My extensive file on the off-the-field activities of Tennessee football players goes all the way back to 1987, the year I signed on with the News Sentinel. And, until Monday, there was no entry for "Player threatens law-enforcement officer with toy gun."

That list had to be updated after UT freshman defensive back Marsalous Johnson was charged with aggravated assault. He was arrested by an off-duty officer, who said he thought the player waved a gun at him during a traffic altercation

Johnson, who spent Sunday night in the Putman County jail, denied pointing a gun at deputy Michael Hoover, according to an incident report. But, oh by the way, he just happened to have a black plastic Uzi under a passenger seat in the car, according to the report.

If the charges are true, Johnson's qualifies as the unluckiest Vol of all-time.

Imagine you're running out of things to do on a weekend when, in an outburst of creativity, you decide on the old wave-toy-Uzi-at-motorist prank. And the person at whom you wave it is an off-duty deputy sheriff? What are the odds?

It could have been worse. You could have pointed it at a Miami Hurricanes football player, who likely would have matched your plastic Uzi with a real one, then raised the stakes to include live ammo.

You have to feel sorry for the head coach on this one. UT coach Phillip Fulmer probably thought he had warned his players against every crime known to man, and suddenly one of his cornerbacks is charged with playing toy gunman.

Surely, Fulmer has educated his players against the evils of guns, at least real ones. Now, he must add to his ever-growing, not-to-do list for players: "Don't play with toy guns."

Coaches often talk about recruiting "good-character kids." But do you think any amount of research could have determined whether a recruit had a proclivity for brandishing toy guns on the Interstate?

Imagine a prospect's high school coach telling a college recruiter: "He likes pointing toy guns at motorists, but other than that, he's a great kid"

If the charges against Johnson are true, you have to wonder about the ramifications.

Since this is supposedly the long-overdue, law-and-order phase of the Fulmer era, Johnson probably will be kicked off the team. After all, Fulmer recently booted Raymond Henderson for making "an inappropriate comment" to someone in a restaurant; wielding a fake gun on the Interstate clearly qualifies as worse behavior.

Johnson has something else going against him. He's not a starter.

It's apparent what Fulmer's next step should be. He has to make toy stores off limits to the team. You're just asking for trouble when you hang out in places like that.

There's also a lesson to be learned: Recruit more defensive backs.

My incident list, which is up to 67 players, includes 16 defensive backs. Running backs are second with 12 and defensive linemen are third with 11. Obviously, the more incidents you have, the more attrition you're likely to have.

It's worth noting that two of those defensive backs were carrying handguns, and a third was in the hotel room when a linebacker pulled a gun on a prostitute. So even if Johnson is proven guilty as charged, progress has been made.

At least, they're not packing real guns anymore.