Three Tennessee Volunteers Players Arrested

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Safety Janzen Jackson and receiver Nu'Keese Richardson, two of Lane Kiffin's most prized signees from his first recruiting class, were among three Tennessee football players arrested early Thursday morning in Knoxville on charges of attempted armed robbery.

The third player arrested was also a freshman, defensive back Mike Edwards.

According to a Knoxville City Police report, the arrests stemmed from an attempted robbery outside a convenience store near campus. A powered pellet gun was recovered in the players' car after they were stopped by police near the Gibbs Hall dormitory on campus, where the Vols' freshman football players live.

At least one of the players arrested was wearing some type of Tennessee gear during the attempted robbery, according to police.

A fourth suspect, a woman alleged to have been driving a car with the three players as passengers, was also arrested.

\"At this time we are currently evaluating the circumstances surrounding an incident involving Mike Edwards, Janzen Jackson and Nu'Keese Richardson,\" Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said in a prepared statement. \"Any decisions or comments regarding their status will not be made until the evaluations are complete.\"

As recently as Wednesday, during the SEC coaches teleconference, Kiffin had praised his team for not having any off-the-field problems during his tenure and had repeated several times this year that the Vols had been free of any such incidents.

Jackson had started in all but two games this season for the Vols and had emerged as one of the better freshman players in the SEC. He was suspended for last week's Memphis game for what Kiffin said was a violation of team rules. According to two sources, that suspension came on the heels of a failed drug test.

There was some speculation a week ago that Richardson might be considering a transfer when he wasn't at a practice, but Kiffin said there were no issues and that everything was fine. Richardson scored a touchdown in the Vols' 56-28 win over Memphis last week.

Richardson, of Pahokee, Fla., was at the center of Kiffin's dust-up with Florida coach Urban Meyer last February. Richardson had been committed to Florida for some time, but switched to Tennessee on signing day. The next day at a Tennessee recruiting breakfast is when Kiffin made his comments alleging Meyer cheated to get Richardson and still not being able to sign him. Kiffin was reprimanded by the SEC for those comments.

According to the police report, the victims of ther robbery were in their car outside a Pilot convenience store, parked next to a Toyota Prius, when a black male approached wearing a hooded sweatshirt, brandishing what appeared to be a handgun, opened the drivers' side door and said \"Give me everything you have.\" A second black male also wearing a hooded sweatshirt then came around to the passenger side of the victims' car, opened it and said \"give us everything you've got.\"

But when the victims opened their wallets and showed they had no money, a third black male approached the other two and said \"we've got to go,\" and all three got into the Prius and drove away, according to the police report.

Police said when they pulled over the Prius, they found a black air-powered powedered pellet gun and a pair of hooded sweatshirts. Police also said they found a marijuana grinder, which the driver, Marie Montmarquet, said belonged to her, and a baggie containing what appeared to be marijuana in Montmarquet's jacket.

According to police, the victims later identified Edwards and Richardson as the men who had approached them.

Chris Low covers SEC football for ESPN.com.

So I'm rerading this and my mind is drawing a picture ....

Three guys and a chick are out smoking dope & cruising late at night. One dude says gimme a little bit of that sugar. She says buy me some crack. He says I aint' got no money. She says I bet the guy in that black mercedes is loaded .....

I think I lived in Atlanta too long.

Appears Lane is picking up where Phil left off.

Easy Buc, you can not talk about the highest power, Lane Kiffin like that. Just kidding, I live in Knoxville so Lane has become some what of a God around these parts.

With all this talk about the new coaching staff at UT, I went in a looked at some different points.

Yes, hard to justify the route that they put on us in Knoxville but aside from that, the team is still 5-4. Yes, they have played some close games, but no offense so did Fulmer. The ball didn't always bounce his way. I think we are seeing what happens when things go that way. Dont think we have had any breaks this year at all, between no being able to find a lucky bounce, or playing against unjustified calls.

Everyone wants to crown UT. You can feel it. People forget the same team lost to UCLA this year. I guess you can say they put up a good performance against Flordia, but lets be honest, they didn't play to win that game at all. Just tried to stay respectable, hence running the ball every play down 10 with 5 minutes left in the game. Could have beat Alabama, but they didn't and I am from the school that believes there is not a could have won column. Just a W or a L

I guess the whole point of me writing this is to somewhat vent about Lane Kiffin. I am sick and tired of hearing how great he is or how great of a job he has done. The only thing he did that was great was hiring Monte. And how hard was that \"Hey DAD, everything you created in Tampa is coming to an end, will you come be apart of my staff?\" Oh yeah, we will pay you a little over a million a year.

Attitude is another thing I have heard about. Well, if getting in front of the media and bashing every coach, or every call, or every whatever, I guess he has done a great job. I would rather have a coach that worries more about showing up and winning. I dont care if I ever hear him say a word to the media.

With all that pointless ranting,

GO DAWGS

LOL, You cant fix stupid!! LOL

Good Post AllDawgs5.