Tennessee football allegedly gave recruits McDonald’s bags full of cash

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt greets his team after a defensive stop against the Auburn Tigers during the first quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt greets his team after a defensive stop against the Auburn Tigers during the first quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Tennessee football was reportedly paying recruits with cash that was stored inside a McDonald’s bag.

Tennessee was giving recruits a happy meal from McDonald’s that was a pile of cash in lieu of a cheeseburger, fries and a cheap toy.

According to Dan Patrick, Tennessee was handing out McDonald’s bags of cash to recruits in an effort to get them to commit and sign with the Vols.

This is all part of an ongoing investigation into recruiting violations under the watch of former head coach Jeremy Pruitt.

Tennessee paid recruits with McDonald’s bags full of cash

Pruitt was fired on Monday morning for his role in the recruiting violations that have yet to be formally revealed, but it doesn’t sound good based on the report from Patrick and that Tennessee moved to fire Pruitt.

If things weren’t so damaging, Tennessee could have stomached any sort of penalty from the NCAA and kept Pruitt in the role as head coach.

Paying recruits isn’t a new phenomenon in college sports. It’s basically as old as the sport itself. But it’s not a good look and for a program that likes to accuse programs like Florida, Georgia and Alabama for paying recruits, they are getting a taste of their own medicine.

With Tennessee having a new coaching search underway, it’s hard to imagine a coach willfully walking into this mess with the NCAA and their hammer waiting to strike down hard on the program.

Next. Best college football players of all time from every state. dark

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.