Suit: Baylor players taped rapes
A new federal lawsuit against Baylor University alleges football players routinely recorded gang rapes and staged dogfights during hazing parties in a program that fostered sexual violence.
A former Baylor volleyball player, identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, alleges she was raped by four or more players after being taken from a party where she may have been drugged in 2012. Her lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleges the players later burglarized her apartment and harassed her and her family until she left school the next year.
The woman said she told her mother, who gave an assistant football coach a list of players’ names, but never heard back. The woman said she later told her head coach, who brought the matter to football coach Art Briles and athletic director Ian McCaw.
Her account lines up with previous legal filings by Baylor’s Board of Regents that allege Briles, when showed a list of names of players allegedly involved in the woman’s case, replied: “Those are some bad dudes. Why was she around those guys?” and said the woman should go to the police.
Briles, who was fired in May 2016, has long denied any wrongdoing as lawsuits were filed alleging a culture of sexual violence in his program.
The Patriots and Brady’s agent did not respond to Bundchen’s comments.
The Chargers signed their fourth-round draft pick, safety Rayshawn Jenkins, to his rookie deal, the team announced. In addition, the team signed undrafted rookie punter Toby Baker and waived rookie tackle Mason Zandi. The Chargers’ punter, Drew Kaser, netted an average of 39.8 yards in his rookie season. Only six punters had lower net averages. Last season at Arkansas, Baker led the Southeast Conference with a 41.6yard net average. — Dan Woike
The Philadelphia Eagles and LeGarrette Blount agreed on a one-year contract, giving the team a bruising running back to complement their group of smaller, speedy runners. Blount led the NFL with 18 touchdowns rushing in 2016 while helping the Patriots win the Super Bowl. He has 5,122 yards rushing in his career and 4.4 average yards per carry to go with 49 touchdowns.
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed second-round pick Juju Smith-Schuster to a four-year deal. The Steelers took the wide receiver out of USC with the 62nd overall selection in the draft.
Rafael Nadal advanced from his opening match at the Italian Open in Rome when Nicolas Almagro retired in the first set with an apparent injury. Top-ranked Angelique Kerber, meanwhile, lost her opening match at the Foro Italico to Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 6-0.
Venus Williams, the 1999 champion, eliminated Lesia Tsurenko 6-4, 6-3.
Nadal will next face 13thseeded Jack Sock, who beat Jiri Vesely 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (1).
Stanford forward Reid Travis has been given an extra year of eligibility because of a medical hardship. He now has two years of eligibility remaining. Travis missed the final 22 games of the 2015-16 season because of a leg injury. He was a first-team All-Pac-12 Conference selection last season after averaging 17.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.
Cal Lutheran opens play at 11:30 a.m. PDT Thursday in the NCAA Division III baseball West Regional against Concordia (Texas.) The Kingsmen (31-10) are the No. 2 seed in the six-team regional, which will be played at the University of Texas, Tyler. Concordia (28-16) is No. 5.