Da’Rick Rogers suspended, Dooley still cleaning up from Kiffin (UPDATED II)
Da'Rick Rogers was top SEC receiver in 2011. (Raleigh News-Observer)
(Second update with Derek Dooley saying he doesn’t expect Da’Rick Roger to play this season.)
Two years ago, when new Tennessee coach Derek Dooley made his debut at SEC media days, I made note of the first three subjects he was asked about: 1) His mother; 2) His father; 3) A bar fight that included several of his players. Suffice to say, he would welcome more questions about his mother and father again.
Dooley inherited a mess at Tennessee after the sudden departure of Lane Kiffin. That’s no secret. The fact that the guy’s job might be on the line this season is unfortunate because the image of the team and the character problems of too many players that he inherited takes a while to overcome.
The latest example: Da’Rick Rogers. The talented but often troubled wide receiver from Calhoun, who nearly signed with Georgia in 2010, was suspended indefinitely Thursday by Dooley. No reason was given, other than the standard, “violation of team rules.”
UPDATE: Dooley told the Knoxville News that “our expectation is” that Rogers won’t return to the program. Translation: Expect him to transfer.
But given that there has been no report of an arrest — or another bar fight — use your imagination.
The suspension appears open ended for now, but Rogers is not listed on Tennessee’s depth chart.
Tennessee probably wasn’t going to challenge for the SEC East title this season, anyway. But it has (or had) the potential to be decent and upset some teams. From a talent standpoint, Rogers’ loss would be significant. He led the SEC last season with 67 receptions, and was second with 1,040 receiving yards and nine touchdown catches.
But don’t blame Dooley for what’s going on in Knoxville. If we still don’t know how great of a coach he is, we can at least be certain Kiffin left him a rather large and malodorous bag.
(Many point out that Da’Rick Rogers was a Derek Dooley recruit in 2010. That is technically accurate. However, Rogers initially backed off his Georgia commitment to hear the recruiting pitches from then-Tennessee coaches Lane Kiffin and Ed Orgeron. It was Kiffin who offered Rogers and high school teammate Nash Nance the opportunity to go to Tennessee as a package deal, an offer that Dooley confirmed after he got the job. So, yes, Dooley shares some responsibility. I also wanted to added that rumors circulated that Rogers was interested in transferring to Georgia State in the spring, but that obviously never happened.)
In May, Dooley dismissed sophomore tight end Cameron Clear (yes, a Dooley recruit) following an arrest for felony theft charges. Last year he kicked off safety Janzen Jackson (a Kiffin recruit). Dooley said only that Jackson’s “personal issues” led to the suspension, but added, “I will always be there to help him as a person, but there comes a time when a player’s actions preclude him from the privilege of playing for [Tennessee].”
There have been multiple other suspensions. Sophomore safety Darren Myles Jr. was dismissed from the team and others were suspended for the aforementioned bar brawl, which took place not long after his hiring.
Rogers also was involved in that incident. He was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. But the charges ultimately were dropped and Dooley chose not to suspend him. That was one time when giving a kid a break backfired. Rogers was banned for two weeks this past spring for offseason activities for unspecified reasons.
Referencing Tennessee’s problems in 2010, Dooley said, “I wish I could snap my fingers, but it just doesn’t work that way. It takes time.”
Problem being that SEC coaches don’t get a lot of that, regardless of whose fault it is.
By Jeff Schultz
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349 comments Add your comment
ShoeBooty
August 23rd, 2012
4:38 pm
To me that is a big problem. Opinions (good or bad) are formed by writers who have an audience and they probably have never had 10 words of a conversation with the people that write about, good or bad.
Not So Fast
August 23rd, 2012
4:39 pm
Dean, it was USC 2004.
pbt Dawg Fan
August 23rd, 2012
4:40 pm
Maybe somebody should write an arictle that explains why Da’rick rogers should have went to UGA, Like they did with the isaish crowell article about him coming out better if he had chosen BAMA
cloudodust
August 23rd, 2012
4:43 pm
This kind of stuff would never happen at Georgia. Mark Richt would have dismissed him from the team no matter the consequences to the coming season. Oh, it happened at Tennessee.? Never mind.
Dawg-Gawn
August 23rd, 2012
4:43 pm
Official Bad Boy football team roster:
Head Coach/OC – Bobby Petrino
DC – Jerry Sandusky
CB/PR – Tyrann Mathieu aka “The Honey Badger”
DB – Ray Ray Armstrong
DB – Greg Reid
RB – Isaisah Crowell
RB – Michael Dyer
WR – Da’Rick Rodgers
QB – Zeke Pike
LB – Storm Klein
LB – John Rizor
Need help filling out the roster also need a booster to help with financing team expenses
BravesFan79
August 23rd, 2012
4:44 pm
If only these colleges allowed ONLY kids who have high enough IQ’s to qualify for these top colleges to get in, we wouldnt have this problem!
RIP Channon and Christopher Newsome, the 2 univ of Tenn students brutally murdered in the worst hate crime in the history of the United States!
Schultz is an
August 23rd, 2012
4:44 pm
AHAHAHAHA! Keep making your updates and excuses! You can’t even do research before you post an article??? I guess you are a blogger and not a journalist so…..
brick
August 23rd, 2012
4:45 pm
Going back to Fulmer’s hiring, when he stabbed Majors in the back. Not saying if Majors should have been fired or not, but Fulmer when behind his back and him getting terminated the way he did was just.
As for as Dooley’s coaching ability, what were they expecting he lost everywhere he had been. Dooley was hired to get past the Kiffin mess, the tons of minor violations and to keep the program clean for a couple of years. He has done that, he just hasn’t won much and Vol fans are not happy, he is looking at not being bowl eligible again and it will end his time at UT. Don’t be surprised to see none other than Bobby Petrino walking the sidelines in Knoxville next year, as sorry as he is as a human being he is that good as a coach. After all, Jessica Dorrell has landed on her feet, so to speak, at another SEC school and her talent doesn’t involve football.
William
August 23rd, 2012
4:48 pm
If this kid had come to Georgia, and done the same stuff, it would be called evidence that Mark Richt has lost control or that we run a dirty program or whatever.
The truth is, the kids these days come into the schools with a greater sense of entitlement and power than ever before. This is a perfect example of a kid who is just trouble, and was going to probably be trouble no matter where he went.
So next time we criticize Richt on discipline, remember that quite often, it’s all about the kid and what kind of upbringing and choices THEY make.
Beast from the East
August 23rd, 2012
4:54 pm
Rocky Top, you’ll always be…
Big Crimson 75
August 23rd, 2012
4:56 pm
Dean — without looking it up…..maybe LSU in 2007 or Fla in ‘08?
JB at home
August 23rd, 2012
4:59 pm
Dooley ought to be working for Dr. Adams………….Whoops, sorry….bad blood there. Adams wanted to run the athletic dept…and he couldn’t with Dooley there….. And that’s the truth.Ask Jeff if he isn’t home yet having a cool one.
just saying
August 23rd, 2012
5:00 pm
this happened on DooDooleys watch, Tn inherited a mess by hiring DooDooley, and any Coach who thinks it was funny that the QB was damaging a car by throwing beer bottles over the balcony of his apt complex….I assure you I would sue the TN athletic department if I heard the head coach thought that was funny
Big Crimson 75
August 23rd, 2012
5:01 pm
dawg-gone — Bobby Lowder should suffice as your booster.
He certainly does for the Barn!!
Duron “brainless” Carter could be your 2nd WR.
Carter, now on his 3rd chance in D-1 Football, was disciplined by his position coach for being lazy(go figure) in his 1st pratice @ FAU, then thrown out of his 2nd pratice!!
Da Rick is perfect fit for UGA
August 23rd, 2012
5:03 pm
nice!
RTR22
August 23rd, 2012
5:04 pm
Da Moose, I also have lived in Knoxv. Great college town, no way, but I will give you another, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Linda
August 23rd, 2012
5:05 pm
SEC Fact Finder
August 23rd, 2012
“4:12 pm
Check in and around the SEC and see what the coaches say about Coach Kiffin and Ed O and that alone would tell you about what his peers think of his recruiting and what type people he attracts.
The truth hurts sometimes!”
Oh yes..the SEC, the bastion of high character players! Meanwhile, at USC, our kids participate in extensive community service, several honors students, and humanitarians that give up their vacation to build homes in a poverty stricken area half a world away.
Thug player behavior: SEC! SEC! SEC!
Joey
August 23rd, 2012
5:07 pm
Didn’t Dooley snatch Rogers from UGA?
So he’s cleaning up from his own mess . . .
Beast from the East
August 23rd, 2012
5:10 pm
“Meanwhile, at USC, our kids participate in extensive community service”
Court ordered?
bucket
August 23rd, 2012
5:12 pm
All jokes and hurt feelings aside, Rogers has all the talent in the world and he is throwing it away at the moment. All he had to do was keep his nose clean for a few more months and then he could have been headed to the NFL. Young people today have no concept of delayed gratification. That is sad and tragic, and no I’m no bleeding heart, I just hate to see young people screw up their lives. There are some things that are bigger than which school you cheer for, and seeing a talented player flush their chances down the toilet is not something that should be celebrated.
Bo
August 23rd, 2012
5:13 pm
Once a Thug always a Thug. What we need a the military draft again and then we could see real character of these punks!!!!!!
Bo
August 23rd, 2012
5:13 pm
Once a Thug always a Thug. What we need a the military draft again and then we could see real character of these punks!!!!!!
Sundrop Kid
August 23rd, 2012
5:31 pm
Does anyone know if there’s any one tangible thing that links all these players at TN and GA together? It seems in retrospect there should be, but I’m having extreme difficulty in putting my finger on it. Anyone?
Bo in North Carolina
August 23rd, 2012
5:42 pm
Elwood, no way! As someone has already posted, Leeburn would not allow it. And Barbara Dooley has no influence on the athletic program at UGA.
blazer
August 23rd, 2012
6:02 pm
Just hope he doesn’t team up soon with Crowell!
Dawg Tired
August 23rd, 2012
6:03 pm
Wow! This is quite a surprise. It is just hard to imagine someone with such character would do anything wrong.
Dawg Tired
August 23rd, 2012
6:05 pm
Linda – My response to your uniformed comments is 2 letters: OJ.
Dawg Tired
August 23rd, 2012
6:06 pm
Uninformed
Beast from the East
August 23rd, 2012
6:07 pm
“Linda – My response to your uniformed comments is 2 letters: OJ.”
Dawg Tired,
How they soon they forget.
SEC Fact Finder
August 23rd, 2012
6:11 pm
I normally avoid arguing, however… USC appealing the sanctions and recruited a full class it’s first year and are restricted this upcoming class. They are loaded across the board but as most programs who have lost scholarships will tell you is that the results do not show up until 4 years and beyond the initial penalties
Enjoy the year but being No.1 and finishing there are two different things.
Good luck to you and your teams.
fan
August 23rd, 2012
6:22 pm
bottom line…a thug is a thug.
Ol' Timer
August 23rd, 2012
6:23 pm
I’d love to see Dooley do well at UT. Lord knows it’s been so long since they’ve had anything to cheer about, I’d love to see them do well.
But it looks like ol’ Dooley is pulling on a duck’s neck trying to make a swan with things they way they are up theire on Rocy Top. Sure wish they’d be a little patient with the kid. I think he might be a keeper.
Mike S.
August 23rd, 2012
6:30 pm
Jeff, I realize Kiffin was after Rogers, but he never got him to commit. This is not a case of Dooley cleaning up Kiffin’s mess. He didnt have to sign Rogers or continue to recruit him. He could have evaluated Rogers and decided to go a different direction if he wanted to. I dont think he wanted to. Can you blame him really? Rogers looked like another AJ Green.
Mike S.
August 23rd, 2012
6:32 pm
I’m no Kiffin fan, btw. I just think Dooley has mishandled Rogers from the start. He should have come down hard on him after the bar incident, but he didnt. He’s doing the same with Bray. If Bray was playing for Richt, he would be sitting at least the first game if not two after his antics this summer. Dooley has been lenient on these guys, and that’s playing with fire in an entitlement case like Rogers.
SEC Fact Finder
August 23rd, 2012
6:35 pm
Linda
I will take the opinion of The Most Influential Person in College Football -Mr. Mike Slive over any USC fan any day of the week.
And when the late Al Davis calls you slimy you are slimy as Al Davis had major slime in his DNA- god rest his soul
Gman84
August 23rd, 2012
6:41 pm
Truth be told, us dawg fans owe Lil’ Kiffy a debt of gratitude after running off Jarvis Jones at USC.
wayxbulldawg
August 23rd, 2012
6:42 pm
Multiple failed drug test yet he never missed a game. That Derek Dooley sure runs a tight ship up there in Knoxville.
bamadawg
August 23rd, 2012
6:43 pm
Dooley needs to stay at UT. I’m sure that Vandy coach would like a pay raise or Bobby Petrino is unemployed.
chazzo
August 23rd, 2012
6:53 pm
Maybe there is a deeper and more pervasive problem, overall, as these types of problems seem ubiquitous.
Just a thought…. let’s start funding secondary education instead of prep football.
Georgiana Bulltiger
August 23rd, 2012
7:05 pm
Way to go, Duh’ rick.
Dawg Reporter
August 23rd, 2012
7:06 pm
This hurts UT, but this was a predictable outcome. Kind of nice to say D Rogers will leave UT with zero wins over Georgia. UT’s biggest problem will be lack of defense and running game. They may upset someone, but won’t be Georgia unless Richt and staff are on their way out of Athens. Pretty unlikely scenarios.
Dawg Reporter
August 23rd, 2012
7:10 pm
Uninformed Linda. Georgia players have built several Habitat for Humanity homes. USC cheats perpetually and everyone knows it!
DawgNole
August 23rd, 2012
7:15 pm
Jeff Schultz
August 23rd, 2012
12:44 pm
Dick Whiskey — one more reference to race and you’re banned. Zero tolerance.
____________________
This is fine, but where’s your consistency? You permit Matt “CHOKE” Ryan to reference “the race card” in your previous blog???! Obviously I’m missing something.
BigPapaDawg
August 23rd, 2012
7:23 pm
Jeff, I know you are saying Kiffin is partially to blame on Rogers recruitment but Dooley took over, nobody forced Dooley to sign Rogers and follow through with a package deal for a QB that lol is now some Division II or III school Hampton-Sydney in Virginia………It is 100% Dooley’s fault for following through with it.
DawgNole
August 23rd, 2012
7:38 pm
kerryb
August 23rd, 2012
1:18 pm
Gator fans don’t seem to realize yet that they are average now that Spurrier and Tebow have left.
_________________
They didn’t miss spurrier once meyer came on board. Perhaps you meant, “…now that Meyer and Tebow have left.”
Judge Dawg
August 23rd, 2012
7:46 pm
Rogers thought that UT could “better market my brand.” I was glad not to get him.
DawgNole
August 23rd, 2012
7:50 pm
Sam Robards, Dawg Fan
August 23rd, 2012
1:19 pm
Gator said, “Even more funny is a UGA fan dismissing UF and claiming they control the east. We’ll see on Oct 27th.”
Also, the perception outside the conference is that Florida is probably gonna be third place behind UGA and Carolina. So I wasn’t really trying to make jabs at Florida: I was just stating what I thought was obvious.
_________________
Florida may finish behind UGA and USCe, but that doesn’t mean UGA will beat them. When you’ve lost to a team 18 of the past 22 years, you have some huge mental mountains to climb. Last year was only a tiny first step; it’ll take a whole lot more of those to overcome the psychological beatdown we’ve suffered over the past two decades of repeatedly losing to the gators–often when we had the more talented team.
Brad
August 23rd, 2012
8:07 pm
Why the f**k are you writing about some no name receiver at a school outside the city and state? Is there nothing else to cover? Good grief!
Jud
August 23rd, 2012
8:11 pm
Uga should take him. He would fit right in there!
Beast from the East
August 23rd, 2012
8:14 pm
Jeff Schultz
August 23rd, 2012
12:44 pm
Dick Whiskey — one more reference to race and you’re banned. Zero tolerance.
____________________
This is fine, but where’s your consistency? You permit Matt “CHOKE” Ryan to reference “the race card” in your previous blog???! Obviously I’m missing something.
DawgNole,
It’s only racist if you’re saying it from the one side of the fence. Didn’t you know?