‘Shocked’: Ty Washington talks after getting dismissed from Razorback football team

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Days after his dismissal from the Razorback football team, former tight end Ty Washington is speaking out about the events leading to him getting kicked off the team.

On Monday, head coach Sam Pittman announced Washington and Var’Keyes Gumms were no longer on the team due to a violation of team rules.

Washington joined former Razorback tight end D.J. Williams on his “4th and 5 Podcast” to give his side of the story.

Williams asked Washington how he felt after being let go and said he was overwhelmed.

Pittman announces tight ends Var’Keyes Gumms and Ty Washington are off team

“Still going through day by day trying to get my schedule. It’s weird not being a football player and having practice,” Washington said. “You’d wake up and know your day is scheduled. Now I’m not really knowing what I want to do with my day.”

Washington said this is how it happened.

He said before the Mississippi State game, Washington heard from a cousin that his grandmother is in bad health and “on hospice basically.”

“During the game, [the coaches] asked me to go in in the fourth quarter and I told [Morgan Turner] no,” Washington said. “I said I’m not going in and I spoke to the player development guy and I told him I’m not okay and I need counseling. He told me to try to work it out and just fight through it on the field and go back into the game and then we’ll talk about it on Monday in the meetings and stuff.”

Washington said he told Turner “Okay” and told the coaches he was ready to go back into the game.

He continued saying the other tight ends that were playing, Luke Hasz and Andreas Paaske, were playing well and the Razorbacks were in control of the game.

Sam Pittman wanting Hogs to put wins back-to-back

“To be honest, I didn’t think that I needed to go in to just try to fight through something and look bad or mess up the team in general when I’m already going through something mentally,” Washington said.

Washington said met with Pittman after an offensive coaches meeting had ended and some of the coaches didn’t want to say anything to him.

“I was ready to talk about me and my mental [health] because I found out things that I shouldn’t have found out before a game and it really messed me up mentally,” Washington said.

Williams asked Washington if there was anything he could have done differently.

“I would probably go to my tight ends coach earlier and ask him why they were doing what they were doing and how they were moving. He called me in going into Mississippi State after LSU and was just like ‘I’m sorry, my communication was bad. I should’ve told you what was going on during the week. You just seem frustrated.’ Me, I was frustrated because of the way things were getting handled. But that doesn’t have anything to do with my play,” Washington said.

Washington said he understood why Pittman did what he did, but wished it was handled differently. He then apologized to Razorback fans and his teammates.

“If I could go back and take it back, I would, but I can’t. The only thing that I can basically do now is move on and go with how things are moving now,” Washington said. “But, it’s always love for Razorback nation to be honest.”

Luke Hasz coming off big game against Bulldogs

Washington said he is now focused on graduation and staying in shape.

When asked if he would consider returning to Arkansas, he said “Probably not.”

Pittman said during his media availability on Monday that neither Washington nor Gumms had the opportunity to return.

During his time at Arkansas, Washington played in 21 games and made 14 catches for 212 yards and four touchdowns.

The full interview can be found below.