A former Tennessee player says Drae Bowles lied about being punched by teammate Curt Maggitt after reporting sexual assault allegations to head coach Butch Jones.
On Wednesday, lawyers filed an amendment including a sworn affidavit from Bowles, who says he was called a “traitor” by Jones after helping an alleged sexual assault victim in November, 2014. Bowles also says he was punched in the lip by Maggitt and confronted by other teammates.
Former Vols captain Marlon Walls called into “The Paul Finebaum Show” Thursday to share his side of what happened, and he says Bowles was never beat up by a teammate. In fact, Walls paints Coach Jones as a disciplinarian who upset players with his strict rules. He says Jones ordered players to stay away from Bowles after Bowles reported the incident and that Jones threatened to kick players off the team if they messed with Bowles.
Walls says there was “no way” Maggitt hit Bowles in the face, though he does concede players wanted to beat up Bowles. He says Bowles was bitter over playing time and speculates that could be his motivation for taking a stand against Tennessee.
You can read his comments below:
Former UT Captain @MarlonTankWalls says Drae Bowles' story isn't true & "playing time" may have been a motivation pic.twitter.com/fiN2FaEtFS
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) February 25, 2016
Walls also said the same thing in a series of passionate Twitter posts:
I also want to know who beat him up? This is out of hand
— Marlon Tank Walls (@MarlonTankWalls) February 25, 2016
Dre Bowles transferred because of Play time, comon man smh
— Marlon Tank Walls (@MarlonTankWalls) February 25, 2016
The lawsuit garnering all the attention has eight plaintiffs and cites multiple cases where Tennessee allegedly fostered a hostile sexual environment. Walls says from his person experience, female athletes at the school he knew never had a problem.
