Three Vols Starters Ruled Academically Ineligible for Outback Bowl

Three starters are among a half dozen Tennessee Volunteers who have been ruled academically ineligible for the Outback Bowl.

Wide receiver Lucas Taylor, linebacker Rico McCoy and defensive tackle Demonte Bolden are among the six scholarship players whose fall semester grades didn’t meet NCAA and Southeastern Conference requirements to play.

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“We have every resource available through our academic center for academic success by our athletes in all of our sports,” coach Phillip Fulmer said in a statement. “In most of these cases, it was simply the student-athlete not being accountable and doing their work. One bright spot is the fact that all of these athletes will be in school spring semester.”

Fulmer said Taylor has passed enough total hours, but was ineligible under a new NCAA policy that requires players to pass six hours within the grade requirements of their major.

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Also ineligible to play are free safety Ricardo Kemp, wide receiver Kenny O’Neal and linebacker Chris Donald.

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Twelve football players graduated earlier this month with bachelor’s degrees and another earned his master’s degree. Forty players had a semester grade point average of 3.0 or better and 15 earned a GPA of 3.5 or better.

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