This past January, Georgia Bulldogs AD, Greg McGarity, hired Brian Gantt to "come in and help educate" players on arrests and how to handle situations involving law enforcement, but on Friday night, this low key hire by McGarity, became a local celebrity as he became an instrumental part in bringing accused cop killer, Jamie Hood, to justice.
The authorities were more than happy to accept Gantt's help, and just past 11:00 on Friday night, Jamie Hood ended the four-day manhunt by turning himself in to law enforcement.
See Gantt speak of the ordeal below:
If Gantt proves to be as persuasive with the Georgia players as he was here, then we should hope to see a lot less arrests in 2011—fingers crossed.
"Basically, it was a normal Thursday night — Thursday’s our big night," Morton said. "We had all the UT football players come in. They’re on a first-name basis with my husband (and co-owner), and they get VIP status, which means they pay no cover at the door. We’ve never had a problem with them in the past, but tonight, apparently they had a falling out with another gentleman. I don’t know why. I don’t know what happened, but several of the guys started beating up the other customer. I want to guess there was seven to 10 guys beating up this one gentleman.
"All the security then rushed in and were trying to break it up. My husband saw them picking up bar stools and starting to swing them. We got them out the door with security. There happened to be a friend of ours who was an off-duty police officer outside. He tried to help, and he ended up getting knocked out in the street and proceeded to be kicked while he was down on the ground in the middle of Cumberland.
Well, we appreciate your honesty, Sandy. The first question I have to know the answer to is this, why on earth are you giving VIP status to Tennessee players at your bar?
Furthermore, I'm not up on every single NCAA bylaw, but, I'm pretty sure that it's an NCAA violation to give gifts to a Division-I football player. Did you miss the part where she said the players are on a "first name basis" and "pay no cover at the door?"
Hellllooooooooo, that's a big no-no.
I will reserve full judgment on Mr. Rogers for now as it is possible that he was simply a bystander to all the action. However, it goes without saying that it was probably not the best idea to be within a handcuff of this fight.
From reading what Ms. Morton had to say about the overall attitude of the players they serve, this seemed like an inevitability,
"We have a strict dress code, and they’ll try to cross the line as much as they can," she said. "They’ll try to come in without ID, but we’re very strict on ID. We’re very strict on underage drinking. We’ve had small occasions where we’ve had to throw a couple of them out for underage drinking. An overage friend will buy them a drink.
"That’s the typical problems we’ve had, but we’ve never had a fight. This is our first, and it will be our last."
Hmmm, on second thought, maybe Ms. Morton shouldn't say too much about how her establishment caters to football players, "...they'll try to cross the line as much as they can?"...nooooooo, really? You don't think by granting them "VIP-status" that you in effect give them a sense of entitlement?
The assault that took place at Bar Knoxville was unfortunate. Jokes aside, Derek Dooley doesn't need this controversy hovering over his program to start the season. It's a headache and a public relations nightmare. I sincerely hope that the number of players speculated to have been involved is a lot less than has been reported thus far.
No additional names have been released as of yet but, it's safe to assume, they will be revealed as soon as the charges are filed.
In the meantime, Rogers has been charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest by the University of Tennessee Police Department.
Judge Charles Auslander determined that Love "did obstruct Officer [Kevin] Thompson, a law enforcement officer, in the lawful discharge of his official duties by refusing several requests to provide his date of birth and a correct spelling of his middle name".
Love's attorney, William Stiles, states that he feels he has a strong defense and he and the Love family are prepared to take the matter to court—a hearing has been set for September 14th.
No word yet on how this most recent development will effect Love's standing with the football team.
