Sep 8, 2018; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Jordan Murphy (11) runs for a touchdown against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 59 to 3. (Randy Sartin/USA Today Sports)
It’s been an interesting week for the Tennessee Volunteers football program. They suffered, arguably, their worst loss in program history this past Saturday against Georgia State and have announced that two players have left the football program on Wednesday.
Coach Jeremy Pruitt announced that defensive back Terrell Bailey and wide receiver Jordan Murphy have left the team.
Jeremy Pruitt reveals DB Terrell Bailey and Jordan Murphy are no longer on the team:
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) September 4, 2019
News hit the line last night that Bailey had entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on Tuesday in an article released by 247Sports.
Tennessee #Vols defensive back Terrell Bailey enters the NCAA Transfer Portal https://t.co/5pCNujHMwC pic.twitter.com/gvSCFRfGFL
— 247Sports (@247Sports) September 3, 2019
Bailey was a part of the 2017 recruiting class and had seen limited time at defensive back. He appeared in nine games, with many of those reps coming on special teams. He made a total of six tackles during his time as a Vol.
The bigger news out of Pruitt’s announcement is that Murphy had left the team.
Murphy saw action in 17 games during his two seasons on Rocky Top. He had a total of 167 receiving yards on 12 receptions and one touchdown. While he saw limited action, he was very quick and elusive.
Murphy recently made his rounds on social media, especially after a controversial tweet concerning the Vols’ upset loss to Georgia State.
Tennessee’s Jordan Murphy tweeted this after the UT loss
It isn’t going over well with Vol fans pic.twitter.com/EJ3Wuzbryl
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) September 2, 2019
The tweet above is the tweet that Murphy sent out this weekend, which ended up being deleted. Vol fans were fired up on Twitter after this tweet was sent out and deservingly so, as it showed that Murphy thought their upset loss against Georgia State was laughing matter.
According to numerous reports, the Vols held a players-only meeting this week. I’m sure that a number of the leaders of this team (Jauan Jennings, Daniel Bituli, Trey Smith, Brandon Kennedy, etc.) got under these players’ skin, making them uncomfortable. While it sucks to see players leave the program, it’s obvious that these players didn’t have the IT factor that someone like Jennings has.
I wonder if the staff will cut off social media for the players after the situation with Murphy this past weekend? It might help some of the guys on this team that seem to spend more time on social media than they do watching film. Other programs have cut off social media for their players during the season, so I won’t be surprised if the coaching staff makes that decision here soon.
