Two Nebraska football players officially have more to worry about than a lengthy university-mandated suspension.
In late August, Nebraska confirmed that two redshirt freshmen, wide receiver Andre Hunt and tight end Katerian LeGrone, had been indefinitely suspended by the football program for unspecified reasons. A little over three months later, ESPN‘s Outside the Lines reported late last week that both of the players have been “found to have violated the school’s sexual misconduct policies and face a 2½-year suspension from the university.”
The extended suspension, which the players have a week to appeal the findings of the Title IX report, stems from an alleged rape of an NU student on Aug.25. At the time, we noted, no criminal charges had been filed against either player. There was, however, an open investigation and there are no statute of limitations when it comes to sexual assault cases.
Tuesday night, that investigation bore fruit for law enforcement as both players have been arrested by Lincoln police in connection to the alleged sexual assault. Legrone has been arrested on one count of suspicion of first-degree sexual assault, while Hunt is facing one count of suspicion of aiding and abetting first-degree sexual assault.
The teammates will remain in jail pending a bond hearing at three p.m. ET Wednesday afternoon.
LeGrone’s attorney, Kaz Long, had previously stated that his client maintains his innocence while Hunt’s attorney, Carlos A. Monzón, labeled the allegations a clear case of “institutional racism.”
“[Prosecutors] have had over four months to charge this young man. And they have not done so,” Monzón told the Lincoln Journal-Star Tuesday, with the paper writing that the attorney described “the arrests and the Title IX investigation findings [as] ‘a calculated railroading of their reputation.'”
The players claim that any sexual activity was consensual. The alleged victim claims it was non-consensual.
Over the weekend, it was reported that both players had entered the NCAA transfer database.
A three-star 2018 signee, Hunt appeared in just two games as a true freshman and didn’t catch a pass. Prior to the off-field issue, he had been working with the first-team offense throughout summer camp.
Legrone, also a three-star 2018 signee, caught one pass in three games for the Cornhuskers his true freshman season.
