Players deny trashing hotel room at NFL Combine
Clemson wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is expecting to hear his name called early in next week's NFL Draft. But reports accusing Hopkins of trashing a hotel room at the NFL Combine in February might change when his name is actually called.
Urine and feces were found in the bathroom, toothpaste was left on the mirror and leftover food was on one of the beds in the first-floor room at the Crowne Plaza in Indianapolis as the combine was concluding. The room's occupants did not make any attempt to clean up the mess, and now, according to NFL.com teams are aware of those responsible.
And fingers are being pointing at Hopkins, the 41st ranked player and sixth ranked wide receiver in the draft, according to nfldraftscouts.com.
Hopkins' agent, Hadley Engelhard, denied his client was responsible for the mess.
"DeAndre had as much to do with it as you did," Engelhard told NFL.com's Ian Rapoport. "We have no idea. We don't know. We haven't been asked about it officially."
Hopkins spoke to FOXSports.com Thursday night and said he didn't hear about the vandalism until the next day from his agent.
"Luckily, thank God, my agent got my flight booked early or it really would've been questionable if I did [it] or not," he said.
"I got done before Mark Harrison, so I was already packed. I already took a shower and packed and everything. Mark came in and we spoke for at least 20 minutes about the combine. Then the bellman came in and helped me get my bags out. And I left. That's, honestly, all I can say."
Harrison, a wide receiver out of Rutgers shared the room with Hopkins. Harrison denied any involvement with trashing the room.
Harrison's coach at Rutgers, Kyle Flood, came to Harrison's defense.
"I've been on a lot of road trips and we've never had a single disciplinary issue with him. He's a model of the type of person we want here at Rutgers," Flood said. "It would be so out of character to be involved in this that I just cannot imagine under any circumstance that it would happen and involve him."
Hopkins said he doesn't believe Harrison had anything to do with the incident.
"I say check the cameras," Hopkins said. "That's the best way that you're going to get the answer. Check the cameras and check the timing of everything."
Combine organizer Jeff Foster reported that at least 10 teams asked him about details of the incident.
