Vols T logoKNOXVILLE - The University of Tennessee athletic department has self-reported 10 violations to the NCAA since August.
The university's compliance department updated a running list of the violations on Wednesday, which revealed three men's basketball violations and one football violation.
Tennessee self-reported 16 total violations to the NCAA office in 2012.
On Dec. 5, the university reported that an administrative intern on the Volunteers' football staff provided coaching during a game, and the corrective action taken included withholding the intern from attending practice for one week.
The basketball practice that was open to the public prior to the Florida football game in Knoxville constituted an NCAA violation. Two official visitors, eventual Tennessee signee Robert Hubbs and eventual Missouri signee Jonathan Williams III, were allowed to shoot on the court at Thompson-Boling Arena, which is also a violation. The coaches and university staffers involved in conducting the open practice underwent rules education.
In a violation self-reported in October, more than one player received "impermissible personal grocery shopping services," during the two summer terms and were required to pay back the monetary value to charity.
The third basketball violation stemmed from "inconsistent camp registration process" after the NCAA Basketball Focus Group declared it was a violation for the registration for Tennessee's team camp was different from other camps.
Tennessee self-reported three violations in its football program during the summer. Six players participated in countable athletic activities, such as practices and workouts, "beyond the temporary certification period prior to being certified as qualifiers" and were subsequently withheld from some similar activity, while one player received "impermissible typing services" for a one-page paper from an academic counselor, which required another payment to charity. The other violation resulted from a program-maintained Twitter account retweeting a recruit's tweet.
In violations reported in January, a Lady Vols' basketball coach created personalized recruiting notebooks and placed the aids in a recruit's hotel room; a men's swimming coach also retweeted a post about a recruit during an on-campus competition in a violation that was reported last month; and a baseball strength coach conducted a workout within a week of the fall final exam period, and Tennessee also reported that violation last month.
The Volympics
New football coach Butch Jones is spicing up his first spring with Tennessee's football team.
The Vols held a player draft for the "Volympics" on Wednesday to set up a competition that will reward and deduct points for various on- and off-field performances, including academics and community service. The team split into 10 squads, and each squad's two captains drafted their teams, with defensive quality control assistant and former Tennessee defensive back Terry Fair serving as the draft's commissioner. The 10 squads are named for various Tennessee traditions.
The squad captains are safety Brian Randolph and receiver Jason Croom; tackle Antonio "Tiny" Richardson and linebacker A.J. Johnson; quarterback Justin Worley and defensive back Eric Gordon; defensive lineman Marlon Walls and tailback Rajion Neal; tackle Ja'Wuan James and linebacker Channing Fugate; defensive lineman Corey Miller and quarterback Nathan Peterman; linebacker Curt Maggitt and tailback Marlin Lane; guard Zach Fulton and linebacker Raiques Crump; safety Brent Brewer and center James Stone; and safety Byron Moore and defensive tackle Maurice Couch.
Redshirt freshman receiver Drae Bowles was the first overall pick of the draft.
Elder to Miami
Ensworth two-sport athlete Cornelius Elder signed with Miami on Wednesday and will play football and basketball for the Hurricanes. Tennessee's basketball staff evaluated the 5-foot-10, 165-pounder, who played tailback, safety and point guard for the Tigers, and recently attended one of Elder's basketball games. The Vols never offered Elder, a two-time Mr. Football winner and MVP of Ensworth's title-winning hoops teams the past two seasons, in basketball.