UPDATE
During his weekly Monday press conference, Jeremy Pruitt was asked about Quart'e Sapp's statement and he said he had talked with him about the situation and they would keep things between them.
"It's like I said after the game, Quart'e's been a great ambassador, he came and saw me yesterday and it's like I told y'all after the game, once me and him sat down and talked, it would be between us and keep it in house," Pruitt said.
"I will say this and I said it the other night and said it to our players, since I've been here he has been a really good ambassador to our football program. to our team and has been a good leader on our team. Everybody makes mistakes, so we're going to move on and we'll go from there."
"I've coached at a lot of places and I've seen things like this happen before, I've seen guys not show up to practice on Tuesday, not show up to practice on Wednesday and when you're dealing with 18-to-22-year-olds and there's lot of things going on, things happen but, again, Quart'e has been nothing but a great ambassador for our program and really good student and been a good leader for our team."
ORIGINAL STORY
"To me, there's no secrets. It is what it is."
After the 47-21 loss to Florida on Saturday, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt was asked about the status of redshirt junior linebacker Quart'e Sapp. Sapp was seen leaving the field during the game.
"I asked him to leave. He didn't leave on his own, I asked him to leave," said Pruitt.
The head coach said Sapp wouldn't enter the game when asked.
"I don't know how things were done before, but when you tell somebody to go in and they refuse to go in... we're not going to do that around here," Pruitt said.
When asked if Sapp was no longer on the team, Pruitt gave a bit of a non-answer.
"Well, I don't think right now is the time to discuss that."
However, Sapp released a statement on his Twitter page, with his own version of the story.
In an attached photo, Sapp says:
"I would like to thank VolNation for being consistently supportive of the University of Tennessee football program. I have great pride in representing the Power T and being apart (sic) of such a prestigious program. Never would I disrespect my team, my coaches, my family or the fans by not giving my all for Tennessee.
I'm only going to address the situation publicly once, knowing the current narrative has been created through miscommunication.
During the UT vs UF game I never was asked nor did I ever refuse to go into the game. There was a sideline confrontation (I'm sure will be resolved internally) that occurred and the other party involved had to be restrained.
VolNation, I will continue to be fully committed and giving "My All On For Tennessee on and off the field!"
Sapp recorded three tackles against West Virginia, but has not registered a stat in game since. Sapp started eight games in 2017, appearing in all 12.
Pruitt did praise Sapp's role on the team since the coach arrived on campus.
"Since I've been here, Quart'e has been a really good kind of ambassador to our program, done everything we've asked him to do."
We'll keep you posted as we find out more regarding Sapp's status with the team.