Players involved in Sunday’s lockdown deserve more than game suspension

By Joshua Huff

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With one-game suspensions handed down to four UK football players for their involvement in an on-campus weapon possession incident, an argument about the possibility of dismissal from the team ought to be made.

As most people are aware, freshmen Dorian Baker, Drew Barker, Stanley “Boom” Williams and Tymere Dubose were discovered in surveillance camera footage and thought to be behind the shots fired report that locked down campus around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday. The four men disposed of one air-soft gun and two BB guns that were subsequently discovered by the UK Police Department.

It remains to be seen whether the players will receive any additional punishments outside of internal team punishment and being suspended for the South Carolina game.

But what should be done if all the allegations are true? Is a one-game suspension a justifiable punishment for walking around with an object that so clearly resembles a gun and locking down a campus?

I don’t believe it is.

Any athlete who represents an organization is held to a higher standard than your typical individual. College athletes may be under the same code of conduct as any average student, but they represent so much more. They represent the university; they should be a walking epitome of the values that are instilled. UK’s core values wrap around the foundation of integrity, mutual respect, human dignity, a sense of community and civic responsibility.

The irresponsible actions of the four football players not only lack any semblance of common sense, but it highlights the culture surrounding high-profile athletes, especially young athletes. The players punished are freshmen who were highly recruited coming out of high school where they were celebrated and idolized. That simply means that athletes typically get away with things that a typical person wouldn’t be able to get away with. Take for example a rape incident that occurred at Steubenville High School where two football players were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl. One of the players, Ma’lik Richmond, who was convicted of rape, suited up in August and has played football this season, despite having to register as a sex offender.

Now, the incident involving the UK players doesn’t compare to the incident at Steubenville, but it highlights the privileges an athlete receives. People are more willing to grant favors to those who bring prominence to an organization or community. Prior to the release of the Ray Rice video, the NFL buried domestic violence issues and dished out miniscule punishments and fines, and the fans were more than willing to ignore the evidence.

The UK football players caused a campus-wide lockdown and instilled fear upon its student body for nearly two hours. If it wasn’t for the security footage, they might have walked away scot-free.

Head coach Mark Stoops needs to set the tone if he intends to stand by his philosophy of instilling change in the locker room. Players should have enough common sense and maturity to realize that walking around a college campus with anything that resembles a deadly weapon is absurdly stupid and irresponsible, even for an 18-year-old kid.

And if they can’t realize how irresponsible they were after the fact, then Stoops needs to nip this in the bud and dismiss the players from the team.