 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
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Iowa RB runs into law for second time in three days
Sophomore has been suspended from team activities
Iowa running back De'Andre Johnson is tackled during Hawkeye's Spring Practice at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Saturday, April 16, 2011. Johnson ran into a incident with the police for the second time in three days late Saturday night. (Cliff Jette/SourceMedia Group)
University of Iowa running back De’Andre Johnson had a legal run in for a second time in three days after police say he failed to pull over after speeding on Saturday.
According to a complaint from University Heights Police, Johnson, 20, pulled out of his driveway at 1311 W. Benton St. on his motorcycle and accelerated rapidly. Police said Johnson was going 60 miles per hour in a 25 mile per hour zone. When an officer turned on his sirens to pull Johnson over, the complaint said Johnson continued to drive before pulling into a driveway at 1018 W. Benton St. behind another vehicle in the grass. He was charged with speeding and eluding.
The complaint said Johnson told the officer that his friend “Jake” lived at the address but police say the friend was never located.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz announced in a statement Sunday afternoon that Johnson would be suspended immediately from all team activities.
“I was very disappointed to learn of the situation involving De’Andre Johnson Saturday evening,” Ferentz said. “As a result, De’Andre has been suspended immediately from all team activities.”
Johnson’s arrest comes just two days after he was cited on suspicion of disorderly house on July 26 after Iowa City police were called out to reports of a loud party at his home. In that alleged incident, police said they found roughly 50 people in Johnson’s yard and surrounding sidewalk. The complaint said the crowd dispersed when officers arrived just before 11:30 p.m.
The complaint said an officer found empty plastic cups and alcoholic beverage containers throughout the yard, and that the party could be heard from the street and other nearby properties. When police tried to make contact with the host of the party, complaints said no one would answer the door, though people inside said the police were at the residence.
Complaints said police eventually found Johnson sitting in the back yard, where they cited him for keeping a disorderly house.
The timing with Johnson’s legal troubles is critical. Iowa players finished summer conditioning on Thursday and are off until fall camp opens Friday.
Ferentz learned about the disorderly house citation at Big Ten media days on Friday.
“Firstly, I’d like to learn the facts,” he said. “A disorderly house, that’s not going to rock the Richter scale, but there will be consequences. He didn’t sneeze too, did he? Certainly, I don’t condone that [the disorderly house charge].”
Johnson, a UI sophomore from Florida who redshirted in 2010, saw action last fall in four games. The running back had 18 rushing attempts for 79 yards.
Ferentz has said Iowa will use every available running back on the roster. With Johnson, who’s never had solid footing on the depth chart, possibly in limbo, Iowa is further stressed. Sophomore Damon Bullock is the last healthy running back on the roster with a carry in the Big Ten. He was listed No. 1 in the preseason depth chart. Ferentz has said his skill set is geared more toward the passing game.
Iowa also has incoming freshmen Greg Garmon and Barkley Hill. Garmon was arrested and eventually charged with possession of drug paraphernalia in his hometown of Erie, Pa. Ferentz and Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said last week that it is considered strike one in Iowa’s student-athlete code of conduct. A first strike doesn’t call for a suspension from competition.
Hill, a 6-foot, 215-pounder, rushed for 6,127 yards and 89 TDs at Cedar Falls High School. He’s been in Iowa City since June working through Iowa’s summer conditioning program. Also, junior walk-on Andre Dawson, a former Cedar Rapids Washington prep, could factor. He rushed for 4,885 yards and 64 TDs in his career at Washington. Dawson committed to UNI coming out of high school, but then transferred to Iowa Western Community College, where he rushed for 263 yards on 45 carries.
Penn State signee Akeel Lynch, a player Iowa recruited heavily before he signed with PSU in February, also could be in play, but there’s no definitive word. Also, fullback Brad Rogers has some experience at running back.
(Gazette reporter Hayley Bruce contributed to this report.)
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KCJJ, an Iowa City radio station, first posted this at 7:30 a.m. or thereabouts. The station hits the ground running on Sunday mornings.
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D’Andre, we hardly knew ye.
I hope VDB has been strengthening his rotator cuff, because I think he is going to throw 250 innings this season.
Johnson won’t get tossed for this. Suspended for a few games..sure.
Remember Sue-Don, James Ferentz had TWO alcohol related scrapes with the law and he’s a starter on the offensive line.
If they toss him for what are two minor offenses like this–they’ll look like hypocrites.
James was a freshman for both of those. He’s had three or four squeaky-clean years since. Like real-life law, the more time between offenses, the more they fade as in record expunged.
Johnson was a third-year sophomore with two offenses in three days less than a week before a camp that would’ve given him a chance to be a top RB here.
Timing might’ve been his worst offense here.
You’re probably right, but I say probably because this is not a normal year, and I wonder how much more involved Mason and the faculty oversight committee is going to be. The so-called student-athlete code of conduct may be rewritten by non-athletic department people.
It’s not that I want D’Andre to go away. I did worse stuff — beginning in junior high, and everybody did. There are sergeants in Afghanistan younger than a lot of these football players. I’m glad I’m not a teenager in the current environment.
The Face the Nation roundtable yesterday was excellent, I thought, and toward the end William Rhoden makes the point that even now Les Miles and Nick Saban are more powerful than their respective university presidents. (And remember Gee joking about how he hoped Tressel didn’t fire *him*?)
I don’t think this is true in Iowa City. Mason is not a strong president imo but I don’t think we have gotten to the point that these other schools have. The Regents, the president, and the faculty oversight committees are real entities. And this is notable because Fry and Ferentz are enormously popular figures. But there’s something about our culture that doesn’t erect statues to employees while they are still working.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/07/29/face_the_nation_panel_on_penn_state.html
This and thank goodness for it.
Just my opinion, but geography puts Iowa City in a more open, accessible area and, thus, leaves UI business open to question, from football to the UIHC to the land fill fire (and I know UI had nothing to do with that, just a timely topic).
State College is a hollow in mountain hills. Paterno built it into a billion-dollar entity and no way was anyone going to threaten the golden goose, not even evil. Million-dollar guardians dressed in suits protected the throne. People were classified as collateral damage.
That’s the most disgusting sentence I may have ever written. I would’ve shut down PSU football for a year. Stand by that.
Marc, one of the institutional problems that lingers at PSU, that SUI doesn’t have: PSU, despite being a “state-related” school, doesn’t have to publish financials under Pennsylvania law. There is no public accounting for a $billion institution, despite its being supported by PA taxpayers.
So now, with $60 million of hard fines pending, no one other than PSU executives will see where the money will come from. The NCAA mandated that no funds be drawn from other sports, let alone the academic side — but money is fungible. It will be telling if PSU decides to publish transparent financials.
(Sara Ganim made this point on Face the Nation. As a sidenote, I wonder how many death threats she has received — probably a lot more than PSU football received.)
Agree with you about shutting the program down for a while.
Todd, I would not be quick to start comparing offenses among these guys, because I don’t see the parity. AJ Derby got drunk and vandalized a bus and got a one game suspension. Kyle Calloway drove a mo-ped drunk and got the same. Marcus Coker got named in a sexual assault investigation, was essentially cleared, and got bounced. Underage drinking and simple marijuana possession are essentially the same charge, but Adam Robinson is gone and James Ferentz remains, after TWO suspensions. I would really like to see what that Code of Conduct reads, because my suspicion is that at the bottom line the rules say “We can do whatever we want to you, for whatever reason and there is nothing you can do about it”. It does not make us look good.
Well what we look like is…well…a football team full of “kids”, who make mistakes, most of which aren’t even public. I chuckle when someone says it makes us look bad or good or what not…..quite frankly, there is someone in your life, maybe right now saying something you did looks bad. And that is their opinion and theirs alone. From business to business you have people coming and going saying this place, sucks, no I think its great etc……
We have no clue what happened behind the scenes but what we do know is that those who stuck it out…(Brain Ferentz among others)…did indeed learn and “fix” his mistakes. So quite frankly “we” think we know what happens and what looks bad, but we are all wet just like everyone else out of the loop
Chad
Oh and PS…..as long as you document things and mind what you say and how you say it, quite frankly you can do whatever you want. I can fire you tomorrow as long as I’m willing to pay you unemployement.
Chad
There is some interpretation, but for the most part the student-athlete code of conduct has a well defined set of guidelines. It gets fuzzier, believe it or not, when it comes to reinstatement.