FOOTBALL

Tennessee football team honors fallen officer during spring practice

Rhiannon Potkey
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee
Tennessee linebacker Cortez McDowell  presents Capt. Sharon Moore of the Maryville Police Department with a jersey honoring fallen officer Kenny Moats on April 13, 2017,  at Haslam Field.

The recruiting visit yielded something even more meaningful than a future player.

Tennessee football coach Butch Jones was out to dinner with recruits a few months ago and ran into officers from the Maryville Police Department.

They began telling stories, and the talk eventually turned to Kenny Moats, the Maryville police officer who was killed in a domestic violence "ambush" last August.

Jones wanted to honor Moats and his family with a jersey from the program. He knew the perfect time to make it happen.

Every year during spring camp, Jones invites local enforcement officials to a practice. After Thursday’s practice, the Vols gathered in a circle on Haslam Field for a special presentation.

UT linebacker Cortez McDowell handed captain Sharon Moore of MPD with a personalized No. 36 jersey with Moats’ name on the back. Moats’ family was unable to attend because of a prior commitment.

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“I think it’s very fitting to present them with a jersey because we always talk about being one Tennessee and one family and really that is what makes this state and community very, very special,” Jones said. “This practice is all about paying respect to the job these guys have and saying thank you. Every day, they get up and go to work and put their family aside and face different circumstances to protect our citizens. It’s a very unselfish job.”

Police officers from the Marvyille Police Department pose with a Tennessee football jersey honoring fallen colleague Kenny Moats on Thursday after spring practice at Haslam Field.

Honoring law enforcement officials is an annual tradition for Jones that dates back 20 years to when he first became a head coach at Central Michigan University.

The acknowledgement hits close to home for Jones

His father, Lyle, was the chief of police in Saugatuck, Mich., for nearly 30 years. A park in the city is dedicated in his honor.

UT sends invitations to all the local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. They each can select 10 representatives per department to attend. More than 150 officers attended Thursday’s practice.

After watching practice, the law enforcement officials, players and coaches have dinner together at Smokey’s Grill in the Anderson Training Facility.

“There is a lot of interaction there between the law enforcement and the players just sitting around and discussing things,” said Eric Miller, a sergeant with the Tennessee State Highway Patrol. “I think Coach Jones wants his players to realize that law enforcement is here for you and they are not against you. It puts it us on a level to where they see we are human beings as well.”

Some players have only had negative interactions with law enforcement officials. Recent high-profile cases of police brutality on African-Americans have further entrenchment the distrust, says Miller.

“I really believe Coach Jones doing this shows his players and coaches that what you are seeing and hearing is not all true,” said Miller, who has been part of Jones’ security detail since Jones was hired at UT in 2013. “The barriers come down in situations like these. Since I have been with the team, players have really opened up to me and they know that they can come to talk to me and interact with me on a professional and personal level.”

Fred Kimber, a 20-year veteran with the Knoxville Police Department, says the annual practice visit is something colleagues look forward to each spring.

“They absolutely love it. UT football is a staple and our officers enjoy going over there and meeting the players,” Kimber said. “It’s a two-way avenue because it opens the lines of communication with the players. Some of them come here from out of state and have no family, so sometimes the officers wind up mentoring them.”

The officers have heard the skeptics who believe the relationship between UT and law enforcement leads to leniency if players run into trouble. Last year, a Knoxville police officer who called Jones during a rape investigation involving his players was removed as the police department's liaison to the team.

“The special treatment doesn’t happen. Look at the last incident that occurred with Jauan Jennings,” said Kimber, referring to Jennings being charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession in February. “The officer knew him and knew he played for UT, but he didn’t just give him a pat on the hand and let him go. He went to jail. They are held to just as high a standard as anyone else.”

Law enforcement officials attend during Tennessee Volunteers spring practice at Anderson Training Facility in Knoxville, Tennessee on Thursday, April 13, 2017.

Jones grew up wanting to become a police officer. He received his first authentic police uniform when he was 5 and was allowed to play in a police car as a kid.

He discovered how to operate the lights and sirens at age 8 during a tornado warning, and residents were concerned the blaring sounds meant a tornado was coming. Jones once left a billy club in the back seat of a police car and a passenger got a hold of it.

Jones sat with his father each morning when the night watch officers visited the house to give his father a briefing. The officers each drank coffee and Jones had a coffee mug filled with water.

“These are all great memories for me and lessons in leadership that still drive me to this day,” Jones said. “I have a picture of my father on my desk and at times when I have to make a decision I often wonder, ‘What would dad do?’ How would he handle this situation?’ because he was in a leadership role and a very difficult leadership role.”

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Kimber is a recruitment officer for the Knoxville PD and tries to use the practice visits to provide career advice for interested players. Former Vol Raiques Crump is already an officer and former Vol Geraldo Orta is in the academy.

“It is an outlet for us as a police department because not everybody is really looking at going to the NFL,” said Kimber, who is also in the military reserves and leaves Sunday for a two-week stay in Fort Knox. “Some of them want to see what our job is like. They get a chance to talk to us and see what we do and realize they really like it.”

Because of his role on Jones’ security detail, Miller has received more access to the Vols than most of his colleagues. But they always tell him even the small gesture of attending a spring practice goes a long way.

“They really do feel appreciated and to them it’s an honor to even be invited by coach to come and interact with the team and him and watch practice,” Miller said. “I know in my department, the troopers that are chosen to go are people that deserve to be there. They are hard workers and they are good people. It’s really a high note for them to get this invitation.”