Oh, what a night. As Friday became Saturday, news broke that senior cornerback Devin Butler had been arrested for battering a police officer and resisting arrest outside The ‘Backer. Then, just when you thought it was safe to go back on Twitter, five (!) more players were introduced to their Miranda rights: sophomore running back Dexter Williams, sophomore lineback Te’von Coney, sophomore cornerback Ashton White, freshman receiver Kevin Stepherson, and senior safety Max Redfield. Their arrests followed a traffic stop in which speeding and a bogue taillight allowed the introduction of a narcotics dog to some amount of marijuana and a handgun.
Since we don’t know the details of the arrests, I recognize that this article is, well, to be polite, speculative. We don’t know whose gun it was or the quantity of the marijuana, if anyone was actively smoking, or why, other than Long Island Iced Tea, Butler had a go at the po-po.
But if turns out that Max Redfield knew about the leaf or the gun or the speeding, this could, and in my opinion, should, be the end of the road, insofar as his Notre Dame football career is concerned. Having been sent home from the Fiesta Bowl for disciplinary reasons, the senior should have learned his lesson, and also set a far better example to the younger players he was with.
For the others, you can safely bet that suspensions are in order. Sadly, The Irish have good templates for dealing with these exact cases. “Kneeing a cop? Commence Plan Tommy Rees! Speeding and tree? Hand me the Ragone file!” If the game against Texas was already fraught with difficulty for Notre Dame, these hits to the two-deep won’t help.
A lot more detail will come out over the next few days and everyone needs to remember that whatever happens to the players in the criminal justice system, the University’s justice system will mete out its own punishments. If any of the players ultimately catch a felony charge, expulsion is very much a possibility.
It looks like Notre Dame’s offseason traditions do indeed continue.
- Finding Flaws in a Diamond: Clemson’s Rushing Offense - December 17, 2018
- Why Nobody Will Cotton to Notre Dame - December 3, 2018
- Irish Finish Regular Season Perfect 12-0 - November 26, 2018
Irisize
Catholic convicts!
TERRY
How long have you ben waiting to say that?
Be honest
Noel St Pierre
Wow, I’m sure there are a lot of kids who genuinely want a great education and play for Notre Dame. Not good all all.
TERRY
One of the reasons – perhaps the ONLY reason that the haters hate us so much, is the simple fact that we hold players to a higher standard – academically and personally, and in proclaiming that out loud we sound more than a bit ostentatious, which in turn leads to situations like this, when the haters have a clear target in their sights to fire at.
So – haters- this is YOUR TIME.
At Notre Dame there is a 96% graduation rate among student athletes, but there are those who fall by the wayside. ND does not abandon them – the University does all it can to help them, but there are times when enough is enough.
Academics and integrity are more important than athletic success and they last longer – for a lifetime.