Tennessee coach says he asked Quart'e Sapp to leave during the Florida game
The Tennessee Volunteers suffered quite a beating at the hands of Florida on Saturday, but junior linebacker Quart’e Sapp wasn’t there to see all of it. And now, his future with the program is in question.
During his comments after the 47-21 loss, Tennessee’s coach Jeremy Pruitt told the media that he asked Sapp to leave the sideline when he refused enter the game when Pruitt asked him to. During the game, rumors swirled that Sapp had abruptly quit the team.
Here’s what Pruitt said about the incident with Sapp, via the Knoxville News-Sentinel:
“He wouldn’t go into the game when he was asked to go in. I don’t know how things were done before, but when you tell somebody to go in and they refuse to go in, we’re not going to do that around here. I asked him to leave. He didn’t leave on his own. I asked him to leave.”
Pruitt on the reports of LB Quarte Sapp leaving the team at halftime of tonight’s game: “I told him to leave..” pic.twitter.com/dwPTN0zGtA
— 104-5 The Zone (@1045TheZone) September 23, 2018
Sapp had a different version of events:
— Quart'e Sapp (@Dedicated_2Work) September 23, 2018
Pruitt, who is in his first year of coaching the Vols after two years as defensive coordinator at Alabama, said that Sapp has been a really good “ambassador” for the program, and indicated that he hadn’t had any disciplinary issues with him before.
Sapp, a former four-star recruit, has played in just one game this season and made three tackles. He made 78 tackles last season when he was a sophomore.
Pruitt said it wasn’t the right time to discuss Sapp’s status with the program going forward, but he did say something pretty telling.
“I don’t think right now is the time to discuss that, but to me, there’s no secrets. It is what it is.”
We haven’t heard the last of this for sure, so stay tuned.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter at @lizroscher.
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