Into its second week, Kentucky football's fall camp was progressing rather swimmingly. Will Levis had won the starting quarterback competition. Izayah Cummings' move to tight end was earning rave reviews. Defensive coaches were bragging on UK's freshmen linebacking duo.
Then up popped trouble. News broke Thursday afternoon that six UK football players were charged with first-degree burglary in relation to an alleged altercation at an off-campus fraternity party in March. In addition, one of the six, defensive back Vito Tisdale, was charged with wanton endangerment after being accused of pointing a handgun at one of the victims.
The six — Reuben "RJ" Adams, JuTahn McClain, Andru Phillips, Earnest Sanders IV, Joel Williams and Tisdale — pleaded not guilty at their Friday arraignments in Fayette District Court. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
This is where a college football head coach earns the big bucks.
For Kentucky, that's Mark Stoops. After eight years of just a few minor off-the-field incidents, the UK program has suffered a series of embarrassing headlines. Earlier this month, wide receivers coach Jovon Bouknight pleaded guilty to speeding and an open container charge from May 8, but had a DUI charge dismissed. Earlier this week, an assault charge was dismissed against Stoops' chief of staff Dan Berezowitz, who remains under suspension.
The player problem is a stickier wicket. We're just two weeks away from the start of the season, Sept. 4 against Louisiana Monroe. None of the six involved is a projected starter, but several are expected to be significant contributors. Meanwhile, there are many questions to be answered.
Stoops released a statement Thursday that, after the incident, the players were held out of team activities — 11 weeks, Stoops indicated Saturday — until cleared by a UK student conduct board. So what changed between March 6 and the decision by police to issue charges on Aug. 19?
Was there a racial component involved, as has been alleged in some quarters? And what of the fraternity, Alpha Sigma Phi, involved in the alleged incidents? The Herald-Leader's Jeremy Chisenhall reported that the fraternity was given one year of disciplinary probation by UK's Office of Student Conduct for "various violations" tied to the party.
As of last Tuesday's practice, which was open to the media, all six players were still participating in drills. (McClain was limited by an injury.) But after Saturday's scrimmage, Stoops said that the six are now being held out.
"I'm not sure when they'll be back," he said. "The legal process needs to play out. I need to see in this discovery if there's something we didn't know about. We don't have all that information and their attorneys don't have all that information yet."
For any football coach at any program, it's difficult to keep all 100 young men out of trouble. These are kids. They make mistakes. That's not an excuse. It is reality. In this case, however, the alleged involvement of a gun raises the level of concern.
What matters more is how the problems are handled. The tone is set from the top. If you're Stoops, do you severely discipline those charged? Or do you back your players and let them compete while the legal process plays out? There's more to being a head coach than Xs and Os.
Not all discipline cases are the same
"They're all human beings," Stoops said Saturday. "Human beings aren't perfect. When those things happen, we address it, we try to improve and continue to move forward."
Not all cases are the same. We don't know enough yet about the current one to know what constitutes the appropriate discipline.
The real issue arises when multiple incidents occur, when a widespread lack of discipline becomes the program's reputation. It's part of what got Fran Curci fired as UK coach in 1981. I don't think we've seen evidence of that with Stoops in 2021.
Still, the recent news is not what you want. No coach needs such a distraction hanging over a team two weeks before its opener.
And remember: There's an old adage in sports. Beware of making too much of your opponent's troubles. Your team's time might be just around the corner.
