| Advertisement |
Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Michigan State suspended Tank Brown, Khary Crump, Angelo Grose and Zion Young for their roles in a post-game scuffle with Michigan defensive back Ja'Den McBurrows in a Michigan Stadium tunnel, football coach Mel Tucker announced. The incident occurred after Michigan beat Michigan State 29-7 on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. Tucker announced the suspensions Sunday night.
Advertisement
Video footage of the melee later surfaced on social media and was caught by news cameras. That footage showed a group of Spartans players crowding around and pushing McBurrows as they walked through the tunnel on the way to the visitor's locker room.
The teams also were seen exchanging words on the field and needed to be separated before they headed for the tunnels.
University of Michigan Police Chief Melissa Overton announced Sunday that the department is "actively reviewing footage and investigating" the incident.
"Michigan State University football core values include integrity, discipline, unselfishness, toughness and accountability," Tucker said in a statement.
"After reviewing the disturbing electronic evidence collected to date of the altercations between Michigan State and the University of Michigan student-athletes on [Saturday], we are suspending Tank Brown, Khary Crump, Angelo Grose, and Zion Young effective immediately."
Tucker said Michigan State also is "working with law enforcement," in addition to campus leadership from both schools and the Big Ten Conference, to "evaluate the events."
"The initial student-athlete suspensions will remain in place until the investigations are completed," Tucker said.
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel spoke alongside coach Jim Harbaugh after the game and called in the incident "unacceptable." Manuel and Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren spoke to police immediately after it occurred.
"Two of our players were assaulted," Harbaugh said. "It was pretty bad. I'm going to let our athletic director address it with the authorities."
Harbaugh said one player sustained a possiblel broken nose during the incident.
"This is not how we should interact after a game," Manuel said. "This is not the way another team should grab a player and do what they did. It's completely and utterly unacceptable.
"We will let the Big Ten and law enforcement handle it, but this is not what a rivalry should be about and not how it should be remembered."
Michigan (8-0), the No. 4 team in the coaches poll, will face Rutgers (4-4) at 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, N.J. Michigan State (3-5) will face No. 13 Illinois (7-1) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill.
