The Tennessee Titans brushed off rookie LeGarrette Blount's latest haymaker, blaming the heat of training-camp battle for his swing at a teammate earlier this week.
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But it's not the first time Blount has lost his cool on the field. Evidently, it's not even the second.
Two of Blount's former University of Oregon teammates and an ex-assistant told *The Oregonian* on Thursday that the running back also took a swing at two Ducks teammates during a 2008 practice. Unfortunately for then-Ducks coach Mike Bellotti, Blount's punch connected with him instead.
According to the newspaper, defensive back Jairus Byrd, now with the Buffalo Bills, and linebacker Jerome Boyd, now with the Oakland Raiders, grabbed Blount and pushed him to the sideline. That led to a scuffle, which Bellotti tried to break up, but he took a punch to the side of his face after Blount's wild windup toward Byrd and Boyd missed.
All three players were kicked out of practice but not disciplined, The Oregonian reported.
Bellotti, now a college football analyst for ESPN, denied the report. Bellotti told the network that the players pushed and shoved each other, but no punches were thrown by anyone.
Blount is trying to rehabilitate his image after his infamous sucker punch of Boise State's Byron Hout during a 2009 game drew an eight-game suspension from Oregon. Blount seemed to hit a speed bump on that road Wednesday when he punched teammate Erik Bakhtiari during an intense practice.
Blount apologized for the incident, but Titans coach Jeff Fisher said it wasn't necessary. Fisher also isn't worried about Blount's background coming back to haunt him.
"His past is his past," the coach said. "Is that the first punch you've seen in camp this year? No. I'm not disappointed whatsoever. I have great confidence in the young man that he learned from his mistake, and he's very competitive. That's why we brought him in here is to watch him run the football like that."
Blount said he apologized to Fisher because he had promised the coach his fighting days were behind him.
"That was my past. It just came up again," Blount said. "I got into one of those situations where the defense pushed me too far. With training camp and everything going the way it is and being as intense as it is and me being a rookie, it was just something I shouldn't have done. But I did it."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
