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If you thought what the Tennessee football team did on Oct. 15, 2022 was impressive, ending a 15-year losing streak to bitter rival Alabama in a classic full of fireworks, that was just a warmup for an even bigger victory by the UT football program nine months later.
On July 14, 2023, in the dead of summer, the Vols found new life. They did something neither Alabama nor Auburn has been able to pull off on multiple occasions when the Tide and Tigers were caught with their hands in the old college football cookie jar of ill-conceived schemes and ill-gotten gains.
The Vols beat the NCAA. On Friday, the Committee on Infractions issued a 127-page report detailing "one of the largest cases this committee has ever adjudicated," describing violations both "egregious and expansive," and still failed to hit the program where it really hurts. They should've titled the report, "It's Football Time in Tennessee."
It will be in December if quarterback Joe Milton and the Vols are good enough. Forget the manageable scholarship reductions, reasonable recruiting restrictions and the $9 million financial penalty, which an innovative fundraiser like UT AD Danny White could cover quicker than Hendon Hooker found lonesome end Jalin Hyatt on the last Third Saturday in October.
It's all a small price to pay to avoid the serious sanction the Vols could have - and at a different time would have - received but were fortunate to avoid in this case. There is no postseason ban. ...
Read the rest of Kevin's column on the NCAA crippling Jeremy Pruitt's career and Phillip Fulmer escaping responsibility. Only in the Lede.
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