In early 2009, ESPN's Chris Low wrote a story about South Carolina signee Alshon Jeffery, a wide receiver who would go on to become a second round NFL draft pick (he also reached a Pro Bowl). 

Jeffery and his high school coach, Walter Wilson, told Low that Lane Kiffin, who had just recently been hired at Tennessee to replace Phillip Fulmer, made a last-minute recruiting pitch that involved Kiffin telling Jeffery that if he signed with South Carolina, he'd end up pumping gas for the rest of his life. 

From ESPN: Kiffin was equally dogged. But when it was obvious that Jeffery wasn't going to Tennessee, Kiffin took off the gloves.

According to Jeffrey and Wilson, Kiffin told Jeffery that if he chose the Gamecocks, he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina.

Jeffery was doing his best to stay awake at that point, but that comment from Kiffin woke him up. He clearly hasn't forgotten it, either.

"He said it, but it's not worth talking about," Jeffery said.

Wilson was a little more diplomatic. He wrote it off as Kiffin pulling out all of the stops and simply not wanting to concede defeat. Wilson acknowledged that's about as negative as it got that morning.

Jeffery was an All-American and a First-Team All-SEC player at South Carolina. And he spent nine seasons in the NFL (Jeffery won a Super Bowl with the Eagles while catching three passes for 73 yards and a touchdown in the win against the New England Patriots). 

A far cry from pumping gas, right? 

Maybe it wasn't Lane Kiffin who made the pumping gas comment…

Last week, just a week and a half before Tennessee takes on South Carolina in Knoxville, Jeffery was in Columbia for his jersey retirement ceremony. 

Jeffery met with reporters ahead of the jersey retirement to answer a few questions. And the Kiffin story was unsurprisingly mentioned. 

The former South Carolina wide receiver took a moment before answering the question, eventually telling a story about seeing Kiffin in Tampa a few years after the comment was made. 

Jeffery then made the admission that he didn't think Kiffin was the person who actually made the comment. 

“I actually saw Kiffin a couple of years later in Tampa, he was with his dad," said Jeffery. "We didn’t really talk, but he was telling his dad, ‘that’s Alshon right there’. It was kind of a weird interaction. But, I think he got most of the blame. I can’t say for sure it was him. I believe it was someone else who said that, though.”

Now we gotta know who made the comment (my money is on Ed Orgeron, who was the Vols' defensive line coach at the time). And why did Kiffin get the blame all these years? (To be fair, it does sound like something Lane would've said in 2009.) 

We may never know the real truth, but hopefully Lane will provide some insight into one of the most famous recruiting moments in SEC history. 

The Tennessee fan base needs to learn an important lesson from a team the Vols destroyed last season

It’s an important lesson for Volunteers fans

Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK