University officials supportive of Dantonio's choice on suspensions

Despite recent struggles on and off the field for the MSU football team, university officials have said their support for head coach Mark Dantonio never has been stronger.

Dantonio announced at a news conference Saturday the eight players who were suspended after being identified for involvement in the Nov. 22 assault at Rather Hall will not travel to the team’s bowl game.

“Now, more than ever, we have confidence in his leadership, in his standards, in his values and in his management,” university spokesman Terry Denbow said following the news conference.

The suspended players — sophomore wide receiver B.J. Cunningham, junior wide receiver Mark Dell, sophomore running back Ashton Leggett, junior cornerback Chris L. Rucker, sophomore wide receiver Fred Smith, redshirt freshman linebacker Brynden Trawick, sophomore defensive tackle Ishmyl Johnson and redshirt freshman linebacker Jamiihr Williams — are banned from all football facilities.

Two other players, sophomore running back Glenn Winston and junior safety Roderick Jenrette, were kicked off the team following the assault. Both previously had been subject to disciplinary action from Dantonio.

As prosecutors begin sifting through the “massive” amount of material police delivered to them Friday and additional reports expected to be delivered today, Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said he hopes to issue charges and begin arraignments before winter break.

Denbow said throughout the disciplinary process, the university’s respect for Dantonio has been strengthened.

When asked if more players would be suspended, Denbow only would say he would let the investigation continue and police expect to submit a full report to Dunnings early this week. University officials have said police are searching for five additional suspects. Police referred all questions to Denbow.

“I know they’re working on that 10 to 15 group,” Denbow said. “They are working on the identities of those other people. That’s the current stage of the investigation.”

The university released the names of the 10 players involved in the incident last Monday after Dantonio spent a day talking to players’ families, Denbow said.

Denbow confirmed comments made Wednesday by MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson that the players’ suspensions stemmed from lying to Dantonio about their presence at the altercation, and not from engaging in the fight.

MSU president Lou Anna K. Simon supported Dantonio’s actions and said she believes he is building a program based on the right values.

“Clearly this is an incident that was contradictory to the values of the university, but I feel that (with) the way coach Dantonio has handled it with great integrity, we’ve gone a long way to restoring the reputation,” she said.

This is the third time in as many years that Dantonio’s players have been involved in a criminal incident. Last year, Winston was sentenced to 180 days in jail following his assault of MSU hockey player A.J. Sturges. In April 2007, five months after Dantonio was hired, several MSU football players assaulted and robbed an MSU senior.

Dantonio said his second chance policy to allow players back on the team after suspensions will not change in light of the incident. He said Winston will not lose his athletic scholarship because players are guaranteed their scholarships for one academic year.

He said his focus now is on the players who weren’t involved in the incident and will play in the team’s bowl game. Most of the team — more than 90 players — was not involved, something Simon compared to the public reaction to Cedar Fest.

“What happened there was also a very small portion of the student body,” she said. “This is a very small portion of the football team, but what you do as an individual has an effect beyond you.”

Dantonio said his biggest disappointment was that the incident could have been prevented “with just a little bit of a tug on the shoulder.”

“They could have gone to anybody in our program,” he said. “That’s why when you go to the level of suspension for the others; this could easily have been prevented. It wasn’t like we weren’t meeting that day. We had a 3:30 p.m. team meeting. We also had a feel‑good banquet, to celebrate our football team and celebrate our seniors, so it’s a disappointment.”