Vols dismiss OLB Ryan Thaxton

Last Sunday, Tennessee redshirt freshman outside linebacker Ryan Thaxton was arrested on charges of alleged domestic assault and false imprisonment of his girlfriend, and after concluding an internal investigation, the Vols dismissed Thaxton from the team.

VolQuest.com was the first to report the news, with a university spokesman confirming the report and noting that Thaxton, who was suspended from all team activities, was dismissed on Friday.

According to the July 15 police report, Thaxton allegedly pushed his girlfriend down when she refused to accompany him in his room. He then carried his girlfriend inside the room and blocked the door, per the report.

On Wednesday at SEC Media Days, first-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt said he was aware of the situation and would “have a little more answers” once all the information had been gathered.

This is the first off-the-field incident Pruitt has had to handle as Tennessee’s new coach. He also spoke more broadly Wednesday about Tennessee’s policy against domestic violence.

“The first thing is we spend once a week in a wellness class about how to treat the opposite sex, drugs, alcohol, weapons,” he said.

“We all are very aware of what went on, and obviously we suspended the guy the other day. We’re not going to condone it. We’re not going, you know, tolerate it.”

Thaxton was a 3-star recruit from Alexandria, Va., who redshirted in 2017.