Illinois Football Coach Ron Zook announced today that sophomore linebacker Evan Frierson (Washington, D.C. /H.D. Woodson) has been dismissed from the football program after he violated team rules.
Frierson was arrested on the 14th for aggravated assault, in a situation described as:
Frierson was driving when a 19-year-old man jumped out in traffic, forcing Frierson to stop his vehicle. Frierson got out of his vehicle and an argument erupted. The 19-year-old man tried to spit on Frierson, which led to Frierson punching the man in the face.
“As I have always done, I review each situation on an individual basis and make sure I have all the information,” Zook said. “After a full review, I think it’s in Evan’s best interest to concentrate on his academics and his legal issues, and he no longer remains a part of our football program.”
There’s been a rash of disappointments in the players recruited from the D.C. area, a hotbed for talent that Zook and his staff have been tapped into. But most of those disappointments have been from lack of production on the field, extremely hyped recruits (Arrelious Benn, Vontae Davis, Tavon Wilson) that haven’t lived up to expectations.
Of course, there’s been quite a few off-the-field incidents like this during the Zook years, and it’s not from just the D.C. and Maryland kids. Still, it looks like dismissing Frierson was the way to go.
Frierson played in nine games this season and in all 12 games in 2009. He had a total of six tackles in 2010 and 19 tackles in 2009.