Michael Floyd Drinking, Fighting and Bloody in Minnesota
This is not what we're looking for when we say "Fighting Irish." Notre Dame star receiver Michael Floyd, recipient of the OC Domer Player of the Year Award in 2008, is going to have some 'splaining to do to new Irish football coach Brian Kelly. According to StarTribune.com:
Gophers football player Shady Salamon and Notre Dame's Michael Floyd were cited for underage consumption of alcohol on Jan. 8 after police were called to a fight scene involving six to 10 people at the intersection of 15th Av. SE and 6th St. SE in Minneapolis.
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According to the University of Minnesota police report, two men later identified as Floyd, 20, and Salamon, 19, were seen running and getting into a vehicle driven by a young woman. After stopping the vehicle, police noticed that Floyd, seated in the driver's side back seat, had blood on his hands, feet and shirt. Floyd told police that he had been involved in an altercation with a Somali male at a house party, and admitted he had been drinking.
I would expect that Michael will get a little personalized attention at Camp Kelly as a result of his display of appallingly poor judgment. Way to make a good first impression!
4 comments:
a tougher camp kelly? have you forgotten who handles discipline under the dome and has no problem claiming jurisdiction for students away from the dome? forgive me if i'm just too jaded, but let's not rule out the possibility of a another Reslife Special.
the inclusion of Minn players only raises the visibility of this highly-visible player and we know how much Reslife loves to make a statement. throw in more than a little blood and the ethnic issue and I wouldn't be surprised by a suspension from spring football. while this possibility would be lamentable, the silver lining would be that this could be the suspension necessary for the pot of bubbling alumni resentment towards Reslife to finally boil over and affect actual change -- as it did with game day protocol a year ago.
if he doesn't get suspended, it will be because (a) witnesses reveal that the group of big football players were victimized by the lone Somali ("sucker punch" anyone?) or (b) that changes have already taken effect with the departure of Poorman. if he does get suspended (or worse) the ensuing outcry may not effect change, but who doesn't love a good Reslife bitch-fest during the offseason? people were just getting warmed up after Charlie's comments and the Stoops rumors regarding player discipine.
As far as ResLife goes, the underage drinking thing is not great but it is not the worst thing. ResLife is not going to like the fighting, though. That he was only cited for underage drinking--and not fighting--may save him from a very stiff punishment. It's tough to predict how they'll deal with this. I don't think Julius Jones got much of a punishment when he was caught in Finnegan's underrage, but I also don't know if he was drinking. Clausen didn't get much of a punishment for possessing alcohol underage, but he wasn't drunk when he got caught. Rashon Powers-Neal missed 8 games after he got hit with a DUI. Here, Floyd has only been charged with underage drinking, but who knows what ResLife will do about the fighting. It could have been self defense, as he apparently wasn't charged with fighting. Part of the problem, I think, is the unpredictability of their punishments.
I feel for the kid, because it could have happened to me or any of my friends in college. All it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong time and having a couple of bowls of loudmouth soup. I would say "you have to be smarter," but I can't say that I would have followed that advice at his age. I wish him the best of luck dealing with ResLife. Having been there myself, I think the best tack is to express sincere contrition and ask for leniency, though I think we all know that ResLife grants no quarter.
Even more interesting here will be to see how this affects Seantrel Henderson's recruitment. Floyd and Henderson are from the same high school, and Floyd is a big part of the reason why Notre Dame is still on Seantrel's short list.
If Res Life comes down hard here, it could scare away the nation's top recruit, which would be a coup and a crowning jewel for this new coaching staff.
wow, I was under the impression Notre Dame players never did anything wrong!!!
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