Utah CB Dominique Hatfield back in school, not back on the team
Suspended Utah cornerback Dominique Hatfield has been allowed to remain in school, coach Kyle Whittingham said Monday, but he has not yet been reinstated to the team.
School spokesperson Liz Abel told the Associated Press that Hatfield had never been kicked out of school and remained on scholarship. However, Hatfield’s lawyer thought differently. Greg Skordas said he thought his client had been dismissed from school and had his scholarship revoked following two legal incidents, which included charges of aggravated robbery and theft and later, misdemeanor assault. The aggravated robbery charges were dropped, but assault charges that surfaced last week are still pending.
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Whittingham hasn’t ruled out Hatfield’s return to the program, but noted that his legal issues need to be resolved first.
"You never say never," Whittingham said. "Right now, there's been closure on the first incident with the legal process. The second thing that we were dealing with, the university has closure on it as far as he's going to be allowed to stay in school. The legal process is still running its course in that situation.
"From a football standpoint, we have to make sure everything's run its course, and then we'll re-evaluate after everything's been decided and had closure."
Hatfield’s misdemeanor assault charges surfaced after a man said Hatfield and others attacked him at a party on July 5, just a week after Hatfield was allegedly involved in a robbery. The alleged assault victim said Hatfield was “rolling marijuana into a blunt," when he asked Hatfield not to smoke in the house because there were other Utah football players present and they were subject to drug testing. The alleged victim suffered bruising to his face, shoulders and back, and cuts around his eyes and nose.
Hatfield started 10 games last season and had 38 tackles, one interception and nine pass breakups. Hatfield was a starter before his legal issues began and Whittingham didn’t rule out Hatfield being a starter again.
"If it was before camp ended, it'd be a very viable possibility that he could be back in the mix early in the season," Whittingham said. "The longer it goes, the less likely it is that he'd be a factor this year for us.
"Now he does have a redshirt year; if in fact he's able to get reinstated and get everything worked through, we have that option, too."
For more Utah news, visit Utezone.com.
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