Texas safety Christian Scott’s status for the upcoming season has been up in the air since he was arrested in early August on an assault charge related to the repossession of his car. Monday Scott pled no contest to the misdemeanor charges and received deferred adjudication, probation, and community service for his crime. As is standard operating procedure, Texas coach Mack Brown waited for the legal matter to be settled before handing down the team punishment of a 3 game suspension on Tuesday night.

From Mack Brown: “We’re disappointed any time one of our players makes a poor decision, and Christian understands he made a mistake. He has taken responsibility, is accepting the consequences of his actions and has returned to the team.” (via)

Scott was a starting safety last season but had been passed on the depth chart this fall by Kenny Vaccaro. When he returns to the team he will provide valuable veteran depth to the a very young secondary.

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Wide receiver [tag]Brandon Collins[/tag] is done as a Texas Longhorn. After missing the 2009 season due to academic troubles, Collins was arrested on felony assault charges Saturday and then immediately dismissed from the team Sunday when Mack Brown learned of the news. Collins’ career at Texas was already on thin ice due to various academic and character problems.

More information on Collins’ arrest from KVUE.com:

Collins was arrested after an alleged aggravated assault at a Pflugerville Mcdonald’s. Dispatchers got a call at 2:36 p.m. Saturday from a man who said he had been robbed at gunpoint in the McDonald’s parking lot. He said he had been waiting there to meet an old friend, Marcus Caruth, 19. The victim told police a black male ran up to him with a gun and demanded money from him. He identified the man as Caruth.

The victim says Caruth ran back to a silver Chrysler Sebring convertible with a black top and Texas license plates and it drove off.

Officers later spotted a vehicle matching the victim’s description, stopped the car in the 1800 block of W. Pecan St. and detained the occupants.

The back right passenger was identified as Caruth, the front passenger as Ashton Collins, 25, and the driver as Brandon Collins, 20. Officers found a loaded pistol under the front right seat and a small amount of marijuana and a substance believed to be hashish in the car.

Caruth and Brandon Collins told police they had arranged the meeting with the victim to buy marijuana. Although the victim stated that Caruth was the man who had attacked him and with a gun, both Caruth and Brandon Collins said it was Collins who approached the victim and he, at no time, had a gun. They both said Ashton Collins was the only person who had a gun.

Expected to be the number two guy behind [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] this year, I was hoping Collins could get his head on straight and be a reliable veteran option for new QB [tag]Garrett Gilbert[/tag] in 2010. Fortunately the Horns have seen flashes from returning wide receivers [tag]Malcolm Williams[/tag], [tag]Marquise Goodwin[/tag], and [tag]James Kirkendoll[/tag]. The fact that the Texas coaches are bringing six high school commits at the position, including the state’s number one wideout Darius White who committed yesterday.

Collins may no longer be a Longhorn, but let’s hope the young man realizes his potential and can get his life together before it’s too late.

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During this week’s Monday press conference Texas head coach [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] discusses the events of DJ Monroe’s arrest, the fact that he went out after bed check, and also what the next steps will be.

(via Statesman)

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Just a freshman, DJ Monroe already has two kick returns for touchdowns. (Image: Zimbio)

Just a freshman, DJ Monroe already has two kick returns for touchdowns. (Image: Zimbio)

It wasn’t all good news for the Texas football team over the weekend. Kick returner and running back [tag]DJ Monroe[/tag] was arrested early Sunday morning in Hays County and charged with driving while intoxicated. Monroe, a redshirt freshman from Angleton, is only 20 years old.

On Sunday evening Texas head coach [tag]Mack Brown[/tag] announced that Monroe had been suspended indefinitely and released the following statement on the arrest:

“We’re disappointed anytime one of our players is accused of wrongdoing. We’re aware of the situation involving DJ Monroe. We have talked to DJ and his family and have decided to suspend him indefinitely, pending the completion of the legal process.”

Depending on the circumstances, previous DWI arrests have led to suspensions ranging from one to three games. My guess is Monroe will get the stiffer penalty and be forced to sit out through the end of the regular season and Big 12 Championship game. He would then be able to return for the team’s bowl appearance.

We all make mistakes and while DWI is a very serious offense, the Texas fanbase should be patient to wait for the full details before condemning Monroe. He will almost assuredly get a second chance and hopefully he will learn from this mistake and grow from it. From a team standpoint, they’ll put [tag]Jordan Shipley[/tag] back on kickoffs now so there should not be any drop off in that department. Hopefully, for a team hitting on all cylinders and with an eye towards a national title something like this does not become a distraction.

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Texas baseball coach [tag]Augie Garrido[/tag] was arrested last weekend for driving while intoxicated, on Friday he was suspended from four games this season by Texas athletic director [tag]DeLoss Dodds[/tag]. The two men spoke in front of reporters yesterday, Dodds expressing his confidence in Garrido and Garrido his heartfelt remorse for his mistake. Watch below:

A four game suspension might not send a strong enough message to Texas athletes but Coach Garrido’s emotions and regret are real. He deserves a second chance and hopefully he takes advantage of it. The 2009 Texas baseball season will be one where both Garrido and the team need to bounce back.

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Posted November 13th, 2008 by Brian
Filed under: Football, Media

Feel free to have your own opinion of what Buck Burnette’s punishment should have been and whether a mistake that destroys a team is worse than other criminal offenses, but at least don’t base it on “facts” that you made up yourself.

Read the story below from SI.com, no link because they don’t deserve it:

Crime and punishment at Texas
Bill Trocchi

Sorry if I’m late on this topic, but let me get this straight.

Texas linebacker [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] was arrested for driving while intoxicated in the summer of 2007 and got a three-game suspension.

Texas defensive end [tag]Henry Melton[/tag] was arrested for driving while intoxicated in the summer of 2007 and got a three-game suspension.

Texas defensive tackle [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] was arrested for driving while intoxicated in September and got a one-game suspension. Here’s a link on all three arrests.

Texas center Buck Burnette posted a text message he received from a friend that contained a racial slur directed at Barack Obama on his Facebook page and was dismissed from the team.

Huh?

Ah, now I see. Look at the depth chart. Kindle, Melton and Houston all start. Burnette was a backup. Hmmmm.

Clearly, discipline needed to be handed out in all four cases. But the Facebook incident is by far the least punishable. Offensive? Yes. Stupid? Yes. Endangering the lives of others? No.

You can’t suspend a guy for one game after a DWI arrest and dismiss another for a Facebook racial slur. It is an insincere attempt to show you run such a clean and virtuous a program that you boot (backup) players when they post stupid, racially insensitive remarks on a Facebook page.

And then you hope nobody notices you start three drunk drivers on defense.

Let’s review those facts…

  • Melton, Kindle, and Houston received lighter punishments because they’re starters. – Actually only Houston was a starter at the time of his arrest. Kindle was a second stringer who mainly saw time on special teams while Melton was buried on the depth chart after switching to defense from running back.
  • “The Facebook incident is by far the least punishable.” – Actually, threatening the life of the President is a federal offense, but it doesn’t sound like he knew what Burnette actually said. Just today a Spring man was sentenced to 30 months in jail for threatening George W. Bush and another man faces up to 35 years in jail for threats he made on Internet message boards. Sounds pretty serious to me. The first DWI offense in Texas is punishable with up to 180 days in jail.
  • Backups don’t matter so it’s okay to punish them. – With the injury this week to starting center [tag]Chris Hall[/tag] the importance of backups is even more clear. Texas will be starting a true freshman at center against [tag]Kansas[/tag] instead of Burnette.

I can see that he’s easily confused.

I’m not sure what fact checking Sports Illustrated does of their FanNation blog, but this article should have never gone up. Despite repeated corrections to the article being posted by commenters the original story still hasn’t been updated or corrected.

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Posted September 25th, 2008 by Brian
Filed under: Feature, Football

Cedric Benson

Cedric Benson

Two separate grand juries Thursday ruled there was not enough evidence against former Longhorn and former Chicago Bears running back [tag]Cedric Benson[/tag] to proceed to trial. All charges against Benson stemming from his two alcohol-related arrests early this summer have now been dropped. Travis County Attorney David Escamilla told the Austin American-Statesman that both cases had weaknesses. “The boating while intoxicating case lacked a field-sobriety test,” Escamilla said. “The second one, in the video on the DWI, he appeared very good on the video.”

Benson has not commented today but Sam Bassett, Benson’s Austin-based attorney did speak to several media outlets. “I hope that this situation reminds us all that not every person who is arrested for a crime is guilty,” Bassett said. “This means that there was a finding by the grand juries that there was no probable cause to believe that Cedric Benson was guilty of a crime.”

Now that his legal matters are behind him Cedric will continue to try to get back into the NFL. He has worked out for several teams over the last several weeks but with two sets of criminal charges hanging over him NFL GMs were appropriately cautious. He hasn’t lived up to his billing so far, but he’ll get his second chance somewhere to make the most of his career and more importantly his life.

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Posted August 31st, 2008 by Brian
Filed under: Football

Texas starting defensive tackle [tag]Lamarr Houston[/tag] was arrested and charged with drunken driving early Sunday morning. He was involved in a minor traffic accident at 3am in Austin and failed a field sobriety test given to him by police officers on the scene. Houston was taken to the Travis County Jail and charged with driving while intoxicated.

Mack Brown released an official statement on Houston’s arrest earlier today:

“We’re aware of Lamarr’s situation and are disappointed anytime one of our players is accused of wrongdoing. We take a strong stance against drinking and driving and will thoroughly investigate this situation,” said coach Mack Brown . “Following the completion of the legal process, we will do what’s best for the university, Lamarr and the team. One thing we have really prided ourselves on in our program is our family atmosphere, and this will be handled within our family.”

Since that statement word has come down that Houston will miss at least next week’s game with [tag]UTEP[/tag]. No official information yet on if Houston will miss additional games. Lamarr is a young man with no previous issues and has twice been on the AD’s Honor Roll. Last year Sergio Kindle and Henry Melton were each given three game suspensions under similar circumstance, so the depending on the situation Houston would likely be back by the start of conference play against Colorado at the latest.

Let’s hope Lamarr has learned from his mistake and never gets behind the wheel drunk again. An arrest and a suspension are a light punishment considering the chances you’re taking with your own life and others when you drink and drive.

Source

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Andre Jones, suspended from Texas football team, will transfer to UTEP. I hope he earns the second chance he’s getting.

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Andre Jones sentenced, wants back on team. I hope he finds a place to restart his life, I’m not sure that’s at Texas.

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