Vanderbilt Football: 3 players suspended after shooting incident

In a harsh move, Vanderbilt football coach Derek Mason has suspended the three players involved in a shooting incident earlier this week.

We reported yesterday that three Vanderbilt football players were involved in an absurd plan to recover one of the player’s stolen iPhones. Two of the players sustained minor wounds in the process. To add insult to injury, the players have now been suspended indefinitely from football, according to head coach Derek Mason.

To recap, sophomore wide receiver Donaven Tennyson tried to sell his iPhone through online channels. When he went to meet the buyer, the suspect stole the phone instead. The suspect then listed the same phone for sale later that evening.

Tennyson and his teammates then hatched a plan to recover the phone, which involved a pellet gun and ended with the thief and his buddy firing at the players with actual firearms. Two of the players were hit in the melee and were hospitalized for their wounds. Nobody was badly hurt, but the suspects are still at large.

According to the Tennessean, Vanderbilt head coach Mason has now suspended the three players. I can’t say I agree with his actions — as far as offseason shenanigans go, this one was pretty minor. The Nashville police didn’t charge the students with anything.

The players also got punished enough; besides having the pants scared off of them, they also got injured. They were guilty of nothing but stupidity. Make them run some laps, or keep them out of a few games, but taking them off the roster altogether seems punitive in the extreme.

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We’ll see how this plays out as the season gets closer, and we will, of course, follow up should the suspects ever get caught.