Rumors were circulating that redshirt junior linebacker Quart’e Sapp had left Tennessee’s team in the middle of the Florida game on Saturday. And Jeremy Pruitt confirmed those rumors directly after the game.
According to Pruitt, Sapp refused to go in when they asked him to at some point in the game, and Pruitt asked him to leave after the incident.
“He left the field in the middle of the game because he wouldn’t go into the game when he was asked to go in,” Pruitt said. “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.”
When asked if Sapp was no longer on the team, Pruitt declined to comment, saying that the post-game press conference “probably wasn’t the time” to discuss the situation in detail.
Sapp became a starter on defense for the Vols last year on defense, starting eight games while playing in all 12 for Tennessee. He totaled 78 tackles, four tackles for loss, and two passes defended last year. This season, he had totaled only three tackles and didn’t play against UTEP last weekend due to injury. He didn’t total any stats in the Vols’ 47-21 loss to Florida.
We will update as soon as any more news emerges surrounding the situation.
