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The 2007 Texas Longhorns football suspensions were separate incidents resulting in college football players being suspended from the 2007 Texas Longhorn football team at the University of Texas at Austin. Head coach Mack Brown suspended a total of seven players; six for alleged illegal activities, and one for a violation of National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) rules. ==Prior to the season== Four Longhorn players were involved in legal issues during the off-season. Defensive end Henry Melton and linebacker Sergio Kindle were both arrested during the summer on charges of driving while intoxicated. Both players were suspended from the first three games of the season. They were required to do community service and also missed the first two days of practice to visit with a woman whose son was crippled by a drunk driver. Freshman defensive tackle Andre Jones (who had not yet played for Texas but did join spring practices) and former UT player Robert Joseph were charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Jones was one of the team's most highly touted recruits; his high school football career honors included Prep All-American, three-time all-state selection, first-team All-American by Parade Magazine, and Texas 4A Defensive Player of the Year by the Texas Sports Writers Association.〔〔 R Head coach Mack Brown suspended Jones from the team indefinitely. Joseph, a sophomore playing safety, had been suspended from the Longhorn team in June after being arrested on misdemeanor charges of breaking into vehicles, and later announced that he was transferring.〔 In suspending Jones, Brown said “I am extremely disappointed that four of our student-athletes have had issues with the law this summer. That is not reflective of the high standard of class, character and integrity we have established at Texas for many years. It’s a shame that these recent events have generated a great deal of negative attention, because I do think that overall, this is as good of a group of kids that I’ve ever coached. I think that will show over time.”〔 Brown apologized to the university's administrators, faculty, fans and students for the range of "embarrassing incidents" that occurred over the summer. "It's not what we have worked so hard for 9 ½ years to portray in our program of class, integrity and character," Brown said. "It's something we aren't proud of. But I can also assure you that it's not indicative of who this team really is. We're excited to be able to prove that." He allowed that something positive could come out of the troubles as it provides a learning and motivational opportunity. Brown said, "Our slogan (the season ) will be to 'earn the right,' because some people seem to have taken advantage of being at the University of Texas on a great team without (it ) the right way. It's my job to make sure that the guys who are playing have earned that right." On August 31, 2007 the University of Texas suspended Billy Pittman for three games because he accepted the use of a friend's car over the summer. The school's compliance office determined the friend was not a booster or agent and was not connected with the university but that the use of the car violated NCAA amateurism rules. The NCAA signed off on the findings. Pittman said in response to the suspension, "I want to apologize to my coaches, teammates, fans and everyone at the university for making this mistake. I was driving a friend's car and since he didn't have any ties to UT, I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. As soon as the coaches asked me about it this summer, I told them everything."〔 Mack Brown released a statement saying, "I'm disappointed for Billy. I am confident he wouldn't intentionally do anything to be a distraction to our team. We look forward to his return for the Rice game." Pittman had been recovering from a sprained shoulder but had hoped to play in the season opener.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2007 Texas Longhorns football suspensions」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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