Tennessee free safety Janzen Jackson (15) has been kicked off the Vols football team.KNOXVILLE – Derek Dooley had to hand out some tough love on Wednesday, and it wasn’t to any of his players for making mistakes in the University of Tennessee football team’s mock game under the lights of Neyland Stadium.
The Volunteers’ football coach had to make the toughest decision of his 18-month tenure when he dismissed star safety Janzen Jackson from the team Wednesday morning just 10 days before UT’s season opener.
“It’s hard,” Dooley said. “When you’re the coach, when you’re a parent, the toughest form of love is tough love. That’s the hardest kind of love to dish out to a young person. As parents, we hate seeing our kids in pain, we hate seeing our kids cry and hurt, but sometimes that’s an important part of their growth, the pain.
“Pain is a part of life, disappointment is a part of life and sometimes the only way to really figure out how to get your life going in the right direction is by having some very difficult things happening to you. Was it difficult? Yes. But my responsibility is to this organization, and my responsibility is to these young people. I think the decision we made was in the best interest of both.”
Jackson’s teammates relayed a feeling of shock to the news.