempt, after the 48th point, one of the guys rushing, I guess, decided he didn't want to go too hard. Instead of shooting through the gap, which is where he would have come through me, he kind of ran into me and kind of pulled up and said "whoa, whoa, whoa" as if I were going to deliver a hit to him. Verbatim he said, "I don't want to rush this s--- anymore, I'm too f----g tired." That's what he said.

As he was saying "whoa, whoa, whoa," I thought the play had been whistle dead or a flag had been thrown or something. I didn't understand what was going on. I kind of looked around real quick and I saw the ref[] with his arms up in the air, showing it was a good kick, and that's when I tapped him on the head and ran off.

For the record, Erik Ainge doesn't believe it. He did say that if the report was true, that he "wouldn't want him playing for me on my team, period." Sophomore defensive tackle Dan Williams also said that if the story is correct, that he hopes Tennessee coaches find the guy who did it.

And so . . . I took another look at the video:

That's all the video there is, and that's in slow motion.

And man, I wish I wouldn't have looked because it looks like there were several guys who weren't really selling out for this play. Isn't that to be expected, though? Down 28, no chance of a fake PAT, almost no chance of blocking it, and little, if any, reward for blocking it. Still, you ought to give effort, right?

But the bigger issue here is not so much whether a Tennessee player had waved the white flag on this play but whether he verbalized his surrender to Baldry. Baldry, by the way, is No. 89, but I can't tell which player he is, can you?

What do y'all think?

More From Rocky Top Talk