You can quiet the rumor mill at least for now. Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin said today “there is no situation” with receiver Nu’Keese Richardson.
The freshman from Florida was absent from UT’s practice on Sunday and that set off a wave of rumors that stretched across the messageboards, thru cyberspace, and all the way to Gainesville.
Earlier today, Edward Aschoff of The Gainesville Sun wondered if Richardson might be considering a transfer from Knoxville to Gainesville. He suggested Richardson might eventually fill the “Percy position.”
Richardson, you might remember, was the recruit at the center of Kiffin’s controversial remarks about Urban Meyer “cheating.” Meyer had called Richardson during a visit to Tennessee’s campus, but that was not a rules violation as Kiffin had suggested.
As for Richardson’s current feelings, Kiffin said, “Nu’Keese was dealing with some issues Sunday, some personal issues. But Nu’Keese was in yesterday and everything is fine.”
Richardson has seen his playing time decrease as the year has progressed. He had one touch against South Carolina on Saturday.
“He’s a little bit frustrated, like a lot of freshmen around the country are, especially when you’re potentially a really great player and you’ve had great success in high school. You come in and things are different in college than high school. Nu’Keese will continue to develop, we’ll continue to work with him and eventually he’ll be a great player.”
Ironically, the play of Richardson and fellow true freshman Marsalis Teague in the Vols’ season opener led Kiffin to toss a little barb at Georgia for not using freshman wideout Marlon Brown in their opener with Oklahoma State.
Kiffin said in September: “What’s this great player who went to this school doing? Is he sitting on the bench the whole game not catching one ball? Or is the in the game being the team’s leading receiver?”
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