Death Threats and College Football

Recently, Jonathan Crompton of Tennessee has noted that he has been threatened in the past. The Vols had a mediocre 5-7 season in 2008, and Crompton’s cell phone number and email address circulated (to his annoyance, I’m sure). Some of the calls he got were just pranks…but he also got a few death threats. Says Crompton,

“I really didn’t talk about it that much,” he said. “You don’t say ‘Poor me.’ “

He also admitted that he’d been confronted face-to-face a number of times, and someone wrote negative comments about him on his parent’s mail.He reportedly never told UT staff that he’d been threatened or was otherwise being disturbed by unhappy fans.

Jonathan Crompton, Image: Newscom

Being a part of a losing team couldn’t have felt good, but at the same time, this makes me question whether we don’t put too much pressure on students.

“It would get tough going to class,” said Crompton. “You wouldn’t hear what people were saying but you would hear people whispering…It was tough, I’m not going to lie. When you’re faced with adversity, your true character comes out – as a person, as a student, as a Christian. It tested me.”

Remember, these are real people we’re talking about when we criticize players. We all get a bit riled up from time to time, and as fans, we shouldn’t have to sugar-coat things. But death threats? Come on, people.