Saginaw native and Tennessee wide receiver DeAnthony Arnett is planning to transfer. Reports of his decision to transfer first popped up earlier this week, and on Thursday he spoke to ESPN's Joe Schad about the decision, which revolves around being closer to home because of his dad's health issues.
"I want to play football but I NEED to be here for my Dad and with my family," Arnett said in an email to ESPN.com.
Arnett said in the email that his father has had two heart attacks, dialysis and a series of surgeries.
The problem for Arnett is that he has only been released by Tennessee to transfer to Central Michigan, Western Michigan or Eastern Michigan. According to Arnett, Tennessee hasn't given him a release to transfer to Michigan or Michigan State -- the schools he originally chose Tennessee over -- meaning he would have to pay his own way to end up in Ann Arbor or East Lansing. Here's Tennessee's reasoning (via Schad):
A Tennessee spokesman said Arnett is not being denied the opportunity to be released and play FBS-level football. And that the school has a policy of not releasing players to schools UT plays or recruits against.
Considering the reason behind Arnett's transfer, that's a pretty lame excuse for why Tennessee isn't releasing him to all schools in Michigan. It's especially a low move when you consider that Charlie Baggett (a former Michigan State player and coach), Arnett's position coach and one of the main people who recruited him to Knoxville, "retired" from Tennessee after the season.