Player ‘Punched’ for Helping Rape Victim

According to a lawsuit, University of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones allegedly called one of his players “a traitor to the team” for helping a woman who said she was raped by two other players. In a phone call, Jones also reportedly told Drae Bowles, a sophomore and wide receiver, that he “betrayed the team” for helping her call 911 after he found his friend hyperventilating and crying in a parking lot. The woman is identified as Jane Doe IV, and she’s part of a new legal filing in a lawsuit involving six women against the school. In addition to his alleged phone conversations with the coach in November 2014, Bowles was reportedly beaten and punched in the mouth by a teammate as “retribution” for providing the assistance, The Tennessean reported. Bowles transferred to another school after the alleged incidents. Jones has denied the allegations and called them “false attacks” on his character. Two new women who claim they were sexually assaulted by football players at the school joined the new lawsuit on Wednesday, bringing the total number of accusers to eight.