And we're official. Bryan Thomas has been indefinitely suspended from the #BGSU football team. Announced today by Dino Babers.— Thomas Schmeltz (@Thomas_Schmeltz) June 2, 2015
#BGSU football: Bryan Thomas has been indefinitely suspended from #Falcons football team. Charged w/ felonious assault over weekend.— JWagnerBlade (@jwagnerblade) June 2, 2015
@Thomas_Schmeltz Suspended #BGSU football player Bryan Thomas is listed in Wood County jail on $50,000 bond, charged w/ felonious assault.— Peter Kuebeck (@PeterK_Sentinel) June 2, 2015
That's an ouch, partly depending on how long the suspension lasts and partly not dependent on that at all.
On the dependent side, Thomas, who was recently awarded a 6th year by the NCAA, was a key returnee on a defense for which that is a scarce resource. He was the only BG player on any of Phil Steele's top 4 defensive All-MAC pre-season teams and the Falcons were relying on him as one of the few proven players on defense. If he does not play this year, a tough situation gets tougher.
The non-dependent part is that the Thomas situation is part of what has been a regrettable string of negative stories for the football team. I'm not going to catalog them because that's been done enough, but suffice it to say that it is too many and it is something no BG fan should be satisfied with. We expect our program to be successful and be good representatives of our university, and we're not getting that done right now.
More as more is learned.
Thomas deserves the benefit of the doubt from all parties: media, team, etc. Prosecutors (especially small-town ones) are notorious for overcharging in the hopes of getting cases plea-bargained down. What happened to innocent until proven guilty?
ReplyDelete