Ten Minnesota football players suspended

vegasvice

vegasvice

Well-Known Member
http://www.startribune.com/ten-gophers-football-players-indefinitely-suspended/406406736/


looks like only one starter from Phil Steele's preseason mag but a bunch of the backups at CB and Safety. Wash State is the team that can take advantage of a thin secondary.

if the suspensions continue through the Gophers’ upcoming bowl game against the Washington State Cougars, Minnesota’s defense would be without their starting safety (Winfield) and three of their top four cornerbacks (Hardin, Shenault, Buford) against one of the top passing offenses in the country.

Buford has 16 total tackles this season; Djam has 33 rushing yards; Hardin has 32 punt return yards and is tied for the team lead with 3 interceptions; McCrary is fourth on the team with 242 rushing yards; Shenault has 32 total tackles and 32 punt return yards; Winfield has 52 total tackles and a pick-6.
 
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Ten Gophers football players have been suspended indefinitely from all team activities, the University of Minnesota announced Tuesday.
The suspended players are Ray Buford, Carlton Djam, Seth Green, KiAnte Hardin, Dior Johnson, Tamarion Johnson, Kobe McCrary, Antonio Shenault, Mark Williams and Antoine Winfield Jr.

Pretty much the entire secondary is suspended. Stems from the same incident from Sept. when 4 players were suspended for 3 games. The rest of these guys were apparently in the apartment when the incident occurred.
 
Looks to me like 3 of the top 6 DBs are out. They still have their top CB Myrick and would appear ok at safety even without Winfield who is a key player but McGhee has played and started alot as has Travis. The losses to 2nd and 3rd CB will be tough to deal with.

CBs Buford and Hardin were suspended for 3 games early in the year and then reinstated. Now that they are suspended again, for the same thing, they could appeal and it is possible they could be reinstated if the appeal goes in their favor, but probably won't be as the school would have to admit they were wrong...like they would do that.

It has to be a distraction as the incident in question did not result in any criminal charges and the players served a punishment, now the school decides to punish them further with no new evidence or claims/charges. Would have to think it is a hot topic of discussion among the remaining players and even parents... "man that is bullshit", "fuck that AD", "screw them"...I'm guessing could be some of the feelings of current players and friends of the suspended ones. There may be lawsuits from the player's attorney against the University.
 
5 of the 10 are up for expulsion. the other 5 are up for 1 year suspension from school. They can appeal all they want but nothing will come from it, most likely.

There will be lawsuits but nothing will be settled prior to the game. Myrick is their best corner and he's playing, but the guy that subbed in for Buford earlier this year is terrible. Wazzou will have a field day IMO. Only chance for Gophers is to try to pound the run game but if Wazzou gets up early with a DD lead by HT, this game gets ugly in the 2nd half IMO if Leidner needs to throw the ball.
 
Sources have told the Star Tribune the University of Minnesota football players will threaten a boycott of the team’s bowl game in protest of 10 players being suspended from the team Tuesday in the latest fallout of a September sexual assault investigation.
The Gophers had a players-only meeting Thursday and later brought in head coach Tracy Claeys to inform him of their plans, sources said. According to two parents of players, all of the team’s players are planning a united announcement Thursday evening to say they will boycott the Holiday Bowl if “their demands are not met” — a reference to their disagreement with the decision to suspend the 10 players.
 
That's from a Minnesota Tribune article. Have some alumni friends that are freaking out. Really hope the game is played.
 
Too much money involved that would impact too many people for a game not to get played, IMO. They may threaten and it may work to exact some type of change but I would be shocked if they didn't play.
 
You know what would be interesting.. If holiday bowl takes them at their word and reneg bowl invite and just give it to Northern Illinois, next highest rated APR 5-7
 
CrimsonK said:
You know what would be interesting.. If holiday bowl takes them at their word and reneg bowl invite and just give it to Northern Illinois, next highest rated APR 5-7
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It would be for sure. Would be great...call their bluff.
 
I don't think Tracy Claeys is a good football coach and I think he was a terrible decision for the university to keep him on. This tweet is perplexing. Ya, you are "standing with your kids" but you are defying your boss and his boss. Keep your mouth shut. I'm not pretending to know the details of what happened with all of this but I'm not sure how any of it qualifies as making the world a better place unless he truly thinks gang bangs and/or gang rapes are good and should continue..

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[FONT=&quot]Have never been more proud of our kids. I respect their rights & support their effort to make a better world!
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Guess i will wait until i know more. Horrible bad beat if the game gets canceled. If it does, i guess you have to revoke all their scholarships
 
CrimsonK said:
I don't think Tracy Claeys is a good football coach and I think he was a terrible decision for the university to keep him on. This tweet is perplexing. Ya, you are "standing with your kids" but you are defying your boss and his boss. Keep your mouth shut. I'm not pretending to know the details of what happened with all of this but I'm not sure how any of it qualifies as making the world a better place unless he truly thinks gang bangs and/or gang rapes are good and should continue..

[FONT=&amp][/FONT][FONT=&amp]Have never been more proud of our kids. I respect their rights & support their effort to make a better world!
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He's in a tough spot here, regardless of what he did, don't ya think? I agree it was a perplexing tweet, but he's trying to show support for his kids...because if he doesn't (or if he backs his bosses), he may end up losing the team, recruits, etc.

I'm not sure he has to think gang bangs/rapes are good or should continue either...weren't the kids already suspended this year for the same incident? He can certainly simply be backing them because they've already been punished, and now they're being punished again. I don't know that much about the situation, so I'm not saying this is gospel...just some thoughts.
 
Lareux said:
He's in a tough spot here, regardless of what he did, don't ya think? I agree it was a perplexing tweet, but he's trying to show support for his kids...because if he doesn't (or if he backs his bosses), he may end up losing the team, recruits, etc.

I'm not sure he has to think gang bangs/rapes are good or should continue either...weren't the kids already suspended this year for the same incident? He can certainly simply be backing them because they've already been punished, and now they're being punished again. I don't know that much about the situation, so I'm not saying this is gospel...just some thoughts.
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Ya, I prob should have tempered my comments as well without knowing more about what's going on.

I think exercising his 5th amendment right would have been his best course of action. Perhaps mine too :)

I don't know enough about what has gone down to comment on it procedurally and I'm unqualified prob even if I did know more. I guess I just have a hard time when I perceive this guy is advocating that kind of behavior.
 
clowncar said:
Guess i will wait until i know more. Horrible bad beat if the game gets canceled. If it does, i guess you have to revoke all their scholarships
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Wise, grasshopper.

I wish a book would put out a line on will the game be played as scheduled. I think "yes" is -250.

If all parties really hold their ground here it could seriously mark the end of the Minnesota football program. They forfeit this game you pretty much have to pull their scholly's and shut it down for a year, I think?
 
Not an expert in what happened either...but I'll be interested to hear the connection between what the minnesota players are doing and "creating a better world", lol.

Watching Tracy Claeys bungle that end of game goal line sequence against mich last year always lead me to believe that he wasn''t the brightest dude. The above quote does nothing to alter that assessment.
 
No way i could let one of those kids play ever again. All the donors, alumni, boosters, ancillary personnel, cheerleaders etc would be screwed and the university would be a mockery ....actually highlighting what at a minimum is frowned upon behavior to boot.

Just too selfish.
 
A free trip to Cali and a Holiday Bowl gift basket...come and get it NIU. Our thank you for not gang raping your fellow students.
 
clowncar said:
No way i could let one of those kids play ever again. All the donors, alumni, boosters, ancillary personnel, cheerleaders etc would be screwed and the university would be a mockery ....actually highlighting what at a minimum is frowned upon behavior to boot.

Just too selfish.
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But naming and shaming these guys who have done nothing wrong is ok?
 
I am speaking strictly about skipping/boycotting bowl. I am holding off on other determinations.
 
CrimsonK said:
Ya, I prob should have tempered my comments as well without knowing more about what's going on.

I think exercising his 5th amendment right would have been his best course of action. Perhaps mine too :)

I don't know enough about what has gone down to comment on it procedurally and I'm unqualified prob even if I did know more. I guess I just have a hard time when I perceive this guy is advocating that kind of behavior.
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More than likely, there's no way he is advocating that kind of behavior...I mean, how could he? However, perception is reality...and if you perceive it that way, chances are lots and lots of people will be perceiving it the same way. He probably shouldn't have said anything...you're right. Again though, he was in a pretty tough spot, almost a no-win situation.
 
AliShaheed said:
I think there was a restraining order in place?

Universities (at least most of them) are not fucking around when it comes to sexual assault allegations.
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Yes, but as Alan said, without charges (if that's how it went down) this is an extremely slippery slope. We all know what happened with the Duke Lacrosse players, and charges were filed in that case (weren't they?)...it's one thing to not fuck around when it comes to sexual assault, but it's another to just take someone's word for it with all of the fake stories we've seen much too often.

It wasn't sports related, but that UVA fake sexual assault case was pretty damning, with the Rolling Stone article and all that.
 
Lareux said:
Yes, but as Alan said, without charges (if that's how it went down) this is an extremely slippery slope. We all know what happened with the Duke Lacrosse players, and charges were filed in that case (weren't they?)...it's one thing to not fuck around when it comes to sexual assault, but it's another to just take someone's word for it with all of the fake stories we've seen much too often.
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Very true but I believe there needs to be some sort of justification for a restraining order to be put in place. And then the respondent can either agree to the terms and justifications of the restraining order or fight it at trial. I have no idea of the particulars in this situation...so I dunno.

Also, I think the university is within their rights to suspend an athlete from participating upon conclusion of an ongoing investigation. But again, another slippery slope. Cause then you can just throw some shit at the wall and have a player ineligible for games. Either way, I'm not sure how a boycott is the most sensible option here.
 
and didn't MN have another sex assault thing go down when jerry kill was there? maybe that's why they're coming down so hard here.

it sounds like some of the dudes suspended didn't even have any contact with the girl, but were there at the apartment.

hennepin county didn't press charges because there is video of her with the first guy that looked consensual. no video on the the other dudes, so who really knows, but she told the cops it probably wasn't consensual. i dunno, but this shit looks weird as hell.
 
clowncar said:
No way i could let one of those kids play ever again. All the donors, alumni, boosters, ancillary personnel, cheerleaders etc would be screwed and the university would be a mockery ....actually highlighting what at a minimum is frowned upon behavior to boot.

Just too selfish.
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first
Northwestern, now Minny


sooooooooooo BiG
 
To me the better play by the players would have been to take the free trip to San Diego, California, get all the swag and then just refuse to come out of the locker room. Now that would be a middle finger to the administration.
 
and a great way to treat your fans that fly to SD for the game. My buddy bought tickets about a week ago and is furious.

Nothing good coming from this. I just don't see them playing the game. They refused to meet with the president of the university this afternoon and the local news said they need to let the bowl committee know within 48 hours what they are going to do. I'm hearing N Illy is already saying they won't have time to prepare if they don't know before then.
 
There's a video. Kids video everything these days.

Best I could find on what the situation was.

According to police records released Wednesday, the woman told police she was drunk when she was sexually assaulted in Djam's apartment by several men, including some of the suspended players. She said her sexual contact with two men may have been consensual, but her contact with four of them was not. Several players told police it was consensual.

One investigator watched a video Djam took of the incident.

"She appears lucid, alert, somewhat playful, and fully conscious; she does not appear to be objecting to anything at this time. ... (She) sounds as though she is somewhat intoxicated, but is not slurring her words and is certainly conscious and aware of what is going on," he wrote. "She does not appear to be upset by the sexual activity and does not indicate that she wants it to stop ... and the sexual contact appears entirely consensual."

Buford Sr., a Detroit police officer who serves as security director to the city's mayor, said he has seen the EOAA report and that it appeared the office concluded the players were guilty, in contrast with police and prosecutors who found insufficient evidence to press charges and the judge who lifted the restraining order. He said the players who were not suspended earlier were accused of being in the apartment that night.
"Somehow this EEOA has come up with something different. ... It's beyond me. It just reeks to the high heavens," Buford Sr. said.

While prosecutors need to be able to prove a criminal case "beyond a reasonable doubt" to get a conviction, the university uses a lower standard of proof for alleged violations of its student code, requiring only that it is more likely than not that a violation occurred.
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Excerpt from here: http://www.sltrib.com/home/4714371-155/college-football-10-suspended-minnesota-players?fullpage=1

 
And this, she didn't even want them punished. I can't say how she should feel or anything, and won't say she was lying, but if I was sexually assaulted, I would want the people who did it punished.

An alleged victim from the Sept. 2 incident, who is part of the Gophers gameday operations, filed restraining orders against those four players, along with Djam, that kept the five players out of TCF Bank Stadium for the Oct. 29 Rutgers game.

The restraining orders were dismissed in a Nov. 2 settlement, which still required the players to stay 20 feet away from the alleged victim.

That day, after a morning of testimony at the Hennepin County Courthouse before Judge Mel Dickstein, the alleged victim gave a statement that said, “I’m glad this is over. This has never been about punishing anyone, I just wanted to feel safe. Because of this resolution that we came to, now I do.”

But the university’s office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA) conducted its own investigation, which led to these latest suspensions.
According to a person familiar with the case and police documents obtained by the Star Tribune, the five newly suspended players — Green, McCrary, Shenault, Williams and Winfield — were in the apartment on Sept. 2.

Hutton was still gathering details Tuesday night but said some of his clients could be facing expulsion, with others facing a one-year team suspension or probation.

http://www.startribune.com/ten-gophers-football-players-indefinitely-suspended/406406736/
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Even if absolute best case scenario that all of this was consensual...it's hard to conceive that Claeys would stand behind this type of conduct and then on top of that have the audacity to talk about making the world a better place.
 
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