former top247 defensive end prospect dewayne hendrixs departure from tennessee after only one semester was an unfortunate situation, vols defensive line coach steve stripling told govols247 on tuesday.
Stripling loved hendrixs ability, though, saying earlier this season that hendrix was arguably a better pure athlete than fellow vols true freshman derek barnett, who has been on several all-sec and freshman all-america teams after setting ut freshman records with 20.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks this season.
With barnett and all-sec junior curt maggitt (11 sacks this season) serving as the primary bookends and sophomores corey vereen and latroy lewis getting most of the reserve reps, hendrix frustratingly spent most of his time on the bench and told coaches he wanted a fresh start somewhere else next season.
Stripling said everyone definitely wanted hendrix to stay, but the player had other ideas.
it is frustrating, stripling said. i appreciate what he did for us, and i wish him the best, but is frustrating. I think, you know, perseverance is a word thats easy to say and hard to do sometimes. Thats what its all about.
