Illinois Freshman Defensive Tackle May Have Committed a Hate Crime
By Jason McIntyre
The police claim:
"Early Sunday morning, two men reported to Champaign police that Jones punched them outside Kam’s after Jones drove by in a car. The victims had told police that they were in a relationship. Jones told police that he hit the men in retaliation for an incident that occurred a week ago."
Jones towers over the two gay men, who police say are 5-9, 140 and 5-9, 165. I can’t find any details on what incident “occurred a week ago.”
The part that makes Illinois coach Ron Zook look really bad? He obviously didn’t do a background check when recruiting Jones. Otherwise, it might have turned up a felony conviction for cocaine possession.
"Court records from Duval County, Fla., which includes Jones’ hometown, show he pleaded guilty in July 2010 to cocaine possession and was sentenced to 60 days of unsupervised probation."
Jones picked Illinois over UNC and NC State, and was slated to see some playing time this Fall.