FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[raiderpa]

Speeding? OK, we all slip on that one sometimes. HOWEVER, driving on a suspended license?  This is a complete lack of character and disregard for authority.  Especially after the Florida warrant fiasco.  This kid needs to grow up, take care of adult business and that does not include playing football.
See you next year, if at all.  As a Mount alum, I would prefer to see him gone and take the negatives with him.  This is student athlete, DIII football, not the SEC or NFL.

[MUC57]

raiderpa

Agree wholeheartedly with your comments. I realized after I reread my last post that I sounded too much "poor Fulford".
That's just one side of the story. You, correctly, pointed out the other side. I am also an old alum (class of 1957) and believe he should be done for the year (career?). I don't want my old school to be seen as compromising principles for football. I hold Mount Union in higher regard than that.
So, raiderpa, I could have just said, "what he said". But wanted to acknowledge the correctness of your post.
God, I hope this all ends soon!

[gizzmo13]

Larry flew to Florida to see Luke play. There's a reason he's here. He's a smart kid and a surprisingly good runner and smart with the football. If we go with Luke for the long haul I'm confident we'll be just fine.

[MUC57]

gizzmo13

Hope you're right. But he hasn't had many reps this year. Even the really good ones need those.
But, do we have a choice? Keep the fingers crossed!

[jknezek]

Speeding? OK, we all slip on that one sometimes. HOWEVER, driving on a suspended license?  This is a complete lack of character and disregard for authority.  Especially after the Florida warrant fiasco.  This kid needs to grow up, take care of adult business and that does not include playing football.
See you next year, if at all.  As a Mount alum, I would prefer to see him gone and take the negatives with him.  This is student athlete, DIII football, not the SEC or NFL.

Umm -- he was driving on a suspended license in the original offense at UMU. It didn't seem to bother the school a few weeks ago, why would it bother them now? The whole reason UMU let him play was because the events leading to the assault charge didn't happen at UMU. He's been driving on a suspended license for at least as long as he's been at UMU this term, but that wasn't important to the school.

Look, 90%+ of the blame for this falls on the young man. You have to make your court date. But there is some culpability here for whoever decided to let him play the last 2 weeks. Whoever that was decided to teach this young man there wasn't a consequence for his action. And here he is repeating the mistake because, lets face it, there was no problem with skipping the last court date, right? UMU has mishandled this situation. All they can do now is come clean and try and do better going forward. They did this young man no favors by turning a blind eye to his previous issue and taking a cop out approach. And now look what happens.

Part of college is teaching young people to become better adults. Don't we hear that from coaches and admin all the time? And yet what UMU taught this young man was the wrong lesson. Here's hoping the young man, and the school, can do better next time.

[MUC57]

jknezek

Great post. Says it better than I did. Who's in charge here?

[hasanova]

The DIII nation is watching how Mount Union handles this.  Personally, and I know I am old school, he should never have started the last two weeks.  Life before football.  Most people don't grow up unless there are consequences for their actions ... and inactions, as the case may be.

I agree 100%. I think more Mount fans agree with this than will admit it as well.

BTW - from a pure football stance. IF Fulford was benched against WL and Poorman had played. Then Poorman would have had a playoff start and recent meaningful snaps. Plus (No Offense to WL) I think Mount still beats WL with Poorman (they could have done the right thing AND prepared the back-up at same time). Fast forward - IF Fulford is gone (and I think he will be) then Poorman gets the start and has not taken a meaningful snap since...what October of last year?

desertraider, I agree that Mount Union probably tops W&L with their back-up quarterback in the first round (we ODAC fans realistically know where we stand on the national stage).  As you correctly stated, Poorman would have gotten some snaps earlier in the playoffs.  If he goes in now (and he should, in my opinion), he will be facing heightened competition during his learning curve.  A potential football win is not worth UMU's academic reputation ...  and that reputation has taken a hit the last few weeks.

[USTBench]

Links?? I have not seen a new warrant issued in Stark County System

https://www.starkcountycjis.org/crim/crim_display_docket_main?pass_case_no=09097&pass_case_type=TRD&pass_case_year=2017&pass_full_name=DANGELO+ISAIAH+FULFORD&start_range=1

Did you read the D3football.com story?

Yes I did. I was trying to confirm with another source. The link you just hit has the additional:
BENCH WARRANT ISSUED FAILURE TO APPEAR FOR ARRAIGNMENT. BOND (HOLD FOR COURT). 11-27-2017 (STARK COUNTY SHERIFF)

That was not entered when I checked and posted the original link. So he, based on this, should be taken into custody (tonight?) and held at that point.

From what I have learned, but waiting for confirmation, the bench warrant doesn't necessarily lead to an immediate arrest. One theory is that he has to be detained for something else and it that it isn't a "search and arrest" type of thing. That said, there is also some who feel it is something the police (deputies in this case) can go and immediately arrest. I am awaiting confirmation.

Not sure when you looked for the details, but that has been there since I first looked at it quite awhile ago. That said, I do know it may depend on the device one uses and the link they choose. Kind of weird, but even our staff had some conflicts for a bit. LOL

Longtime criminal defense attorney here. I don't work in Stark County (obviously) but the jurisdictions I have worked typically issue a "failure appear arrest warrant" that gets forwarded to the sheriff's department (usually not the police, but the police would know the warrant exists should they make contact and run a warrant check, and would make an arrest).

I can tell you from experience that a FTA bench warrant for driving while your license is suspended would be a very low priority for whatever law enforcement is agency tasked with executing arrest warrants. So, unless he's at a house party that gets busted and they run his ID, it would be months, possibly years before the chickens would come home to roost on something like that. Which is why I tell clients in these types of situations to just turn themselves in and take care of it. Depending on the jurisdiction, sometimes you can actually call the Court and make an appearance and ask for the warrant to be quashed and bond to be reinstated.

Either way, this does not seem like a crime a moral turpitude, but rather a very unorganized kid in way over his head, a thousand miles from home. He probably needs a year at a JUCO close to home to get his life straightened out and his priorities straight.

On the other hand, I know the MUC coaches can't babysit everyone, but this is your starting QB, who has had problems in the past. National Championships are great, but you have to set the bar higher morally, or one has to consider that maybe you're no longer a fit for DIII.

[HScoach]

All of this is exactly why I said 2 weeks ago that he should be suspended until his legal stuff is straightened out.   Now it looks even worse.   

As a longtime follower of all things Mount football, I'm shocked that this has been handled so poorly.  I would have expected LK to make the decision as the AD regardless of whether Vince thought it was proper or not.

I almost posted the following 2 weeks ago but thought better of it at the time.   Now I'm very comfortable in saying I'M SO GLAD THAT I'M NOT BROADCASTING THEIR GAMES ANYMORE.   IF I WAS, THE W&L GAME WOULD HAVE BEEN MY LAST AS I WOULDN'T HAVE SUGAR COATED MY THOUGHTS ON FULFORD PLAYING, WHICH WOULD HAVE GOTTEN ME CANNED AT HALFTIME PROBABLY.   BEING PART OF THE RADIO CREW WAS A BLAST, BUT I'M NOT PROMOTING THIS CRAP ON THE RADIO.

[wally_wabash]

Larry flew to Florida to see Luke play. There's a reason he's here. He's a smart kid and a surprisingly good runner and smart with the football. If we go with Luke for the long haul I'm confident we'll be just fine.

This kind of thing has come up a handful of times over the last couple of weeks but it doesn't pass the smell test.  If Mount Union's coachin staff thought they'd be just fine with a non-Fulford QB, there's no way on Earth that they would have taken out the huge marker against their brand that had to be done to keep Fulford playing since the incident two weeks ago.  If Poorman and Fulford are interchangeable parts, the cost of these last two weeks simply isn't worth it- and that's before that bet crapped out on Monday.  I don't care if Larry Kehres flew to Florida solo in a hot air balloon to recruit Poorman- they clearly don't think they're winning this tournament with him. 

[MUC57]

Wally Wabash

How do you do it? As always, you're right on target.
To reiterate what I said in an earlier post , God, I hope this ends soon!

[merlecanlas]

the world's biggest criminal was in court this morning and everything is ironed out legally.  2 points on the license and $300 in fines.  Lock him up and throw away the key

[MUC57]

merlecanlas

Huh?

[USTBench]

the world's biggest criminal was in court this morning and everything is ironed out legally.  2 points on the license and $300 in fines.  Lock him up and throw away the key

I don't think anyone is saying that.

But the kid commits a crime, and ignores the court date, twice.

Either he's in need of a day planner or just doesn't give a hot crap.

[Frank Rossi]

Here's the status.  There still was a bench warrant as of this morning until his appearance.  As an attorney, I agree with USTBench fully here.