More trouble for Tennessee QB Bray

Tyler Bray was recently praised by coach Derek Dooley for his increased maturity. (AP photo)

Tyler Bray was recently praised by coach Derek Dooley for his increased maturity. (AP photo)

Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray is facing more trouble with the law, just two weeks after he admitted damaging cars in the parking lot of his Knoxville apartment complex.

The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports that Bray appeared in Loudon County General Sessions Court on Wednesday where he faced charges stemming from a July 4 boating incident.

The paper reported:

According to Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officer Dewayne Williams, Bray was driving a Jet Ski with a woman passenger when he was observed by Williams “hot dogging” with another Jet Ski. Williams explained the term “hot dogging” as “almost like playing chicken” on Jet Skis.

The other Jet Ski tipped over spilling the unidentified occupants into the water. Bray then sped near the swimmers “spraying them with water,” according to Williams, who added “he was almost on top of them.”

Jet Skis are supposed to operate at least 100 feet apart, Williams said.

“This all happened directly in front of me,” said Williams of the incident. “That’s what I couldn’t believe.”

Bray was charged with reckless operation of a personal watercraft and failure to have a boating education certificate, both misdemeanors.

In Wednesday’s court hearing, Bray reached an agreement on the charges in which he agreed to either make three appearances at schools to promote boater safety or make a public service TV spot. He also lost his boating privileges for a year and must take a boating training course and pay court costs, the News-Sentinel said.

In exchange, Bray will not have to enter a guilty plea, which could have resulted in six months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Bray’s behavior raises concerns for Coach Derek Dooley, who recently praised the junior quarterback’s increased maturity and “lifestyle changes.”

“You have to live as the quarterback at Tennessee,” Dooley said at SEC Media Days. “If your lifestyle is not reflecting that, then it’s going to be hard to go out and perform to your best.”

After Bray admitted to throwing beer bottles at cars from his apartment balcony two weeks ago, Dooley called it “silly behavior” and then made a joke about it.

“Obviously, his accuracy isn’t where it needs to be. He missed the trash can,” Dooley said.

Dooley has not commented publicly on Bray’s boating behavior.

Tennessee opens the season Aug. 31 against North Carolina State in the Georgia Dome.

172 comments Add your comment

Old Guy

August 9th, 2012
9:08 am

puntthemarxist

August 9th, 2012
9:14 am

All you UGA redneck deliverance inbreds need to get a grip on something besides your junk. Bray has been wild on a jet ski and thrown some bottles…and he made restitution. At UGA, you have legit thugs driving drunk with serial numbers scratched off stolen guns at 3 AM. Huge difference…

Concerned

August 9th, 2012
9:15 am

As I read the responses here above I see hate from people who are nothing other than bottom feeders. Maybe it is fun to display the slants and exchanges that are less than thought out and appropriate for the article. In respect for college coaches, players, and their schools. The dynamics of being a college student mean that this is a growing up phase. Not many keep this in prespective. Given this as the foundation, a student athelet is in the public eye in that same developmental stage. Throw in a top tier sport like football in a region and conference where football in August through January is King, and wow do these guys have a loaded plate. Talk about presssure, and getting bound up. So yes they are kids, young men, and future contributing tax payers.

How about we relax and understand that coaches to are under pressure in must win at all costs schools. Have we not created this evil. Call it enterainment if you will, but to these people it is real life. Do you think the media who loves the story really cares one flip about the student athlete who made a mistake? How about we back off and go live our lives with some poise, and encourage others. My thought is the bottom feeders need to feed because they like dirty water and leftovers.

If you cannot bring something to the covered dish, stay home.

Paddy

August 9th, 2012
9:16 am

Teddy Kennedy……..It is refreshing to know that you do not want to be in a car w/ a naked man at a 7-11. The kennedy’s always had higher standards.

Before all this Bray controversy, I thought he had a chance to be all-sec, now, not so much!

GFY

August 9th, 2012
9:19 am

Really don’t care where he plays QB….UGA, UA, AU, GIT. Need to be more responsible for his actions. As has been the case on many GA lakes this summer, people get hurt when “acting the fool” with these heavy and powerful watercraft.

NomNomNomATL

August 9th, 2012
9:22 am

Can wait to see Tenn, NC State, Clemson and Auburn fans mixing it up in downtown Atlanta hotels with DragonConers. WHAT A FREAKING AWESOME SIGHT!

Admiral Obvious

August 9th, 2012
9:24 am

Who wants to place bets by what game this season Derek Dooley is fired? And Bobby Pucktreno is hired?

Old Dawg

August 9th, 2012
9:27 am

For the folks who are saying this isn’t a big deal, check out the number of deaths this summer at Lake Lanier. Water safety IS a big deal!

DP

August 9th, 2012
9:29 am

Bray is from the San Joaquin Valley, where the biggest cities are Fresno and Bakersfield. Anybody who’s ever been there knows he had plenty of training in how to be a drunken redneck before he got to Knoxville.

Spurrier was Right

August 9th, 2012
9:30 am

The topic Du Jour on yesterday was South Carolina’s 4th-string QB transferring…go back & check that thread. I posted the rest of world was discussing Tennessee’s Starting QB run-in with the law while UGA ranted over a player no one has ever heard of before. Tyler Bray is a household name, isn’t it? SMH

gt4ever

August 9th, 2012
9:32 am

This article is a complete JOKE… This kid is just being a kid.. Good Grief!

5150 UOAD`

August 9th, 2012
9:34 am

About as stupid as getting arrested at a pantie raid.

Doo Whut?

August 9th, 2012
9:35 am

If NC State wins that game, it will be the beginning of the end for Derek Dooley. I suspect UT will have a challenging year anyway, but with Mark Richt’s general failure to have his team at their best when they play UT, I wouldn’t be suprised to see another upset loss in Athens. Bray will throw at least 50 passes in that game.

Keith

August 9th, 2012
9:38 am

This moron and DaPunk will be the downfall of Dooley. UT folks wont put up with much more crap…especially if he goes 0-3 vs UF. UGA and Bama and sub par year again

Vampire Bill

August 9th, 2012
9:39 am

Of course he wont be suspended or punished in any way by Dooley.

Dawg Reporter

August 9th, 2012
9:39 am

Who will be gone in 2013? WIll it be Richt, Muschamp or Dooley? I’ll bet my year’s salary that one of them does not return next season. Additionally, I can’t see UT or UF hiring Petrino as someone mentioned earlier. Talk about a textbook public relations nightmare!

azazel

August 9th, 2012
9:40 am

FULMER,FULMER,FULMER: Dooley is just a UGA PLANT

Bama in Atlanta

August 9th, 2012
9:42 am

In next week’s episode of MTV’s Jacka** watch as Tyler Bray plays Pin The Tail on the Donkey….with live donkeys!

OrangeBlood

August 9th, 2012
9:48 am

Beware of the Man that does not Talk and the Dog that does not Bark!!!

Xavier

August 9th, 2012
9:48 am

OH MY GOD!! NO! Not on JET SKIS!! Lock them up for life!!! Such “HOOLIGANS!!”

>yawn<

So, by the rationale of most of these posters, any UGA player caught going over the legal speed limit should face "trouble," then?

dagadawgs

August 9th, 2012
9:48 am

Wow, this is news? Boys will be boys

Stinger

August 9th, 2012
9:48 am

Enter your comments here

SweatDawg

August 9th, 2012
9:50 am

The college Kenny Powers

Stinger

August 9th, 2012
9:51 am

UGA. UT. What would the court system do without football players from the SEC?

Jeff and Lori Fail

August 9th, 2012
9:52 am

Coach Dooley’s right – throwing beer bottles at cars is funny. Even funnier is acting like you’re going to run someone over with a jet ski and after tipping them over. The funniest is that losers rarely make good leaders – lacking things like character and integrity usually trips them up.

Is Tennessee’s coaching staff (a) too stupid or (b) too lazy to recruit a better person to lead their team?

JJ

August 9th, 2012
9:56 am

Let’s just keep giving him passes. He is a QUARTERBACK after all, and should NOT be held accountable for his actions. These guys are WAY above the law and they know it. They have been praised for their skill, they have been courted and “drafted” and have had tons of freebies thrown their way. Their heads are HUGE as they know they carry the team, and bring the money in. That’s what it’s all about anyway is MONEY…..so let’s just give him a little slap on the hand, avoid any court proceedings, and just let thugs be thugs.

Then, when he’s totally out of control, and in jail for some horrendous crime, like DUI/vehicular homicide……..we will wonder “What happened? he was So talented”……

So yea, just give him a pass. Got make the money. No big deal, no one was killed…..this time.

5150 UOAD`

August 9th, 2012
10:02 am

This is almost as serious as the UGa female soccer player stuffing hash browns in her pants.

Bama Bill

August 9th, 2012
10:02 am

Do the Vols have another QB – one with maturity, judgement and leadership off the field ? Dooley clearly is not thinking – What would Saban do ? More to the lines of Daddy Vince and Mark Richt ?

KennyP

August 9th, 2012
10:03 am

100% he would not be playing game 1 if he went to UGA, but Dooley just makes jokes about it. If he went to South Carolina, he would have been suspended and reinstated 3 times by now. SEC needs to have uniform suspension rules!

Tim

August 9th, 2012
10:04 am

For those making light of the incident, Duke WR Blair Holliday almost lost his life this summer due to Jet Ski antics.

5150 UOAD`

August 9th, 2012
10:11 am

Tim and you can almost lose your life everyday just crossing the street. Give me a break. Living Life is dangerous for sure but this is a joke.

SM

August 9th, 2012
10:13 am

The fact that some of you think his behavior on a jet ski is “normal” just tells me how badly this country’s standards of acceptible behavior have fallen. Playing chicken and possibly drowning someone is not why anyone should ride one of those things.

As for DD, he’ll be gone before the season is over. He can’t recruit, he can’t coach, and his team can’t compete. Vol fans got rid of Fulmer for doing better than this.

vincedooley

August 9th, 2012
10:23 am

Lil Derek’s got that resume updated. UGA’s new OC in 2013!!

UGA Athletics??

August 9th, 2012
10:32 am

“This is almost as serious as the UGa female soccer player stuffing hash browns in her pants.”

Players stealing from players, recruits stealing from players, reefer smokin’, reefer brownines eatin’, gun tote’n and now hash brown stealin’ “student athletes.”

Same ole Georgia. SMH

Tdawg

August 9th, 2012
10:32 am

Come on dawg fan’s. I’m a, to the bone dawg fan, but this is BS. Sounds as if some jerk game warden didn’t have nothing better to do than harass some kid’s having a little fun. Game warden’s are nothing more than cop’s with a ego problem. Now if you want to get mad. Get mad at Dooley and the University of Tennessee for not throwing the book at Bray for destroying private property. Why would anyone be surprised? Crap, if DaJerk can kick a cop unconsciousness, why would they punish Bray for destroying some poor girl’s car’s?

Go Blue

August 9th, 2012
10:34 am

Have to agree that there is not much to this. Would be about like throwing some dirt on people by spinning the wheel on a dirt bike. As to the deaths on lake lanier this year….when you put that many boats into a little pond, it looks like a bumper cars ride at a carnival and they are going to collide. That place is way too small to have that many boats on it.

Tdawg

August 9th, 2012
10:43 am

SM when I was a youngin I use to crawl out the door window and crawl into the back of the truck while who ever it was at the time was speeding down the road at seventy miles per hour. We use to also climb onto the hood of the car while speeding down the road. Even played chicken with the cars a time or two. Only difference between then and now is the cop’s would often try and not arrest you if they didn’t have to. In other words sometimes they would just give you a break. Cops today are nothing more than money collectors for the goverment. The more tickets they write the the more money for the goverment. Some cops will cut you a break on the speeding thing, but that’s about it. Most want. I can tell you one thing for a fact. You better stay the heck out of Tifton, GA if you have a lead foot. Big speed trap town if there ever was one.

Double Standard

August 9th, 2012
10:48 am

He’s a thug, he’s taking advantage of a free education, he should not be allowed to play football…..sounds familiar? This is what’s actual being said “he’s just a kid, nothing to report here”. If I remember correctly didn’t Usher just bury a step-son that DIED from a jet-ski incident. No harm no foul here, nothing to look at just give him 1 more chance. I’m Just Saying!!!!!

Pitbull

August 9th, 2012
10:51 am

Looks like Stephan Garcia changed his name and moved to Knoxville.

Bray is obviously Spurrier material.

Tennessee of South Carolina, the coaches won’t do anything to a football player that breaks the law. What happened to the Tennessee players in the bar fight? What happened to the South Carolina players that got discounted rooms at a nice hotel? Nothing, that is what.

Tennessee and South Carolina: its almost as good as going to college.

VolsFan in GA UGGG

August 9th, 2012
10:52 am

Wow this is news????….. So anytime our crazy out going QB decides to act stupid it is posted on the AJC, then Tennessee is ripped for not suspending him…. As a Tennessee Alum I am not happy with his actions, yet he is 20 years old and on a lake with friends riding jet skis and gets a ticket…. He was drunk and throwing beer bottles……At least he did not beat his girlfriend, have a concealed gun, or sale weed in his dorm room…. He may not be the smartest or most courteous fellow, yet he throws a dang good football……..Let’s get on with football season

SM

August 9th, 2012
11:05 am

Once again, I am referring to the general lack of intelligence in the overall population that ANYTHING like this is tolerated, at any level. Two of my childhood friends were allowed to do anything they wanted under the guise of “Well, boys will be boys.” Between the two of them they’ve gotten 4 DUI arrests, two arrests for possession with intent to distrubute, and spent over 8 years in prison… before they were 35!

If you want a better society, you have to stop allowing behavior like Bray’s to go unpunished. A week in jail in GP will do him a world of good, and if it doesn’t, then kick him out of school and let him try to make it in this economy without any education or resume.

ZoSo

August 9th, 2012
11:19 am

Can’t wait for Bray and Hunter to light you twits up this fall. Go Big Orange!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

slick

August 9th, 2012
11:29 am

The trouble with the NCAA is that you can commit a crime and still play even if you do time in jail. However, God forbid if you fail to maintain a 2.0 or better GPA!

KevinM

August 9th, 2012
11:37 am

If Dooley loses Bray, they will have to go to the Wildcat.

UT has little chance to be dominant anyway this year. They may lose to NC State with Bray. I say punish him by letting him continue to run Dooley’s offense.

Spurrier has the inside track on the East once again.

Houston Nutt

August 9th, 2012
11:37 am

Dooley obviously will bury his head in the sand, as he cannot afford to be without Bray. The Vols have a long and ignoble history of covering up and taking it easy on star athletes. At UGA, he’d be suspended,and Richt wouldn’t be making jokes about it.

bitter hillbillie

August 9th, 2012
11:43 am

This serf boy turned mountain mutt—say’s it all

LOL

August 9th, 2012
11:49 am

Dawg fan here, and this is stupid. He got in trouble for it, and is paying for it. I don’t personally think he should have been in trouble in the first place.

7576DAWG

August 9th, 2012
11:51 am

Dooley is stuck between a rock and a hard place just like Spurrier was with Garcia. With Bray Tennessee losses four or five games but without Bray Tennessee losses six or seven and then it’s Dooley’s A@@ .

Steve

August 9th, 2012
11:52 am

If Tenn doesn’t want him anymore, I’m sure Spurrier will take him at USC.

bitter hillbillie

August 9th, 2012
11:53 am

JAIL IS NOT THE ANSEWER YOU SIMPLE MINDED FOOL———-SITTING HIS A$$

————–ON THE BENCH FOR HALF THE SEASON SENDS A BETTER MESSAGE

—PUTTING A YOUNG PERSON WITH SEASONED CRIMINALS IS A RECPIT FOR DISASTOR