Tennessee Football Receives 18 Level I Violations for Paying up to $60,000 to Players

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Tennessee football is home of the cheatingest cheaters who ever cheated. Friday afternoon the Knoxville university received its notice of allegations from the NCAA. All 18 infractions are Level I violations, the most severe crimes that can be charged to a member institution.

The Knoxville News Sentinel obtained the 51-page report that details the invasive corruption that further proves Rocky Top is the worst place in the Southeastern Conference.

Jeremy Pruitt cheated so much, he needed help cheating from his wife. The NOA states Casey Pruitt spent more than $15,000 paying for rent and a car for a player and his mother over a 2.5-year period. There’s no confirmation if those payments were made in McDonald’s or Burger King bags. The beautiful irony with Casey Pruitt’s involvement? The two met at Florida State when he was an assistant coach and she was a compliance officer for Free Shoes University.

In total the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations reports 32 recruits or players were paid by Pruitt and his dismissed coaching staff. In addition to Pruitt and his wife, six of his former staffers were named: former Mark Stoops’ assistant Derrick Ansley, Shelton Felton and Brian Niedermeyer; and recruiting staff members Drew Hughes, Bethany Gunn and Chantryce Boone.

Keep in mind: this all happened before the NCAA lifted the NIL barricade. The new regime has eagerly embraced it, quickly becoming one of the most notorious spenders in the pay-for-play NIL market. Some things never change.

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The NCAA also noted in the Notice of Allegations that Tennessee cooperated fully. They went with the UofL Chuck Smrt strategy in order to fire Pruitt as quickly as possible without paying an enormous buyout. The two sides are still fighting over the $12 million owed to Pruitt while UofL is still swimming in NCAA punishment purgatory.

Tennessee has 90 days to respond to the Notice of Allegations, followed by a 60-day period for the NCAA enforcement staff to respond, potentially wrapping this thing up right after a disappointing second season for Josh Heupel.

Do yourself a favor. Grab an ice cold beverage, pop some popcorn and read through every single rule violation. What goes around, comes around, and Tennessee is do for a lashing from the NCAA.