Tennessee football players Robert Ayers and Jerod Mayo were arraigned in Knox County General Sessions Court Tuesday.

Ayers and Mayo, facing aggravated assault charges for their alleged role in a March 4 incident at the University Center, have a preliminary hearing set for June 7.

Ayers and Mayo, both redshirt freshmen, are accused of striking UT student Shadiyah Murphy after fights broke out at a fraternity party.

Murphy told police that he also saw junior linebacker Daniel Brooks strike a fraternity member. Brooks was not charged, but UT coach Phillip Fulmer suspended him for the first two games of next season for "being somewhere he shouldn't have been.''

Ayers, a reserve defensive end, admitted striking Murphy twice "on unknown parts of his body.'' He has been suspended from the team since his arrest last Wednesday.

Fulmer allowed Mayo, a backup linebacker, to continue practicing with the Vols through the conclusion of spring drills last Saturday. According to Fulmer, Mayo was misidentified, so he is not subject to the head coach's punishment.

The witness who identified Mayo was Thomas Stallworth, a former UT linebacker.

"Jerod didn't do anything,'' Fulmer said. "Whoever has got it, got it wrong. He's wrong. I told him at the time he was wrong.

"He (Stallworth) might have thought he saw something, and that's the whole thing of that deal, a lot of people thought they saw things.''

Tennessee quarterback Brent Schaeffer and receiver Bret Smith were arraigned in Knox County General Sessions Court on Monday on charges of misdemeanor assault. The pair have a May 23 court date.

Junior defensive tackle Tony McDaniel, another Vol involved in a court case, was unsuccessful in his attempt to get a Class C felony assault charge reduced. McDaniel's case was bound over to the grand jury after his April 13 preliminary hearing. A court date has not been set.

McDaniel's status with the Vols won't be resolved until the UT judicial committee makes its ruling. The UT committee operates independent of legal proceedings.

"We anxious to get all this behind us,'' Fulmer said. "There are different circumstances in each case.

"I don't expect any further issues from our team. This will not be a distraction.''