Butch Jones announced on Monday at the start of his weekly press conference that true freshman running back Treyvon Paulk has been dismissed from the team for what Jones described as a “personal conduct” issue. Jones declined to answer any further questions regarding Paulk, but did say that player accountability is something that he and his staff take very seriously.
UPDATE: According to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, Paulk was accused of domestic assault yesterday.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of a domestic situation involving a U.T. football player. According to the incident report, a KCSO Family Crisis detective met with the victim, 18 year old Chelsea Reese Sunday afternoon. She stated that she was attending a party at Quarry Trail Apartments at 4135 Highland Crest Way Saturday and was talking with her ex-boyfriend, Treyvon Paulk. She said the two began arguing and Paulk became very agitated and struck her in the mouth with his fist. The report says that Reese had cuts to her lips, but refused medical treatment. The KCSO Forensic Unit took photographs of Reese’s injuries.
Today, Reese has refused to prosecute or take out an order of protection.
Paulk was coming off of an ACL tear from a year ago and was going through a redshirt season with Tennessee in 2014, often serving as the primary running back on the scout team for the Vols. Paulk was a three-star recruit coming out of Milton High School in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Given the amount of running back talent that Tennessee signed last year and the players that are currently committed in the 2015 class, the loss of Paulk doesn’t look like it will have a big effect on Tennessee’s depth chart moving forward. Paulk was likely to begin next season behind Jalen Hurd, Derrell Scott, Alvin Kamara, Justus Pickett and Rocky Reid.
