Tennessee Self-Reports NCAA Violations: Latest Details, Comments, Reaction

The University of Tennessee self-reported 18 NCAA violations Monday, including four involving the football team and one regarding the men's basketball team.  

According to Dustin Dopirak of the Knoxville News Sentinel, all of the reported violations were classified as Level III, which the NCAA defines as "isolated or limited in nature; provide no more than a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage; and do not include more than a minimal impermissible benefit."

Of the remaining 13 violations, three were committed by the women's basketball team, and the rest were in connection with swimming, women's golf, women's rowing, women's soccer and tennis.

Per Dopirak, all of the violations took place between May 2015 and January 2016, and the university self-imposed penalties for each, all of which were approved by the NCAA.

The football violations were all deemed fairly minor in nature and involved the generation of publicity for a recruit through Twitter, as well as the impermissible contact of a recruit by secondary coach Willie Martinez, who served a one-game suspension for his actions this past season.

Tennessee's football team finished 22nd in the 2015 AP Top 25 poll with a record of 9-4, and it is expected to be a contender in the wide-open SEC East in 2016 due largely to the return of talented, dual-threat quarterback Joshua Dobbs.

Potential violations hanging over the program entering the 2016 campaign could have potentially overshadowed the progress it has made, but now that they have been identified and dealt with, the Vols have a chance to return to prominence and vie for their first 10-win season since 2007.

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