UT player charged with assault has a Smyrna tie

Marsalous Johnson, a former star football player at Smyrna High, was arrested Sunday night in Knoxville and charged with aggrevated assault.

Here's more from The Tennessean about it.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Rico McCoy was also in the car with Johnson, according to police records, but was not charged.

"I want to find out more about what happened, see what's true and what's not and go from there," said Fulmer, whose Vols open preseason practice Friday. "We've had very few distractions this offseason, and we're not going to let this be one."

The sheriff's deputy who accused Johnson of waving the pellet gun, Mike Hoover, is also a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officer and was on his way home from a shift as a boating officer at Center Hill Lake when the incident occurred, said Dan Hicks, the TWRA Region 3 public information officer.

Hicks said Hoover had his nephew in the car with him when Johnson pointed what appeared to be a gun at them.

As of the article, Fulmer has taken no disciplinary action, waiting to see what comes of the charges.

Johnson is in his freshman year with the Big Orange as a defensive back.