Not long after a report of improper benefits put some heat on Tennessee's Mo Couch, the heat apparently got to him.
A Yahoo! Sports report implicated five college football players, including Couch, for accepting improper benefits from agents. In such cases, players can lose eligibility due to NCAA rules violations, and institutions can also be held accountable if the NCAA determines they did not handle knowledge of violations properly.
A short time after the story broke, according to this report from allfortennessee.com, UT coach Butch Jones said Couch would be unavailable for this week's Oregon game due to heat exhaustion. Is that a smoke screen designed to get Couch off the field while the Volunteers investigate his eligibility status?
Who's to say?
But a player being declared unavailable for a game due to heat exhaustion four days before the game takes place is, at the least, extremely uncommon.
Couch is the only one of the five players named in the report who is currently active in the college game. The others include former Alabama offensive lineman D.J. Fluker, former Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray and former Mississippi State starters Fletcher Cox and Chad Bumphis.
Couch has recorded four tackles, two for loss, and one sack, in the Volunteers' 2-0 start to the season. UT plays at Oregon Saturday.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.