Every day, it seems, some story about a football player getting into trouble with the law shows up in the headlines. Recent scandals involving such prominent athletes as Michael Irvin and Lawrence Phillips have done nothing to decrease the stereotype of football players as being prone to criminal behavior. Just last week, Duke sophomore linebacker Brian McCormack was charged with assault following an altercation outside a Durham restaurant.
Problems like these have also recently plagued the Clemson football team-which will face the Blue Devils this Saturday-as nine players have been arrested in the past eight months.
The Tigers' troubles began when four players were arrested Feb. 20 after a woman accused them of gang-raping her. Prosecutors dropped the charges July 16 when the woman refused to testify. Of the four players-all of whom were suspended from the team at the time of the arrest-two have been reinstated and two have left school.
As a result of the rape investigation, police charged backup tailback Anthony Downs-whose apartment was the site of the alleged assault-and star wide receiver Antwuan Wyatt with possession of marijuana. Both were kicked off the team during the summer. In April, another backup tailback, Sam Zanders, was arrested for marijuana possession in relation to a separate incident. Zanders, however, remains on the Clemson roster.
Starting tailback Raymond Priester was charged with telephone fraud when he made $24 worth of calls and charged them to a stolen credit card. He claims, however, to be the victim of a scam-artist and will perform community service to clear his record.
Wide receiver Tony Horne was arrested Sept. 5 and charged with simple assault and battery after he allegedly punched another student in the face. He enrolled in a pre-trial intervention program and, like Priester, will be able to clear his record. Horne served a two-game suspension earlier in the season.
In addition, a third backup tailback, Lamont Pegues, left school during the offseason in the aftermath of an altercation that occurred in the summer of 1995 with a pregnant training-table employee. And defensive end Trevor Pryce served a two-game suspension earlier in the season for last year's unauthorized use of a university long-distance code-a move that incurred a cost of about $400. Clemson administrators froze head football coach Tommy West's salary indefinitely after he failed promptly to inform them of Pryce's violation.
In response to the off-season problems, Clemson has already implemented several new policies as part of a five-step program. Athletic director Bobby Robinson said the most significant measure is a mentoring program pairing up all first-year student athletes with faculty and staff members on a one-on-one basis-an initiative he believes to be unique to his school. The Tigers' recruiting process now has increased background checks on prospective players, and the university now requires all athletes to live on-campus with the rest of the student body.
"Nobody likes to have problems, but when you have 500 student athletes like we do, you're going to have some problems," Robinson said. "Everybody has them, but you have to do as much as you can to prevent problems and as much as you can to rectify the situation when you do have one. Obviously, we're concerned about how it reflects on the institution, and it's just important that these problems be addressed."
Indeed, the football team's off-field problems have affected the Clemson community as a whole.
"I felt a strong sense within our team. That there's embarrassment about the situations that occurred, even though they were not involved," West said,
Craig Healy, Clemson student body vice-president, said his classmates generally approved of how the players' violations were handled. West met with the student senate in early September to discuss his team's off-field problems.
Several national media reports characterized the students at the forum as "angry" and "confused." In an open letter published on the Clemson Sports home page, Cathy Sams, chief public affairs officer for Clemson, criticized these stories, as well as several others about the rape case, as "erroneous" and "careless."
Healy supported Sams' claim that West's meeting with the student senate went well.
"After it was over, the coach nearly got a standing ovation," Healy said. "Usually you don't see that type of thing with a coach willing to go to the gun like that."
Sams said she understands that when these types of incidents occur within a highly-visible program such as Clemson's, they will receive a lot of publicity.
Duke football coach Fred Goldsmith agreed, but added that he feels this close scrutiny creates a false impression of football players as delinquents.
"I don't buy all this stuff about, for instance, the violence in football makes them be violent with their girlfriends," Goldsmith said. "When I was coming up, the game was a lot tougher than it is today and you didn't hear about this stuff."
The Tigers have started the season with a somewhat disappointing 2-3 record, which includes blowout losses to No. 3 Florida State and No. 13 North Carolina.
"I don't think there's any question that early in the season [the off-field problems] had an effect on us," West said. "It's hard... when things are going on around you not to be affected. But you've got to be pretty mature. And I'm 42 years old and I know it was bothering me, and now you're talking about kids that are 18, 19 and 20, and so you know it had to bother them to some degree."
Still, the struggling Blue Devils shouldn't expect a let-down from the Tigers.
"Their record is really deceiving," Goldsmith said. "They looked really good against Florida State. They played two of the best teams around in Florida State and North Carolina and neither score indicates the closeness of the games. Actually, when I look at them, they may be playing as well as any time I've seen them in the last three years.
"I think whatever problems they've had off the field are not part of their football team right now."
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