Two Miami football players dismissed by university
JaWand Blue and Alexander Figueroa were thrown off team and suspended from school after being charged with sexual battery.
MIAMI - The University of Miami reacted swiftly yesterday after sexual battery charges were brought against two of its football players, immediately dismissing both from the Hurricanes team and suspending them as students.
JaWand Blue and Alexander Figueroa, both 20-year-old sophomore linebackers, are accused of getting a 17-year-old girl drunk the night of July 5 and then repeatedly raping her at an on-campus residential hall. Each is charged with sexual battery on a physically helpless victim, and Figueroa is also charged with possessing a stolen or forged driver's license.
The two turned themselves in yesterday and admitted "buying and administering several alcohol beverages" for the victim and then performing sex acts without her consent, according to a police report.
Court records did not list an attorney for either man. But University president Donna Shalala issued a statement condemning sexual assault. Shalala said she had spoken with the victim, a Miami student who was not identified.
"We have zero tolerance for sexual assault and gender-based violence," Shalala said. "There is no confusion about our responsibility as a university: We will fully and compassionately support the victim of sexual assault."
Yesterday's strong reaction by University of Miami officials comes as the U.S. Education Department conducts a civil rights probe into whether Florida State adequately investigated sexual assault allegations last year against one of its football players, quarterback Jameis Winston. The Florida State investigation resulted in no criminal charges against Winston, who won the Heisman Trophy while leading the Seminoles to the national championship.
Blue and Figueroa were jailed in lieu of $10,000 bail each and, if released, will be banned from the Miami campus.
Noteworthy
* Receiver Will Mahone has no chance of returning to Notre Dame while facing felony charges of assault on a police officer, intimidation of a public servant and vandalism, his attorney said.
Attorney James Gentile said he hopes to get the felony charges against Mahone reduced to misdemeanors before a July 23 preliminary hearing.
Police in Austintown, Ohio, about 70 miles southeast of Cleveland, say that when they responded to reports of a fight on June 14 they found Mahone punching and head butting vehicles and trying to fight several people. Officers said the 20-year-old Mahone appeared highly intoxicated and yelled obscenities, threatened to kill the officers and struck one officer with his head.
* Southern California defensive lineman Kenny Bigelow is out for the season after tearing his right ACL during non-contact drills in a voluntary workout. The redshirt freshman was expected to compete for a starting spot.
In other news, former Trojans football coach Pete Carroll is one of 16 people who have been named to schools hall of fame. Carroll, who won the Super Bowl this year with the Seattle Seahawks, coached the Trojans from 2001-09 winning two national championships.
Among the other inductees are former football and baseball coach Jack Del Rio, baseball player Mark Prior and golfer Jennifer Rosales.