who owned the dog since it was two months old. "He came through it all real well and was always rearing to go. He was a great mascot." Smokey VIII died on March 17, 2006 after suffering complications from high blood pressure and kidney disease. Smokey IX began his post at the 2004 Peach Bowl and was retired in 2012. This dog was known to be somewhat feisty. In 2006 he bit an Alabama player during pregame warm-ups. An ESPN article said a Crimson Tide receiver fell on the dog when the player jumped out of bounds for a pass. The athlete-dog interaction caused a dust-up among the rivals. Alabama said Smokey bit the player but UT say Smokey only nipped, getting a little of the receiver's uniform but not breaking the man's skin. He also took a nip at one of UT's own: running on the field after halftime of the Vols' game against Georgia State, he nipped backup long snapper Matt Giampapa on the hip. Giampapa wasn't hurt, and it was thought that Smokey may have seen a towel Giampapa had and mistaken for a towel his handlers use as a dog toy. Smokey X, the current Smokey mascot, made his debut in 2013. During the week, he lives with the Hudson family. He is the first Smokey not descended from the original Smokey bloodline, but he is the first from a new Tennessee-born and bred bloodline. On game days and while attending to official mascot duties, Smokey is handled by members of UT's Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. For home games, he usually spends the weekend in the fraternity house on UT's campus. The live hound mascot has been featured in television news segments. Additionally, in 2012, the University of Tennessee Press published a book about Smokey's history, written by Tennessee sports historian Tom Mattingly and Smokey's owner, Earl Hudson (the brother-in-law of Rev. Brooks, the original owner of Smokey). Costumed Smokey The costumed version of Smokey made his debut in the 1980s. Until the late 1980s, this costume was designed as a cartoon-like orange and white dog. This version of Smokey would often drink orange juice out of a bottle to cool down, mostly because of the color of the drink. Tennessee attempted to create a more realistic looking hound costume in 1982, but the end result was panned by the students and this iteration of Smokey