Vols football discipline

Commentary by Joe Biddle, The Tennessean 

South Carolina freshman wide receiver Alshon Jeffery when he was being recruited by Tennessee, Vols Coach Lane Kiffin told him if he stayed home to play for South Carolina, he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life.

Kiffin denied saying it. And whether Kiffin said it or not, the quote was widely distributed and attributed to the first-year Vols coach.

After three UT freshmen were charged with attempted armed robbery outside a convenience mart last week, it didn't take long for the worm to turn on Kiffin.

One e-mail making the rounds declares: "You can go to South Carolina and work at a gas station, or go to Tennessee and rob that gas station.''

Not so funny now, huh?

Kiffin and the school did the right thing by">by booting freshmen Nu'Keese Richardson and Mike Edwards off the team.

"They obviously made a very poor decision, but we cannot allow that to be part of our team. ... So I had to make the best decision for the team,'' Kiffin said Tuesday.

It will have to be determined to what extent star freshman Janzen Jackson was involved before his fate is known.

If that incident wasn't bad enough, now it has been reported that freshman defensive back Nyshier Oliver allegedly failed to pay for a $110 Polo shirt at Dillard's.

What Oliver did fits right in with the botched armed robbery when it comes to dumb criminals.

Oliver committed the alleged shoplifting crime only a few hours before the Vols played Memphis. I can only guess he wanted to look stylish for the Vol Walk.

I don't understand how anyone would think he could pick up a shirt, conceal it in a shopping bag and go unnoticed.

But then I really don't understand why the three alleged would-be robbers would take one look at the people they tried to rob and think they were carrying a sack full of money. When Richardson and Edwards allegedly told passengers in a parked car to give them all they had, it amounted to empty wallets and a cheeseburger one of the victims offered.

So the Cheeseburger Bandits risked a college scholarship, any future pro football career they might have, for a cheeseburger?

Kiffin says his main priority is to "protect the program.'' To a degree, it is. Jackson's role is still being investigated, and he is by far the highest profile player in the group. Coincidental? If Jackson got in a car with the other two players and a female driver with any knowledge they intended to rob someone, he is just as guilty.

Kiffin needs to send the strongest message possible to the rest of the team. So far, he has done that. Anything less and he will wind up with the mess Phillip Fulmer failed to fix.