re: VOLS WR Pig Howard suspended for violation of team rules

Perhaps Pig Howard was a bit optimistic when saying after Monday’s practice that he and his Tennessee football coaches and teammates have always been on the same page.

Tennessee football coach Butch Jones and Vols junior receiver Pig Howard. (Photo Credit: Knoxville News Sentinel)
In fact, he was being a tad optimistic.

And that hasn’t always been the case.

Regardless, that’s the case right now. And that’s why the Vols’ leading returning receiver is back with the team in preseason camp after being away from the program this spring and summer to deal with unspecified “personal” issues. And that’s why everyone is now smiling — rather than shaking their heads — when they talk about the versatile, diminutive junior athlete from Orlando.

“Pig’s been a hard worker,” said junior guard Marcus Jackson, a member of Tennessee’s player leadership council. “He’s been bringing it every single day. Very hard-working guy.”

That hasn’t always been the case — at least not on a consistent basis.

As Howard said Monday, though, “the past is the past,” and that’s where he’s hoping to keep it this time.

“It’s going great,” Howard said during his first interview since being reinstated to the program on official basis late this summer. “It’s a special time. The past is the past, and at the end of the day I feel that we’re more closer as a unit, as a team, and we’re working to get better each and every day.