Former Tennessee football quarterback Jonathan Crompton was too critical of Vols fans

Former Tennessee football quarterback Jonathan Crompton commented on his time with the Volunteers. And it just came across as sour grapes.

Related Story: Ranking every Vols starting quarterback this century

Shame on you Tennessee football fans! How dare you be critical of a quarterback on scholarship for your team when he’s not performing well! Who would do such a thing?

That’s the vibe former Vols quarterback Jonathan Crompton gave off with comments he made about his time at Tennessee that began trending over the weekend.

Crompton was part of a feature in the Chattanooga Times Free Press by Stephen Hargis on Friday. In it, he addressed the frustration Vols fans felt towards him, when his lack of production contributed to Phillip Fulmer’s firing in 2008. Here’s what he said, according to the article.

"“I’ve only been back to Tennessee twice for games since I left,” Crompton said. “‘Animosity’ is probably the best word for how I felt for a long time. I know it wasn’t the majority of the fans, but there were enough examples that it really left a bad taste in my mouth. And I don’t want to have that bad taste toward my alma mater anymore. I really don’t.“I could take it if they would just say things to me, but because they would yell things at my family, I developed a genuine dislike for that place. I’m not sure how to fix that, but there are so many people still there that I love and respect and would love to see.“I still believe Tennessee has the number-one fan base in the country. It’s just hard to forget some of the things that happened to me and my family while I was there.”"

First, let’s address the family point. Yes, nobody should ever go at the family of athletes. It is wrong, it is unfair, and it blatantly crosses the line.

But Crompton’s not the first person to deal with that, nor will he be the last. As wrong as it is, numerous players have people attack their families.

So let’s address the real problem. This is about Crompton. He didn’t like things fans were saying. And he decided to blame some of the fans rather than his own performance.

Crompton represents a larger problem that we all know to exist in this generation, and particularly among athletes.

All of a sudden, if you’re an athlete on scholarship or getting paid, people aren’t allowed to criticize you.

Even Joshua Dobbs has that issue. He blocked Clay Travis on Twitter for criticizing him and then refused to do an interview with Jimmy Hyams because he didn’t like how Hyams covered him, according to Hyams.

How did we get to this point? Rather than be offended by people criticizing you, successful athletes should spend more time being offended by their play that warranted the criticism.

Now, as you can see in our related link above, we just did a piece ranking every Tennessee football quarterback this century. And when we went to Crompton, we noted the staff shake-ups and that he wasn’t a fit for Dave Clawson’s offense. We also praised his turnaround the second half of the season in 2009 under Lane Kiffin.

And he did have a shot at the NFL and has had a decent international football career. So he does deserve some defense and some credit for how he played.

But none of that changes the fact that as a top-notch high school recruit with the 2005 class, he never lived up to his hype.

And in 2008, he simply did not perform. The same happened in the first half of 2009. Crompton’s poor play was the sole reason the Vols lost to the UCLA Bruins and Auburn Tigers in 2009.

Next: Tennessee football: Projecting the Vols 2017 2-deep depth chart

So yes, he got criticism from Tennessee football fans. And he deserved every bit of it.  If he has a problem with that, tough.