BREAKING: Jalen Hurd To Leave Tennessee Program

Butch Jones capped off a SUPER FUN 48 hours of Tennessee football Monday by confirming rumors which surfaced late last night that running back Jalen Hurd would be leaving the program.

I met with Jalen Hurd this morning, and we had a conversation, and we have a great relationship. Jalen has informed me that he intends to transfer and I support him on that. [...]

I’m very, very thankful for everything he’s done for our football program, but it’s all about our football program and our football team and moving forward from this point forward.

Contrary to this message board post purportedly from Hurd’s uncle (we have no way to confirm that, obviously), Jones denied that Hurd had been promised anything scheme-wise, and (a little testily!) refused to discuss in depth the reasons for the departure, saying “I wish him well and hope that he finds everything he’s looking for.”

Jones also shut down the rumors surrounding DE Jonathan Kongbo following this tweet, saying it was related to a game of FIFA and that Kongbo is still a part of the program, while also saying he thought team chemistry might improve following this weekend’s drama. Jones later said there’d be a change in practice structure to emphasize more “good on good,” first-team versus first-team drills, and closed by saying “We’re all moving forward. This football team’s fine, this football program’s fine- I love our fanbase. Everything is fine, we’re going to be just fine.”