Vols' Jeremy Banks apologizes for 'language and attitude' during arrest

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / UTC tight end Jordan Giberti falls over Tennessee's Jeremy Banks after the linebacker's interception during their teams' Sept. 14 game in Knoxville. Banks had two interceptions in the game.
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / UTC tight end Jordan Giberti falls over Tennessee's Jeremy Banks after the linebacker's interception during their teams' Sept. 14 game in Knoxville. Banks had two interceptions in the game.

KNOXVILLE - Jeremy Banks, a sophomore football player for the University of Tennessee, has apologized after a video of his Sept. 15 arrest following a traffic stop was made public late Tuesday evening.

The Times Free Press previously reported Banks' arrest, which came after it was determined during the stop he had a warrant for failing to appear in court regarding an unpaid parking ticket in Knox County.

In the video, officers tell Banks, a sophomore linebacker from Cordova, that he had been stopped for making an illegal U-turn on Lake Loudon Boulevard and Volunteer Boulevard, according to an arrest report obtained by the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Footage from an officer's body camera shows Banks was allowed to call Volunteers coach Jeremy Pruitt twice while detained. During the first conversation, the phone is given to an officer and Pruitt can be heard saying he thought Banks had paid the ticket and asking why the player had to be arrested.

"Just because he has a warrant?" Pruitt asks the officer.

The officer explains that due to the warrant being issued by the state he had to arrest Banks. Pruitt tries to explain he thought the ticket had been handled in August, when he and Banks met with a state trooper to address the situation after the death of Banks' grandfather.

"This is the silliest s--- I've ever seen in my life," Pruitt says during the phone conversation. "I've got it. I understand. I've worked at four places, and I ain't ever had no crap like this except for here. Because the people usually say, 'Hey, something's not right here.'"

Pruitt, who has worked at Alabama, Florida State and Georgia, later added: "Go ahead. Do your civic duty, man."

The coach backtracked from those comments Wednesday, saying he didn't believe a player would have caught a break at any of his prior stops.

"No, absolutely not. There's no place I've ever coached that anybody's cut anybody a break," Pruitt said Wednesday. "The point was the warrant was issued and it had been issued for five weeks or four weeks there, and I wasn't aware of it, and that's something that we've got to do a better job to focus on our players so you don't have a speeding ticket or anything that turns into something like this.

"We've got to do a better job as a staff to know what's going on, and that's something we've got to have a relationship to get it figured out."

Banks, who already was sitting in the back seat of the police car, is later shown riding in the car and angrily making disparaging comments, including saying "where I'm from, we shoot at cops. I'm from Memphis, Tennessee." Later, he says he should have run from the officers.

Banks apologized for his actions in a statement released late Tuesday by the university's athletic department.

"I want to sincerely apologize to my family, the University of Tennessee and the law enforcement community," the statement read. "I deeply regret my language and attitude in the video.

"I have great respect for our policemen and women, and I am embarrassed by my actions that night. That's not who I am. I promise to be a better representative for the University of Tennessee moving forward."

Banks, a backup this season on defense who also has played linebacker during his time at Tennessee, had two interceptions in the Vols' lone win this season, a 45-0 shutout of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He rushed for 185 yards and three touchdowns as a freshman in 2018 before being moved to defense due to a lack of depth at linebacker.

Pruitt - who also released a statement Tuesday stating he was determined to "do what I can do to help Jeremy grow up and become a better man" - reiterated Wednesday that the matter had been "handled internally."

Tennessee (1-3, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) hosts No. 3 Georgia (4-0, 1-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday for a game that will be televised by ESPN.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.

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