EL PASO – Justin Willis was involved in an off-campus altercation early Friday morning that resulted in his indefinite suspension from the SMU Football team.
Sources at the event and SMU public relations officer Kent Best confirmed with The Daily Campus Saturday evening that Willis was involved in an incident with SMU sophomore Jamil Beard.
In an interview Saturday, Beard said he was not severely hurt but declined to give any further details, other than saying Willis was not arrested the night of the altercation.
The sophomore music performance and creative writing major also declined to comment on whether he would be pressing charges in the matter.
Former hall mates of Beard in Mary Hay, who wished to remain anonymous, said Beard had been seen around Willis during various times in the spring 2006 semester. The hall mates said they were not surprised to hear that the two were involved in an altercation.
Another player was involved in the early morning incident but was not suspended by SMU Athletics.
“Dean of Student Life Dee Siscoe’s office is looking at the incident to see if there were any violations of the SMU Code of Conduct,” said Kent Best, SMU executive director of news and communication.
The incident is being reviewed by SMU Police, who have a copy of the incident brief on their on-line crime log:
“2:41 a.m: Off Campus Aggravated Assault: 6002 Sandhurst, Dallas. A student report that he was assaulted by two students. Open.”
Best said as of Saturday evening, no charges had been filed and no arrests were made.
The decision to suspend Willis came from conversations involving SMU President R. Gerald Turner, SMU Athletic Director Steve Orsini and head coach Phil Bennett.
Orsini said that he was made aware of the incident Friday morning.
Players informed The Daily Campus that Dallas Police officers showed up to Friday morning’s run through, asking to question Willis and other players who were present at the altercation.
Dallas police officials refused to release an incident report to The Daily Campus until regular business hours resumed on Monday.
Orsini said that police involvement in the matter did not influence the decision to suspend Willis – that the matter was carefully considered by all parties. He said they came to their decision by interviewing as many people as possible and also consulted with SMU Police officials.
Orsini said the decision to suspend Willis came around 6 p.m. El Paso time for a “violation of team rules.” Orsini said he would not specify which rule or rules had been broken as a matter of SMU Athletic policy.
Orsini said that SMU Athletics will continue to reevaluate Willis’ status.
“There is a spectrum of options from either ending the relationship or it continuing in good standing…we want to do what’s best for Justin right now,” Orsini said.
– Austin Kilgore contributed to this story from Dallas.
