Leading up to any NFL draft, it’s quite common to see programs tout the former players they’ve helped achieve the ultimate dream of being drafted and making millions of dollars playing at the game’s highest level of competition. This year was no different, although the approach Tennessee took drew plenty of ire from all sides.

If you missed it, Tennessee put out a graphic promoting several of the NFL players the current Volunteer coaching staff helped get to the NFL before they were hired in Knoxville. One of the problems with that, though, was that the majority of the players featured on the graphic played for rivals of Tennessee. When you take into account all the former Volunteers that have had their own success in the NFL, this type of graphic can ring hollow to many — especially those that have put so much into Tennessee’s program and proudly promote the fact they came thru Rocky Top before making it to the NFL.

That doesn’t even get into the issue of former players being used without their permission, which seems to be the case based on John Theus’ response. An Alabama assistant also appeared to poke fun at the graphic just before the latest NFL draft began.

Here is the original graphic Tennessee put out leading up to the 2018 NFL Draft:

To say it didn’t go over well would be an understatement.

Here is what Theus, a former Georgia offensive lineman, had to say about it:

This comment from former Tennessee sports information director Stephen K. Lee is particularly damning. He appears to call out Tennessee recruiting content director Clay Bollinger, hired by the new staff from Clemson, for the edit.

https://twitter.com/StephenKLee1/status/989290474757292032

That’s a pretty harsh response from someone that formerly resided in the football facility in Knoxville.

What did you think of Tennessee’s graphic? Was it really worth all the outrage this week?