Three days after an arrest on a felony theft charge, Cameron Clear has seen his time as a Tennessee Volunteer football player come to an abrupt but not unexpected end.
UT head coach Derek Dooley announced late Friday morning that the tight end has been dismissed from the football team, effective immediately.
“It hurts anytime a player is dismissed from the program, but there comes a time when a player’s actions dictate that his privilege of being a part of this team should be removed,” said Dooley in a statement. “We will continue to support Cam and his family to help him learn from his actions and become the person and player I believe he has the potential to be.”
Clear was arrested by campus police Tuesday afternoon and charged with felony theft of more than $1,000 and less than $10,000. He’s alleged to have stolen a MacBook Pro from the dorm room of a Vols baseball player May 19.
The sophomore was arrested after UT police became aware that he had logged onto the university’s network using the stolen laptop, and caught the alleged thief with the MacBook sitting in his lap at an on-campus establishment.
As a true freshman in 2011, Clear started two of the 12 games in which he played. The 6-6, 283-pounder had just one reception for four yards. He was listed as the No. 2 TE on the Vols’ post-spring depth chart and was in line to compete for the starting job entering summer camp.
Coming out of Memphis as a four-star member of UT’s 2011 recruiting class, Clear was the No. 2 player at any position in the state of Tennessee and the No. 18 offensive tackle in the country according to Rivals.com.
(Photo credit: Tennessee athletics)