Tennessee football player arrested, charged with aggravated assault

Tennessee defensive tackle Alexis Johnson was arrested on assault charges and suspended from the team only five weeks after joining Volunteers' football program.

Johnson, 20, was charged with aggravated assault and one count of false imprisonment after the Knox County Sherriff's Office said he attacked a woman he was dating in a campus apartment Sunday. He was arrested and released on bond late Wednesday.

The woman is cited in the report as telling officers the couple was "play fighthing" in the living room and then bedroom of Johnson's apartment. But quickly the game turned violent.

Johnson, listed by on the team web site at 6-4, 295, allegedly "placed his hand around the victim's throat, repeatedly choking her to the point that she could not fight back and felt she was going to pass out."

Johnson was charged with false imprisonment for not allowing the woman to leave the bedroom and threatening violence.

"The defendant attempted to repetitively touch and kiss her and she repeatedly stated that she did not want to have sex with him. (The) victim attempted to leave the bedroom and said the defendant blocked the door prohibiting her exit. While doing so, the defendant stated, 'You think I won't (expletive) you up."

Johnson signed with Tennessee in December. He was a four-star recruit from Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College.

Last week a Title IX lawsuit was filed by six women against Tennessee with claims the university "deliberately created (and creates) a hostile discriminatory sexual environment for female students." Ten former Tennessee football players are named in the suit, as are various current and former school and athletic department officials.