UT reporting Kiffin comment on Brown as secondary violation
Originally published 04:36 p.m., February 13, 2009
Updated 04:50 p.m., February 13, 2009
Tennessee is reporting another secondary violation involving UT coach Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin, in a radio interview Friday morning, mentioned recruit Bryce Brown by name and called him “a great player.”
Kiffin's comments came in response to a question about the recent trend of elite players who waiting until after signing day to sign a national letter of intent.
“Once very talented players do things, it becomes the cool thing to do and so the next guy does it and more and more guys do it,” Kiffin said on The Sports Page, the News Sentinel's radio show. “I think what's going to happen is you're going to see... great players like Bryce Brown are doing it now. So now it's going to be more next year and more and more next year.”
It is unclear whether the violation occurred because Kiffin mentioned Brown by name or if it was because he referred to Brown as a “great player.”
NCAA rules prohibit a coach from commenting “generally about the student-athletes' ability” before the prospect has signed a letter of intent.
Tennessee's compliance office reviewed the audio and will submit a self-report to the SEC and NCAA.
The violation does not affect the eligibility of Brown, a running back from East High School in Wichita, Kan., who is the top-rated recruit in the nation according to Rivals.com. Brown, who has yet to sign a letter of intent, is visiting UT this weekend.
Friday's violation is the third self-report UT has filed involving the football program since Lane Kiffin was hired in December.
UT committed two secondary violations during official visit weekends in January, although both have been resolved and UT is not expected to receive additional punishment from either the NCAA or SEC.
More updates online and in tomorrow's News Sentinel.
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