Tennessee football ends year with more uncertainty than ever; Five questions

KNOXVILLE, TN – OCTOBER 11: Detailed view of the checkered endzone at Neyland Stadium during a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Chattanooga Mocs on October 11, 2014 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won the game 45-10. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

2. What will come of the NCAA investigation?

Now we’re talking about the juicy stuff. This is a question that came about Saturday, just before Tennessee football kicked off against the Texas A&M Aggies. It’s a story that outweighs the end of the season altogether.

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Trey Wallace of WKGN-AM reported that the NCAA and the UT compliance department were investigating the program. Multiple players, coaches and support staff members have been interviewed, including inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer. Meanwhile, Eric Gray and Brian Maurer missed Saturday’s game along with assistant coaches Jay Graham and Derrick Ansley.

A report by Mark Schlabach of ESPN named Gray and 2021 prospect Amarius Mims, who committed to the Georgia Bulldogs, in the inquiry. Tim Owens, sports director at WATE-TV in Knoxville, also named Gray on his Twitter feed and said a source claimed its common knowledge UT cheats, specifically accusing them of cash payments and saying some coaches will be fired.

So what does this all mean? Will the Vols get caught and punished? We’ll have to track how this plays out, but this is a huge story, and it also could play a role in what leads to the biggest and our final question on here.