Tennessee Football: Jauan Jennings dismissal proves culture issue

Now former Tennessee football star Jauan Jennings was dismissed from the program on Wednesday evening after going on an epic rant.

First it was Butch Jones and now it’s Jauan Jennings. Tennessee football has lost two key figures which it thought would lead it to a winning season when the year began. Granted, Jones had been on the hot seat and needed players like Jennings to step up and deliver.

Unfortunately, the dismissal of Jennings on Wednesday night is bigger than just one player. His Instagram rant about the coaching staff proves one thing: there’s a culture problem in Knoxville right now, and it’s not an easy fix.

For the past few years, it seemed like Tennessee would take that next step with Jones at the helm, but it just never happened. The Volunteers continued to regress and they have developed a losing culture in Knoxville. The departure of Jones is the first step to fixing that, but the dismissal of Jennings is two steps in the wrong direction.

No, this doesn’t mean that I believe he shouldn’t have been dismissed, because what he said was better left to himself, but for players to be speaking out like this shows that Tennessee has a long way to go.

What was the rant about? Apparently he was practicing as if he’d return for the Vanderbilt game this week, but the staff informed him that he wouldn’t play and, in turn, his junior season would be over. He went off on the staff which apparently promised him a return after sitting out with an injury since the opener against Georgia Tech.

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Jennings went on to say that he wish the school would hire a coaching staff that doesn’t lie and will be honest. Now that he’s gone, where does the program go from here?