Gettin’ to know you.

SOD took care of getting Tennessee players acquainted with personal hygiene.  Now Butch Jones is addressing another pesky problem.

The Knoxville Police Department opened the doors of the Phil Keith Training Facility to the Tennessee football family this past weekend and opened the eyes of the student-athletes to the day-to-day challenges officers face.

Through a variety of training and experience exercises, the Volunteers found many similarities between their preparation and reliance on teammates on the gridiron, and what the officers experience in the field.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to get out here and see what these guys do day-in and day-out,” senior quarterback Justin Worley said. “They preach some of the same things we do in terms of being a team and a family.”

Beyond the shared philosophies, the event helps foster a positive relationship between the team and the officers by building relationships between players and officers.

“It’s an opportunity for our staff, their staff, the officers and the players to get together and break down the barriers,” Knoxville Chief of Police David Rausch said of the third-annual event. “That’s the key to this whole thing, to help the players understand what we do in law enforcement and also to help our officers to interact with the players so they can see we’re all the same.”

It’s always better to be arrested by a friendly face after a bar fight, I say.

(h/t rp)

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