Several former Tennessee players have openly criticized recently fired head coach Butch Jones in recent weeks.
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Among them is former running back Marlin Lane, who alleged the coach used him to "threaten kid's lives," among other things during an appearance on the "4th and Truth" podcast on Monday.
"He used me to somewhat run a couple of players off the team that he didn't want on there. You know, like threaten kids' life. It's either his way or he'll take their future away from them or put them on a one-year scholarship probation."
Lane also claims Jones spoke negatively about him to NFL teams. The running back said he and his agent were told by teams that they had been warned about several flaws, which he believes was the coach's doing.
"My agent — God bless, he's dead now — Mr. Eugene Parker was my agent at the time, and I knew him since I was in high school. After my college career, we was on the phone talking to teams and a couple was saying that my character [was bad], my off-field habits [were bad], and that I couldn't read playbooks. I went through four offenses in four years at UT, so reading a playbook and doing all that wasn't a problem."
Lane's father, Marlin Lane Sr., also appeared on the podcast and revealed that Jones never introduced himself to him during any point that he coached his son at Tennessee, even after his son experienced an injury.
"I never once shook his hand, never met him face to face," the elder Lane said. " Butch never was a man to me and came up to me. I was not even informed Marlin was in a boot. The only reason I found out was when they interviewed him on TV."
The Daytona Beach native appeared in at least 11 games during each of his four years at Tennessee and made 10 starts as both a sophomore and senior. Lane finished his college career with 1,772 yards and nine touchdowns on 382 rushing attempts, as well as 517 yards and two touchdowns on 66 receptions.
