Kiffin defends '11 months'

Tennessee first-year coach Lane Kiffin offered an explanation for those questioning his recent claim about his football team's spotless police record.

"When I said 'incidents', the conversation was dealing with arrests and we had not had any arrests in 11 months and 11 days," Kiffin said Wednesday.

Kiffin made the claim about UT's record Nov. 12 when asked about three Vols - receiver Nu'Keese Richardson and defensive backs Mike Edwards and Janzen Jackson - who were arrested for attempted armed robbery.

Kiffin was questioned about the specifics of his statement after news broke Tuesday about Nyshier Oliver's citation for theft by shoplifting at Dillard's department store hours before the Vols played a home against Memphis on Nov. 7. It was five days before Kiffin's claim.

The freshman defensive back was cited to appear in court Nov. 23.

Kiffin said he did not believe Oliver was arrested. That would have made his statement about his team's police record valid.

"He was not arrested," Kiffin said about Oliver, who wasn't allowed to dress for the Memphis game, "and we dealt with it internally."

Kiffin said he doesn't like using the word "arrest".

"Sometimes I say 'No arrests in 11 months,' " Kiffin said. "Sometimes I say 'No incidents.' "

Kiffin said Oliver has responded well to the internal discipline he received.

"He's doing great," Kiffin said. "He's doing extremely well in school and he's working extremely hard as a redshirt."

Oliver has not played this season and will redshirt. He was mistakenly listed on utsports.com as having played against Alabama.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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