Tennessee's coach says a player's retirement announcement was actually just about video games

On Sunday, Tennessee redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Jonathan Kongbo sent a sort of cryptic tweet that many (including me, honestly) thought was a quiet, Marshawn Lynch-ish retirement announcement.

People thought that Kongbo was announcing he was done playing football. That wasn’t an unreasonable opinion, given that Kongbo is a football player.

“Cryptic tweet casts doubt on future of Tennessee DL Jonathan Kongbo,” read one headline. “Jonathan Kongbo muddies future with Vols,” read another. We wrote about Tennessee’s ugly couple of days, including the transfer of running back Jalen Hurd, and referenced the tweet, too. This is the world we live in.

So, what was going on here?

Not much, apparently.

Look closer, and those are, indeed, soccer cleats. It adds up.

I, too, have gotten dramatic after upsetting FIFA losses, so I understand where Kongbo was coming from. There were moments when I was in college, not long ago, when I lost FIFA games and acted out by throwing controllers at my roommates. Sometimes, I made a public show of my sadness and/or anger, because these things are performative. It’s just how they are.

FIFA has a substantial emotional effect on many people. Joking about the seriousness of video games is fun and good, no matter what we all thought this tweet was before.