Utah CB Dominique Hatfield reinstated to team

Utah cornerback Dominique Hatfield has been reinstated to the program, head coach Kyle Whittingham announced Monday.

“He’ll play as soon as he’s ready,” Whittingham said, per KSL.com. “As things are turning out, it was our belief, in fairness, he was deserving to be able to be reinstated back onto the football team.”

Whittingham said he and athletic director Chris Hill reached a decision to reinstate Hatfield and that the cornerback would be able to return to the field “whenever he is ready.”

“If he’s ready to play this week, he’ll play,” Whittingham said. “If he’s not, it could be something like three weeks.”

Hatfield has been in school and on scholarship, but has not been with the team since early July when he was arrested for aggravated robbery. Whittingham kicked him off the team after the arrest, but those charges were dropped a few weeks later.

Even after the charges were dropped, Whittingham said later in July that Hatfield was “working through some things” and remained separated from the team.

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News later emerged that Hatfield had been charged with assault stemming from a July 5 incident.

According to police documents, Hatfield was at a party and was asked by a person to stop “rolling marijuana into a blunt” and not smoke in the house. Hatfield allegedly “began striking (the victim) in the face and other parts of his body” with other “unknown individuals.” The alleged victim reportedly received bruising to his eyes, shoulder and back and cuts on his face and nose.

Hatfield was charged with misdemeanor assault, and according to KSL.com, those charges are still pending.

Hatfield, a junior from Los Angeles, totaled 38 tackles, nine pass breakups and one interception in 10 starts in 2014. He was expected to start in 2015 for the Utes, who are coming off a win over Michigan in Thursday’s season opener.

When asked about the possibility of Hatfield returning to the team, Whittingham said in August that Hatfield could potentially return to the starting lineup. He also has a redshirt year available.

“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.”

The Utes face Utah State at home on Friday night.

For more Utah news, visit Utezone.com.

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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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