KNOXVILLE - Jeremy Pruitt said Monday that he and Tennessee linebacker Quart'e Sapp talked Sunday after Sapp left the Volunteers' sideline during Saturday's game.
"We set down and talked yesterday," Pruitt said. "Here's the thing, guys. I've coached at a lot of places and I've seen things like this happen before. I've seen guys not show up to practice on Tuesday, not show up to practice on Wednesday. When you're dealing with 18-to-22-year-olds and there's lots of things going on, things happen. But again, Quart'e has been nothing but a great ambassador for our program. He's been a really good student and a leader for our team."
Pruitt said after Tennessee's 47-21 loss to Florida that he asked Sapp to leave the sideline at Neyland Stadium "because he wouldn't go into the game when he was asked to go in."
Sapp refuted that version of events in a Sunday message posted to Twitter.
Pruitt did not offer specifics on Monday when asked if Sapp would be suspended.
"It's like I told ya'll after the game, that once me and him sat down and talked it would be between us and keep it in-house," Pruitt said. "But I will say this, I said it the other night and I've said it to our players. Since I have been here, he has been a really good ambassador to our football program, to our team and a leader on our team. One mistake, everybody makes mistakes. So we're going to move on and we'll go from there."
Sapp, a redshirt junior, finished fourth on the team in tackles last season and began the season as part of the Vols' rotation at inside linebacker with Daniel Bituli and Darrin Kirkland Jr.
"Quart'e is a great guy," senior defensive end Kyle Phillips said Monday. "We pretty much came in together. He's a great person, a great player. I'm not sure what happened, but personally I know he's a great guy."