Tennessee football: Pig Howard says Butch Jones blackballed him
Alton “Pig” Howard slammed former Tennessee football Volunteers head coach Butch Jones.
It’s getting harder and harder to keep up with the people associated with Tennessee football who have nothing but negative things to say about former Vols head coach Butch Jones. Pig Howard has now joined that list.
After leading the Vols in receiving his junior year with over 600 yards in 2014, the standout slot receiver was dismissed before the start of the 2015 season. He was then given a chance with the Chicago Bears in the NFL in 2017.
Here’s the problem. Zach Azzanni, Tennessee football’s wide receivers coach from 2013 to 2016, had just taken the same title with the Bears, and Howard did not make the final 53-man roster. In a Saturday Twitter rant, Howard had his own take on what happened.
Based on this rant, Howard seems to be implying that Jones kept film and information on him from NFL franchises. He then claims that Jones did not want Azzanni to give Howard a chance. That’s a really bad look against Jones if true. Why blackball a player who is no longer on your team outside of having a vindictive grudge?
There’s also the take he had on recruiting. Howard was a four-star in 2012 and says he nearly committed to the Cincinnati Bearcats because of Jones’ ability to recruit but then landed with Derek Dooley’s Vols. Jones then arrived a year later as Dooley’s replacement.
Of course, to be fair to Jones, this is from Howard’s perspective. He obviously was dismissed from Jones’ program, and it’s also true that he’s saying all this three years later. Those things could somewhat hurt his credibility.
However, from Jalen Hurd to Chris Weatherd to John Jancek to even Antone Davis as the VFL coordinator at the time, there are lots of former Tennessee football players, coaches and administrators who had negative things to say about Jones. Simply put, Howard isn’t the only person to suggest Jones did shady things. But we can’t say for sure if he’s just piling on or not.