Three Terrapin football players who say they acted in self defense admitted to participating in a brawl Tuesday morning at Cornerstone Grill and Loft and will be suspended for one of the team’s final three games for violating team rules, coach Ralph Friedgen said Friday.
After interviewing players and other witnesses, Friedgen and Athletics Department Director of Character Education Kevin Glover concluded that nine football players were at Cornerstone at the time of a fight shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday. Friedgen added that he found an unspecified number of players who also violated their 11:30 p.m. curfew, but were not at the bar during the brawl.
In addition, three players under the age of 21 admitted to Friedgen in his interviews they were drinking Halloween night, though not at Cornerstone. One of these players will be suspended for a portion of a game, while the other two are redshirting and will receive other penalties.
Director of Athletics Debbie Yow said the department typically suspends student athletes for 5 percent of their season for underage drinking, which translates to about a half of a game for a football player.
Cornerstone employees and the Athletics Department have described different versions of the incident. The bar’s owner, Mark Srour, strongly disagreed with the players who told Friedgen they were acting in self defense.
“For any of the football players who are trying to say that we were the aggressors, I think [that] is just wrong,” said Srour, who wasn’t at the bar the night of the incident. “My security staff is there to protect the customers if any situation comes up. They are not there to do anything except help out situations. I don’t see how the football players could say they were on the defense because that is not what my security staff is about.”
Srour said the bar’s video surveillance machine is broken and the brawl was not caught on tape as previously believed.
Two of the three players suspended for fighting “have indicated their intent to file charges against their alleged assailants once their identities are secured,” according to an Athletics Department release that accompanied Friedgen’s Friday press conference.
Though not charged with any crimes, the players who admitted to be involved in the physical altercation will also lose complimentary tickets for two upcoming games and be under probation – meaning another offense would be grounds for a loss of scholarship and removal from the team.
Those who admitted to underage drinking will also be placed on probation, lose complimentary tickets for two games, be required to perform 10 hours of community service and participate in a ride-along with University Police.
All players who broke curfew will be required to perform 10 hours of community service and those who consumed alcoholic beverages – a violation of team rules during the season regardless of age – will also lose complimentary tickets to two games.
“Usually when alcohol is involved, they don’t make good decisions,” Friedgen said. “The other thing is women involved, which, sometimes, they go hand in hand.”
The coach added that the bar “was probably overly crowded and that was part of the problem.”
After consulting officials in the university’s legal office, the Athletics Department decided not to release the name of any player being disciplined in order to comply with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director Kathy Worthington said this is consistent with how the department deals with similar situations in all of its sports.
Sources said wide receivers Drew Weatherly and Derrick Fenner – players The Diamondback had confirmed were at Cornerstone during the fight – are among those suspended for one game, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Friedgen said Weatherly “was seeing the doctors” when he was absent during the Terps’ practice Thursday, and Fenner “got hurt outside of football,” which is why he was wearing a bandage at the team’s first practice of the week.
The coach said he reminds players their behavior will often be scrutinized publicly.
“I tell my players they’re special people, whether they like it or not,” Friedgen said. “There’s a lot of things that they get that the normal student doesn’t have. We want them to be judged as normal students, but they’re always going to carry the reference, or they’re always going to represent the University of Maryland football team.”
While Friedgen acknowledged the players punished felt a sense of unfairness with the situation, he stressed the incident as reason for his curfew.
“These kids are good kids,” he said. “They made a mistake. I can’t say if I was in their situation I wouldn’t be in the same bind they were, but that’s why we don’t want them in these establishments after hours and breaking training rules. That’s why I have the rules, so they don’t put themselves in this situation. They’ve got to learn that, and some of them have to learn that the hard way.”
Friedgen – who said he threatened players with their scholarships to get them to talk – said there were also players at other bars and on the streets after curfew.
Yow said she told Friedgen he can spread the suspensions out over the next three games however he sees fit.
“We’re not trying to punish the innocent,” Yow added. “D’Qwell Jackson’s not down there [at Cornerstone]. Our starting quarterback’s not there.”
Yow also sent a letter to Prince George’s County Police asking for an “expeditious investigation.”
Srour said he’d like to see all parties move on.
“I think that they should take a long hard look at themselves and let this go away,” Srour said of the players. “Hopefully it will never happen again. If they’re in another situation like this, they can just walk away.”
Players have not been made available to the media since Thursday, when each who was contacted declined to comment on the incident. Yow and Athletics Department spokesman Doug Dull said they have not specifically told the players they are forbidden to comment, but per order of media relations policies, reporters are not permitted to contact student athletes without permission from the department.
Staff writer Kevin Litten contributed to this report. Contact reporter David Selig at dseligdbk@gmail.com.
