As Butch Jones was in the process of informing his staff and others of his departure from the program, it seems he found some time to reach out to players he had gotten to commit to Tennessee in the upcoming recruiting cycle. And rather than reaffirm the players’ decisions to commit to the program, Jones went the other way and allegedly started advising them to re-open their recruitment.
In a report by The Orlando Sentinel, Tennessee Class of 2018 commit Tanner Ingle claims he spoke to the former Vols head coach earlier on Sunday and was told he should start pursuing other options. The three-star athlete (according to Rivals) from Orlando said Jones seemed surprised by the move happening as quickly as it did and said Jones will reach out to him should he find another coaching gig soon enough.
“I spoke with Coach Jones about 30 minutes ago,” the Orlando Dr. Phillips defensive back said about 12:30 Sunday afternoon. “He said he didn’t really expect that to happen, but it did so he told me to find a place to go, quickly … and that if he gets anything he will contact me.”
Ingle reportedly is not changing his commitment status with Tennessee, although his recruitment remains open with an official visit to NC State remains on the agenda. Virgina Tech is also reportedly in the mix for his recruitment.
Under Jones, Tennessee had been lauded for bringing in some solid recruiting classes. The problem was being able to take those classes and developing the talent to build a consistent winning program. As witnessed at Tennessee, you can bring in all the talent you can but you still have to find a way to take that potential to the next level.
As Miami was pouring it on against Notre Dame Saturday night to loudly proclaim the return of the Hurricanes to the national championship hunt, they ended up taking a hit on the depth chart. Linebacker Charles Perry suffered a season-ending “left lower extremity injury,” the school announced on Sunday.
The junior from West Palm Beach had recorded 15 tackles and an interception in nine games this season for the undefeated Hurricanes. He had been listed second on the depth chart at strongside linebacker behind starter Zach McCloud, and he had split backup duty with freshman De’Andre Wilder.
Fortunately for Miami, after an impressive defensive performance against the Irish, the loss of Perry will be a mild loss in the bigger picture and probably will not come back to cause too many issues on the roster in the coming weeks. While losing any player this time of year is certainly far from ideal, Miami should be OK so long as it keeps the starters in good shape during this push for an ACC championship and perhaps a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Miami has already clinched a spot in the ACC Championship Game for the first time in school history, and the Hurricanes rose to No. 2 in the coaches and AP polls.
Ohio State is going to go to the alternate uniform game plan once again this season when they head north of the state border to wrap up the regular season against Michigan. As suggested earlier this year when the Buckeyes suite dup in an all-gray look against Penn State, the Buckeyes were expected to wear a new look against the Wolverines.
On Sunday, Ohio State revealed a brief tease of what to expect, giving a chilly arctic sense to the look. Expect an all-white look to play into the arctic and ice trend, with some gray and scarlet highlights. The helmet looks to be similar to the one worn against Penn State with black and red Buckeye stickers slapped on the helmets.
Ohio State has gone with an alternate look against Michigan regularly in recent years, so it is no shock to see they will be doing so again for this year’s rivalry matchup.
Georgia and Notre Dame each managed to stay in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 this week after getting blown out on the road, which has allowed both Miami and Oklahoma to move into the top four this week. Miami even picked up some first-place votes from the AP voters following their dominating performance against the Fighting Irish.
No. 1 Alabama remains on top of the poll with a sizable share of the first-place votes from the voters. Miami’s ranking at No. 2 is the highest Miami has been ranked in the AP poll since the 2003 season when they reached the same spot in the poll.
No. 3 Oklahoma moved past No. 4 Clemson and took advantage of No. 7 Georgia and No. 9 Notre Dame falling in the polls. The AP voters kept No. 5 Wisconsin ahead of No. 6 Auburn, and the Tigers did move ahead of the Georgia team they just demolished. No. 8 Ohio State and No. 10 Oklahoma State each jumped into the top 10 this week. No. 11 TCU fell three spots to fall out of the top 10, while No. 12 USC and No. 13 Penn State each moved up three spots to just on the outside of the top 10. The Trojans and Nittany Lions each moved ahead of No. 14 UCF, who remained in the same spot in the poll this week. No. 16 Washington also tumbled out of the top 10, falling five spots, yet they remain in front of the team that beat them Friday night, No. 20 Stanford.
No. 17 Mississippi State actually moved up one spot in the poll this week despite losing at home to Alabama. Meanwhile, No. 24 West Virgina won on the road and dropped one spot in the poll.
Here is this week’s AP Top 25:
- Alabama (57 first-place votes)
- Miami (4)
- Oklahoma
- Clemson
- Wisconsin
- Auburn
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Notre Dame
- Oklahoma State
- TCU
- USC
- Penn State
- UCF
- Washington State
- Washington
- Mississippi State
- Memphis
- Michigan
- Stanford
- LSU
- Michigan State
- USF
- West Virginia
- NC State
After initial reports on Sunday broke the news of the latest coaching change in college football, Tennessee Athletics Director John Currie has now confirmed it through a statement. Butch Jones is out as the head coach of the Vols, and Brady Hoke is officially the interim coach for the remainder of the season.
“I would like to emphasize how much I appreciate Butch and Barb Jones and their sons, Alex, Adam and Andrew,” the statement form Currie reads. “The Jones family has poured their heart and soul into this Tennessee football program and the Knoxville community. We have been fortunate to have Coach Jones lead our program for the last five years. During that time, the program has improved tremendously in the areas of academics, discipline and community involvement.”
“Unfortunately, we are not where we need to be competitively. For that reason, I have asked Coach Jones to step down as head football coach. I know Coach Jones will be successful moving forward, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
Some reports suggested Jones was given the option of coaching out the remainder of the season, only to have Jones turn down the offer. If that offer was extended, it was probably the best call Jones could make given the circumstances.
Tennessee was 34-27 in five seasons under Jones and 3-0 in bowl games, but the program was clearly in need of new direction as Jones’ tactics were not having the kind of impact and success Tennessee had hoped to see by now.
Hoke last acted as a head coach during 2014 in his final season with the Michigan Wolverines. Hoke has a career coaching record of 78-70 between three jobs with Ball State, San Diego State and Michigan.
UPDATE (5:57 p.m. ET): Jones will be receiving quite the lofty buyout, according to a release from Tennessee. Because Jones was let go without cause, he will be entitled to be paid a buyout of $8,257,580.00, unless there are any deals between the two sides to agree to a reduced buyout.
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