Tennessee Volunteers Rule Maurice Couch Ineligible Against Oregon

Sep 7, 2013; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones on the sideline against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 52-20. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

Amid allegations made by Yahoo! Sports, the Tennessee Volunteers have ruled senior defensive lineman Maurice Couch ineligible for Saturday’s game against the Oregon Ducks.

"Butch Jones on 104.5 The Zone: We have declared him ineligible for this game. Our compliance office is looking into the logistics of the situation."

On Wednesday, the Volunteers had said Couch would miss the game against Oregon due to heat exhaustion

Yahoo! Sports alleges that Couch, along with Tyler Bray and three other former SEC players, received payments from various agents, through a middle-man.

That middle man was former Alabama Crimson Tide player Luther Davis.

Davis has since been banned by Alabama from coming anywhere near the program.

It’s doubtful that Tennessee, even though they’re on probation, will get hit too hard by the NCAA. The program, we presume, played Couch in two games this season, without any knowledge of these allegations.

Considering the Vols are under probation, you can imagine that the UT compliance department is leaving no stone unturned to make sure no further damage is done to the university.

As far as the game against Oregon goes, well the loss of Couch definitely hurts the Vols’ depth along the defensive line.

Couch isn’t a starter, but Tennessee could definitely use him against Oregon’s high-octane, fast-paced offense.

The good news for Tennessee is they should be getting Jacques Smith back for the first time this season.

We’ll keep you updated on this story as more details develop.