Mountain West Football: Utah State Player charged with rape

Off-season antics get freshman linebacker Jamaal Evans of Utah State into some serious hot water.

According to a report from KSL.com, A Utah State linebacker was charged with raping a woman who college authorities state was too drunk for the act to be consensual. Freshman Jamaal Evans may be charged with rape and forcible sodomy if the charges stand. Both charges are first-degree felonies in the state of Utah. Evans had his first arraignment in the 1st District Court Thursday afternoon.

Utah State players have faced charges in the past. There have been several sexual misconduct and rape charges against Aggie players in the past few years. For example, according to KSL.com, student Scott R. Simmons will be going to trial in August for allegedly sexually assaulting a student on the campus green in 2017. In addition, another Utah State football player, Torrey Green, faces seven (!) different sexual assault charges. There were a few other charges in 2015 and 2016 where the students in question pled guilty to reduced charges. It got bad enough that the university created a task force to address sexual violence in 2016.

In this case, the woman stated that she began drinking vodka with her friend at an off-campus party. The report goes on to read,“The next thing she remembered was waking up in the shower when she struck her head on a metal rack that was hanging over the shower head. (She) stated she heard Jamaal ask her if she ‘was good’.”

The incident started when the girl’s friends became worried after she had gone upstairs to get a drink and didn’t return. When they went to search for her, they found her phone under a pool table. They finally located her in an upstairs bedroom after they heard a shower start up. At that point, they saw that she had vomited and that both she and Evans were undressed.

Evans, of course, is claiming that she seemed OK. In a recorded conversation between Evans and the woman, Evans said that he thought she was sober and seemed surprised when she stated that she couldn’t even remember what bedroom they were in. Investigators are still collecting evidence in the case.

We could see yet another promising career destroyed by this incident, whether Evans is convicted or not. Such a shame, because Evans had real promise — the 6-2, 220-pound linebacker was a first-team, all-state quarterback in his native Nevada and was a starting linebacker for the Utah State team.

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We’ll report back as the story develops further.