As mentioned in the Big 12 Roundtable post directly below this one, sophomore tight end Rashaad Norwood is in trouble. Again.
On Sunday, the KC Star reports he was arrested twice, on suspicion of domestic battery (pushing a woman onto a bed), criminal damage to property (breaking a sliding glass door with a chair), criminal trespassing (for returning to the scene after being explicitly instructed not to), and obstruction of the legal process (probably for running away from the original scene).
His second arrest came later in the same day (Sunday) for returning to the scene of the earlier crime, which he had been specifically ordered not to do. He was found hiding under a bed.
As I mentioned, this isn't Norwood's first run-in with the K-State Campus Police or the Riley County Police Department. Last year, he missed the Louisville game after being arrested in a relatively minor case of disorderly conduct (shouting obscenities at people in a parking lot) and obstruction of the legal process (didn't cooperate and had to be physically placed in the police car).
So what do we do now? The Star reports he has been suspended from the team pending the judicial process. I submit the latest charges are serious and exhibit a thoroughly irresponsible course of behavior. My choice would be that he misses a minimum of six games. It would not make me sorry to see him dismissed from the team altogether. He has now displayed a pattern of criminally stupid behavior, and should be made an example. One other possible remedy: suspend him the entire 2007 season, with the condition that he can return next year if he keeps his nose clean and continues with his academic progress.
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We turn from that back to last Saturday's final open practice. I should have known better than to take all my information from the athletic department's PR machine and present a flowery picture. Instead, the Wichita Eagle reports that Josh Freeman completed no passes during 11-on-11 drills and Ron Prince made his entire offense and the offensive assistant coaches run stairs after practice.
First off, I like disciplinarians. I'm thoroughly tired of the "It's not MY fault!" society. However, making assistant coaches run stairs seems like an odd motivational tool to me. Assistant coaches should generally be treated as peers, not peons. Incidents like this do make me wonder if there was something to the mass exodus of assistant coaches after last season. Maybe Prince isn't an enjoyable man to work for. Or maybe he just needs to find his kind of guys. Who knows?
Well, apparently Husker message board fans know, because they are apparently trained as psychologists, lawyers and athletic directors. I am not kidding you, I've seen it claimed that, because Ron Prince made coaches run stairs, K-State will go 2-10 and he will be fired at the end of the year. The reasoning is obvious; the assistant coaches don't want to work hard for such a tyrant, and the players hate him. Sounds kind of like the unsubstantiated Internet rumor circulated on the message boards last year regarding Matt Boss quitting the K-State team. If Prince did even half the things that story alleged, nobody on the team would have played hard for him. Instead, the team went out and beat Oklahoma State, Colorado, Iowa State and Texas to get bowl eligible.
As for Freeman not completing any passes, that's definite cause for concern. The article doesn't mention how long the scrimmage lasted, or how many passes were attempted. It also mentions some drops, and that the offensive line didn't do a very good job protecting Freeman.
None of that is good. On the one hand, some of it can probably be attributed to Rob Jackson, Ian Campbell, Marcus Watts and company. On the other hand, Freeman should be good enough to complete a few passes, even against tough defenses. Also, as everyone has said all along, the offensive line needs to improve significantly for the team to make progress. Sounds like there's a lot of work to do between now and September 1.