Eric Knott had better thank his lucky stars he can catch a football. If he couldn’t, he’d most likely be in prison right now, possibly for the rest of his life.
Last June, Knott pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and served 30 days in jail for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old Detroit girl in July 1999. After receiving only a misdemeanor charge and not a felony, he has received a full-ride scholarship from MSU to play tight end, possibly stepping up as senior Chris Baker’s backup this fall.
It is revolting that the university administration would allow this sort of thing to happen.
“This is a university decision,” head coach Bobby Williams said following the first freshman practice of the season.
Whether the blame lies on one person or 100, the fact remains that the message we have sent to the public is it’s OK to be a criminal, as long as you have athletic talent to fall back on.
This does nothing but permeate the idea that athletes on campus are much more important to our school’s administration than any other average student enrolled here. Every year, MSU turns away extremely intelligent, gifted students with something great to contribute to campus and hands out thousands of scholarship dollars to athletes.
There are many other schools that emphasize their athletic programs and put very little care into where they recruit their athletes from. One would like to think Spartans as a whole can be better than that. Unfortunately, it is disheartening to see that MSU appears to be heading the way of Florida State University and the University of Nebraska, among others, sporting the beginnings of a veritable chain gang for an offensive line.
Other schools, including the University of Michigan, stopped recruiting Knott as soon as the charges were made public. They deserve high praise for their discretion and selectivity in choosing their players. It’s an example MSU officials would do well to try to emulate.
MSU backup quarterback Damon Dowdell was also charged in the case, and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery charges last August. He joined the MSU football team last September as a redshirt freshman.
Simply put, it is an outrage that the university can see fit to allow these degenerate detractors of society a chance to create a place for themselves as a high-profile athlete in an environment where so many advantages come as a result of such status. It sends a bad message to the fans, the student body and most importantly, the innocent people who they have victimized.
On Sept. 8, when the Spartans take the field for their first game of the season and Spartan Stadium is full of enthusiastic, cheering fans, fans should take a moment to think of their own 13-year-old daughter, sister, niece, cousin or other loved one. Keep in mind that Eric Knott will be down there in a green and white uniform with the full support of the university, despite his own purulent deeds and undoubtedly with an enormous grin on his face. We wonder if you will still feel like cheering then.
