At this point in the summer, most of the college football world turns to Media Days and previews of the upcoming season. Two recent incidents at the same school left me wondering what's happening in its football program.
Early last week, Florida State University dismissed highly touted freshman quarterback De'Andre Johnson after a video of him punching a woman began circulating. According to court records, the woman felt that Johnson was trying to push past her while waiting for a drink at a bar. After she allegedly tried to punch him, he hit her on the side of her face.
Florida State indefinitely suspended Johnson from the team after the charges. But much like the Ray Rice event, the team only dismissed him after the video surfaced. He claims he hit the woman after she provoked him with racial remarks and struck him first. He pleaded not guilty and is due in court July 22.
Former FSU cornerback Ronald Darby, now a rookie with the Buffalo Bills, made comments about the events on Twitter that have since been deleted. The tweets included:
"What I want to know is what's happening to the girl that clearly hit De'Andre first? It's never right to hit a girl at all ... but they have to get some kind of consequence as well. Y'all can't keep letting females provoke guys in all ways then walk free."
The night before Johnson's alleged incident, Seminoles running back Dalvin Cook was charged with striking a woman outside of a bar. The team has indefinitely suspended Cook from play, but he might remain on it as long as a video doesn't surface of him hitting the woman.
Several Seminoles players in the past few seasons have run into legal trouble or managed to skate away from it. One of the program's issues seems to be violence against women. Cases such as Jameis Winston, Johnson, Cook and former running back Karlos Williams all concern some sort of violence against women. One case is too many, but two alleged episodes on back-to-back nights makes you wonder about the culture of the Florida State football program.
Winston walked all over Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher last season. Just go back and look at the events that unfolded, and you'll see that Winston didn't respect Fisher or any discipline the head coach tried to use on the star quarterback. We're likely to see the same results again.
Fisher has won a national championship for the school, sure, but questions about how he handles players can't be ignored. Fixing FSU's problems start with him, and if he can't impress upon his players how to treat people, especially women, then when will it be time for Florida State to hire someone who does?
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