KNOXVILLE — Former Tennessee basketball player Ramar Smith posted a $15,000 bond Thursday morning following a brief stay in a local jail, according to Knoxville Police Department officials.

Smith, 22, turned himself in around 2 a.m. Thursday for questioning regarding a Monday night home invasion.

“After being interviewed by investigators, he was served with an aggravated robbery warrant and (sent) to the Knox County Detention Facility,” KPD spokesperson Darrell DeBusk said.

Smith was charged in connection with a Monday night home invasion robbery at Steeplechase Apartments in North Knoxville, records show. Police have not identified what was stolen.

DeBusk and other UT officials still haven’t confirmed or denied a possible link between Smith’s incident and Tuesday night’s shooting in South Knoxville. Several close to the athletic department are worried about a possible connection.

Volunteers football player Brent Vinson was a witness to the shooting of friend and fellow UT student Charles Corn, who was still listed in critical condition Wednesday night at UT Medical Center.

“He was interviewed as a witness,” DeBusk said of Vinson.

Smith was primarily the Vols’ starting point guard until coach Bruce Pearl dismissed him in spring 2008, following the player’s sophomore season. The dismissal was categorized as a “violation of team rules,” but several sources specified substance-abuse policy violations and academic issues as major parts of the problem.

The Mount Clemens, Mich., native was named to the Southeastern Conference All-Freshman team the previous season. He played professionally in Poland and Germany before returning to Knoxville earlier this spring for a temporary stay.

Marve picks Purdue

Former University of Miami quarterback Robert Marve on Thursday announced plans to transfer to Purdue over Tennessee, where he wouldn’t have been given a scholarship until at least January.

The former Hurricane won’t be able to play this fall, per NCAA transfer rules, but he could be eligible to play in 2010 with two remaining years of eligibility.

Marve, who initially committed to Alabama but switched to Miami after the firing of Crimson Tide coach Mike Shula, was one of the country’s premier high school quarterback prospects in 2007. He had more than 4,000 passing yards and nearly 50 touchdowns as a senior for state champion Tampa (Fla.) Plant High School.

Setbacks have littered Marve’s career the past two years, though. He redshirted the 2007 season after injuring his left (non-throwing) hand in an automobile accident, and he struggled throughout 2008 as Miami’s primary starter. He missed two games for two separate suspensions, and he threw just nine touchdown passes and 13 interceptions in his 11 starts.

Marve chose to transfer in December, but Miami coach Randy Shannon wouldn’t release him to UT, Florida, LSU or any Atlantic Coast Conference school. Shannon added the Vols, Gators and Tigers because, according to a Miami release, the school suspected someone close to Marve called those three schools on the player’s behalf before he requested a release.

Strength coach leaving

The Vols are already searching for a new strength and conditioning coach after Mark Smith mutually agreed with head coach Lane Kiffin on Thursday to vacate that post.

Smith, one of Kiffin’s first hires, came to the Vols from South Carolina, and he’d been Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier’s strength guru for years.

Several sources in the UT athletic department confirmed news of Smith’s departure, but attempts to reach him and Kiffin weren’t successful.

UT graduate Aaron Ausmus, Ole Miss’s strength and conditioning coach and a former assistant strength coach at Southern California, was considered before Smith was hired and could be approached again this time. He has experience with Kiffin and assistant head coach Ed Orgeron, who brought him to Ole Miss in 2005.

Linebacker Irvin commits

Linebacker prospect Bruce Irvin from Stone Mountain, Ga., and Mount San Antonio (Calif.) Community College committed to UT on Thursday night, giving the Vols their fifth public 2010 pledge.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Irvin recently was added to UT’s recruiting board with an impressive combine workout.