Tennessee Loses Starting Safety Demetrice Morley

Tennessee sophomore safety Demetrice Morley has been denied admission to the university for the spring semester and will not return to UT. Unlike Vol wide receiver Bret Smith, Morely was allowed to play in the bowl game because he had completed enough hours. At issue was Morley's GPA which, according to the Tennessean, remained below a 2.0 despite Morley already being on academic probation entering last Fall.

This case is also more frustrating for Vol fans than Smith's because Smith was a departing senior, while Morley was a rising junior who would have presumably solidified UT's secondary for two more years. Equally frustrating is the fact that, as a sophomore, Morley was probably taking classes that require little more than showing up and having a pulse, with showing up being optional. And I write that as UT alumni who was on academic probation as a sophomore myself, yet found a way to improve my own GPA without the copious amount of support staff and tutoring that football players get. Not that I'm bitter.

Morley's grades plauged him even before his arrival in Knoxville. From the Knoxville News-Sentinel:

He was one of 14 Division I athletes named in a New York Times story last fall who received credit from University High School, a correspondence school in Miami that was later the subject of an NCAA investigation.

Morley left Killian with a 2.09 GPA in his core courses, but later scored all A's and B's in seven courses taken at University to obtain the precise 2.75 GPA he need to qualify for a scholarship.

Tennessee sent Brad Bertani, UT's associate athletics director for compliance, to investigate University High's certification process before admitting Morley to UT.

Morley's failure leaves Tennessee thin at safety and in need of immediate help. Antonio Wardlow would be the next current player on the depth chart, but the Vol coaches will also look at junior college transfer DeAngelo Willingham when he arrives on campus.