Tennessee football: Jauan Jennings suspended for first half of Vols bowl game

Senior Volunteers wide receiver Jauan Jennings received a half-game suspension for Tennessee football’s postseason game after an incident with Vanderbilt.

Due to an incident in which he stepped on the face of an opposing player, Tennessee football wide receiver Jauan Jennings will be suspended for the first half of the Vols’ bowl game, regardless of where they go and who they play. The SEC announced the suspension Wednesday evening.

Jennings stepped on the face of Vanderbilt Commodores punt returner Justice Shelton-Moseley with just over three minutes left to go in the game and UT firmly in control, 28-10. Whether or not the stomp was intentional is impossible to prove, which is why the first-half suspension is highly questionable. You can find video of it on Twitter.

Without Jennings, though, Tennessee football will have to go with Marquez Callaway and Josh Palmer in the first half. They got production out of Dominick Wood-Anderson in their last game, and Eric Gray was obviously a star in the run game. Ty Chandler and Tim Jordan have proven to be effective runners as well.

Simply put, Jim Chaney has other weapons he can look to, especially with the way Jarrett Guarantano has been playing at quarterback. Meanwhile, Jeremy Pruitt will look to the defense and Derrick Ansley, regardless of which team he plays, to make sure they do their job.

If they come through, Jennings will still have a whole second half to finish his Tennessee football career with a bang. And he has proven in the past he doesn’t need to much time to make big plays. Using this as motivation may only help him even more.

What’s clear, though, is that the SEC backed out of truly doing anything with this suspension. The rule they mentioned was in reference to flagrant fouls. Well, if the foul was flagrant, he should have been suspended for the whole game. If it wasn’t he shouldn’t have been suspended at all. So suspending him for a half is a blatant cop-out.