Fisher: Aggies ‘very open’ to inquiries
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — New Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher said Thursday his program will be “very open” to any inquiry into allegations of possible NCAA violations, but he is confident in how things have been handled since he arrived from Florida State.
Fisher was responding to allegations former Aggies linebacker Santino Marchiol made to USA Today this week about improper cash payments for hosting recruits, practices that went beyond allowable time limits and mishandling of his ankle injury. Marchiol has transferred to Arizona and raised the allegations against Texas A&M in an application to be allowed to play this season rather that sit out a year.
“We take them very seriously. We’re open to all inquiries and will be very open in our records of everything we have. We feel very confident in the things in which we have done,” Fisher said. “We’ll cooperate in any way, shape or form in which they want (us) to. I feel very confident in our program and how we’ve done things.”
The Texas A&M administration has said only the school is “reviewing the situation with the NCAA and the SEC Office.”
Texas A&M hired Fisher away from Florida State with a 10-year, $75 million contract to replace Kevin Sumlin, who is now the Arizona coach. The Aggies open the season Aug. 30 against Northwestern State.
Several Texas A&M players brushed off the allegations of violations.
“We didn’t pay any attention to that. It was nonsense to us,” receiver Camron Buckley said.
Said senior fullback Cullen Gillaspia: “The coaching staff is great and hasn’t misled us in any way. It’s college football. You’ve got to be tough. We’re grown men, and a lot of people here are training to go play at the next level. I can’t say enough good things about this staff and the way they’ve treated us.”
Cephus in court
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin receiver Quintez Cephus made his first court appearance Thursday on charges alleging that he sexually assaulted two drunken women this spring, a day after his attorneys asked the judge to dismiss one of the counts because they said the women weren’t as impaired as investigators allege.
Prosecutors charged Cephus on Monday with second- and third-degree sexual assault, which are both felonies. The second-degree charge carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. According to a criminal complaint, Cephus sexually assaulted two drunken women at once in the bedroom of his apartment in April.
Cephus has denied any wrongdoing. The 6-foot-1 junior stood mute during his court appearance as Court Commissioner Brian Asmus set a $5,000 signature bond and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Sept. 6. The proceeding lasted less than five minutes.
One of Cephus’s attorneys, Kathleen Stilling, told reporters outside of court that he is innocent.
“A criminal complaint, and this criminal complaint, is a slanted, one-sided version of the events,” she said. “We look forward to getting out all of the facts and clearing Quintez’s name.”
Jamie Dickey, Cephus’ basketball coach at Stratford Academy in Macon, Georgia, was in court to support his former player.
“He’s a son to me,” Dickey told reporters. “I’m confident he will be exonerated and he’ll be owed an apology by the time this is all said and done.”
Cephus was suspended indefinitely from the fourth-ranked Badgers.
Fulton can play
BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU officials said the NCAA has reinstated junior defensive back Kristian Fulton.
Fulton has served about 18 months of what was originally a two-year suspension for tampering with a drug test by allegedly substituting someone else’s urine sample for his own.
LSU said the NCAA acquiesced to athletic director Joe Alleva’s request to reclassify the matter to a similar violation punishable by a one-year ban, allowing Fulton to play immediately.
Alleva says Fulton owned up to his mistake and that LSU’s athletic officials felt compelled to fight for him. Alleva credits collaboration by university compliance, legal and football personnel for the change in Fulton’s eligibility.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron said he won’t comment on what role Fulton might play this season beyond stressing that the highly regarded 2016 recruit has always practiced “like he was a starter.”
“The coaching staff is great and hasn’t misled us in any way.” — TEXAS A&M SENIOR FULLBACK CULLEN GILLASPIA
Trouble at Rutgers
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Eight current or former Rutgers football players have been charged in an alleged credit card fraud scheme.
They’re charged with crimes including conspiracy, promoting street crime and money laundering. They allegedly obtained credit card numbers belonging to others and transferred money to accounts for their personal use.
Former linebacker Brendan DeVera pleaded not guilty in court Thursday. Other players are awaiting court appearances.
The school said DeVera and defensive back K.J. Gray have been dismissed from the team. Two others have left for other schools. The remaining four didn’t participate in training camp.
It wasn’t immediately known if Gray had retained an attorney.
Rutgers opens its season against Texas State on Sept. 1. The Scarlet Knights finished with a 4-8 record in 2017.
Honoring Slive
Conference USA football teams will honor former league commissioner Mike Slive and promote prostate cancer awareness by wearing custom football helmet stickers this season.
Slive led Conference USA from 1995 to 2002 before becoming commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. Slive, who retired in 2015 after battling prostate cancer, founded the Mike Slive Foundation for Prostate Cancer Research in 2017.
He died in May at age 77. Conference USA’s board of directors voted earlier this summer to approve the helmet stickers and to name the conference’s awards for top athlete to the Conference USA Michael L. Slive male and female athletes of the year.