Iowa RB De’Andre Johnson Suspended Indefinitely After Arrest
By Kyle Kensing
Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg is on the Maxwell Award watch list. You may ask what relevance that has to the above headline. Well, Vandenberg may need to be prolific enough to win the award if UI is to compete in the Big Ten, since the Hawkeyes continue to lose running backs.
De’Andre Johnson is the top leading returning rusher — or perhaps was the top leading returning rusher with the departure of Marcus Coker to Stony Brook and Jordan Canzeri injuring his knee this spring. But per The Gazette Hawkeye beat reporter Marc Morehouse, Johnson was arrested for driving his motorcycle 60 MPH in a 25 MPH zone, and briefly evading police. The arrest was Johnson’s second legal run-in on the weekend. Morehouse reports police were called to break up a party at Johnson’s house.
Such law enforcement intervention is commonplace in a college towns. As an aside, the local police in the city of my alma mater issued “red tags,” or citations that had to be displayed in a front window for 90 days. Residents were not allowed more than 10 visitors at a time, risking further action. Still, with athletes facing higher scrutiny, even a commonplace citation warrants discipline. The second ordeal compounds the problem, which prompted head coach Kirk Ferentz to act.
Ferentz said he was “disappointed” in his released statement, which also detailed Johnson’s indefinite suspension.
This would seemingly be a particular point of emphasis at UI with the many, well documented issues its football program has faced in recent months.
Coker was investigated in an assault case before his transfer to Stony Brook. He was the Big Ten’s second leading rusher behind Heisman finalist Montee Ball, but was suspended for the Hawkeyes’ Insight Bowl loss to Oklahoma.
UI also lost Mika’il McCall to transfer. He went to Southern Illinois after missing time for his own suspension late last season for unspecified violations of team rules. McCall’s experience was limited, having carried 11 times for 65 yards in 2011, but it was some field action. The current crop of ball carriers to wear black-white-and-yellow are altogether green.