Tennessee sophomore cornerback Bryce Thompson has been reinstated and will be allowed to practice with the team, coach Jeremy Pruitt announced Wednesday.
Thompson had been suspended indefinitely after an Aug. 24 arrest on a misdemeanor domestic assault charge. He allegedly threatened a woman in a campus dormitory, according to a police report.
“As university processes have progressed relating to Bryce Thompson, we’ve all taken this situation very seriously,” Pruitt said in a statement. “I believe Bryce can grow by following the plan the university has put in place for him. As a result, I am allowing him to return to practice.”
According to the report from the University of Tennessee police, Thompson, a freshman All-American last season, told the woman he would “slap the s— out of you,” witnesses, including the hall director, told police. One of those witnesses also told police he heard Thompson threaten to “shoot up the school.”
Thompson and the woman both told officers they have been in a relationship for four years. She said the argument began in Thompson’s dorm room after she found fake eyelashes belonging to someone else in his room and that the argument then moved to the stairwell of the dormitory.
Thompson admitted to getting into an argument with the woman, but denied any physical contact or making any threats. He was scheduled to appear in Knox County General Sessions Court on Sept. 3.