The Gholston attack on Denard
I was at the game and could not see the attempt to break Denard's neck. Just back home and this was the single worst behavior I have ever seen on a football field. This was a deliberate attempt to injure a defenseless player that was on the ground. This incident needs to be shown to EVERY coach in college football and then the B1G and the NCAA need to let Gholston know that he is permanently banned from playing college football. The NFL would ban him for this behavior - intentionally attacking a defenseless player with the sole intent of injury (or worse) as Denard could have been permanently injured.
I pray that ESPN and B1G Network take the lead by showing the replay over and over so that every college football coach and fan knows exactly what Gholston did.
Go Blue!
October 16th, 2011 at 12:02 AM ^
He jerked his helmet. Trying to break his neck, suspended for life, at least a year?--please. Helmets get jerked around all the time. They even have a penalty for it. Also, you mean none of you noticed Lewan jerking Gholston's helmet? I'm not saying it was a nice and friendly thing to do, but seriously, do you really think he was trying to paralyze or kill him? Denard wasn't even hurt by it.
October 16th, 2011 at 7:43 AM ^
It was after the play when Denard was down on the ground asshat. Lewan was in hand to hand combat during the play. Nice try douche.
October 16th, 2011 at 10:46 AM ^
That's right... He dived in after the play was over... (Personal Foul number 1...) Then he maliciously grabbed Denard's helmet and twisted... (Personal Foul number 2) and in your world that's okay... it was unfriendly.
Now I do hope that someday if you have a child (though I personally hope you never breed) that the same thing is done to him. And I hope that it doesn't seriously hurt him, but I do want to know what your reaction would be.
I hope that you walk out on the field and thank the player for teaching your son what a little bit of an unfriendly play is.
Somehow I don't think you will Mr. Ass Hat!!
October 16th, 2011 at 10:56 AM ^
Apologize
October 16th, 2011 at 12:45 AM ^
Let's see, Lagarrett Blunt was basically suspended for a full season for punching a guy in the face. Gholston did that and tried to wrench Denard's neck. Based on this, is a suspension for the remainder of the season and a bowl game too much?
October 16th, 2011 at 10:54 AM ^
Yeah but Chip Kelly has more class than Dantonio. Something tells me that if the Big Ten doesn't do anything then he'll get off scot free
October 15th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^
Forget college football. He should be in jail.
October 16th, 2011 at 1:03 AM ^
Oh so you want him to be drafted by the Bengals?
October 16th, 2011 at 12:48 AM ^
Get out of the basement, you've watched far too many Steven Segal movies
October 16th, 2011 at 10:41 AM ^
he would go to jail.
October 15th, 2011 at 7:57 PM ^
The B1G will review it, and probably suspend him.
Until we see the punishment that follows the crime, calm down.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:05 PM ^
That video is, alas, inadequate. The most important part is there, but it's worth nothing that he joined the pile late before that happened.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:01 PM ^
well, and like yourself didn't see the play till just now. This isn't even about the game anymore. It's not complaining, this is a legitimate concern about the safety of the players. WIlliam Gholston should be suspensed for the rest of the season. It wasn't that the play was dirty. The play was balant. And it wasn't like he was in the heat of the moment in a fight with an opposing player. After the whistle with an offensive player lying on the ground. Considering the circumstances, one of the dirtiest play I will ever see.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:30 PM ^
suspension for the rest of the season, including their bowl game, would be appropriate. I wouldn't ban him for life just yet, but 7 games would be a significant punishment that would discourage other players from this kind of behavior.
That's a very heavy penalty for on-field behavior, but as others have pointed out this action could have caused a very serious, possibly career-ending (life altering?) injury. The punishment has to be significant enough to send a message to every college football player in the country.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:38 PM ^
What do you expect from a team that allows people to change from jumpsuit orange to practice field green and white? It starts with their coach. Nobody who has coached Michigan in the last fifty years would allow that from one of their players.
It's sad; the only thing I was right about was that MSU would commit a lot of personal fouls. I thought they would do it because they were losing, which would at least be a little bit of an excuse. There is no excuse for what Gholston did, though, and I agree 100 percent that he should be suspended for the rest of the season.
I also agree with the general sentiment that Saint Dantonio will make excuses for Gholston. Luckily, the tape is there, and the B1G office can't ignore it, especially considering that Denard is one of the conference's biggest cash cows right now.
Brady Hoke and the players are all saying the right things for the cameras, but you know that Hoke will have some choice words for the league office soon if he hasn't contacted them already.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:54 PM ^
I don't believe in Karma, but if it exists then things are about to change. I think Hoke is on the right track and will change the course of MSU's recent trend himself regardless of Karma.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:57 PM ^
October 15th, 2011 at 8:01 PM ^
well, and like yourself didn't see the play till just now. This isn't even about the game anymore. It's not complaining, this is a legitimate concern about the safety of the players. WIlliam Gholston should be suspensed for the rest of the season. It wasn't that the play was dirty. The play was balant. And it wasn't like he was in the heat of the moment in a fight with an opposing player. After the whistle with an offensive player lying on the ground. Considering the circumstances, one of the dirtiest play I will ever see.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:03 PM ^
But ... nothing is going to happen. Miami is still playing football, Auburn was just cleared and OSU will skate.
I think MSU's behavior was shocking, vulgar and repulsive. They'll all play next week, and I'm sure Dantonio will even buy them a pizza or something.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:11 PM ^
this is on the field thuggery. Show every coach in football and ask whether they want that mentality on the field of play. This is the action of a lunatic and I doubt one single coach would defend Gholston.
Go Blue!
October 15th, 2011 at 9:14 PM ^
Well, Dantonio sure would
October 17th, 2011 at 4:28 AM ^
He actually couldn't get enough of it too.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/andy_staples/10/15/michigan.state.michigan/?xid=cnnbin
Classy.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:41 PM ^
Would that be an NCAA violation?
October 15th, 2011 at 8:03 PM ^
Coach Hoke should call Dantonio, Jim Deleny, NCAA Commisioner, ESPN, and so on, let them know what a *ucking Classless, No discipline, and Not well coached team MSU really is. I'm almost in a belief that Dantonio TOLD his team to play DIRTY and INJURE Denard on every play. He only cared about win, and never had and never will respect a program like this.
October 16th, 2011 at 12:26 AM ^
I think you're onto something. I think Dantonio did tell his team to rough up Denard. Heck, his DC Pat Narduzzi said after the game: "That's what we try to do. Sixty minutes of unnecessary roughness. I'm just happy it didn't get called on every snap." Link
October 16th, 2011 at 4:21 AM ^
If that's not a Sparty homer article, then I don't know what is.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:04 PM ^
i have never in my life witnessed a group argue so much amongst themselves.
October 15th, 2011 at 10:01 PM ^
see a group arguing amongst itself. I see a group almost entirely in agreement.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:05 PM ^
The filth in this game (especially the Ghoulston neck twisting debacle) makes me absolutely sick. I am so glad that my Wolverines have never played that way.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:08 PM ^
The Conference will step in. They suspended that Purdue player back in '09 for slugging a guy, I'm going to assume that the same will happen here.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:09 PM ^
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds-Sorgi_incident
Much worse than today's in my opinion, and it got one game and a public apology.
I expect the same this time, but without the apology. And it'll probably be the B1G that hands out the suspension instead of the team.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:19 PM ^
on that 2003 tsio team? Also ... it is time to put a stop to this behavior on the field of play. Just because the Sorgi incident which I agree was awful, was a 1 game suspension, doesn't mean that this time it is dealt with the same way. This in my mind was actually worse as Gholston could have broke Denard neck (and I think he was trying to) which could have even paralyzed Denard. Gholston should be removed from the team, period. And anyone else that intentionally does the same should receive the same punishment.
Go Blue!
October 15th, 2011 at 8:43 PM ^
Dantonio was the OSU DC at the time.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:39 PM ^
IIRC, Reynolds tried to hurt a UofM player in that one game also, jm.
This would have been before going after Sorgi. Maybe the year before.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:00 PM ^
If we're going to the worst possible scenario Reynolds could have broken Sorgi's larynx and asphyxiated him. It's hard to judge this stuff from a distance because we don't know how much force was exerted, but Reynolds did serious damage and as far as we know Gholston did not.
I will be absolutely shocked if there's more than a two-game suspension. I expect one game, and I'd be less surprised by none at all than by something lengthy.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:06 PM ^
It's not about the result, it's about intent. There was no reason 1) for him to pile on late and 2) to grab Robinson's facemask and twist.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:19 PM ^
And there was no reason for Reynolds to try to strangle Jim Sorgi.
I'm just trying to compare this to the most similar prior incident I can remember, and I don't see anything that makes this worse. And to say it's not worse than the most appalling thing I've ever seen on a football field isn't exactly a justification.
October 16th, 2011 at 11:30 AM ^
I think it is worse. Choking some guy, although eventually life threatening, isn't immediately life threatening like wrenching some guys neck.
Edit: I don't think people understand what flamebait means. This is not flamebait. This is a factual comparison of two different actions. This was not intended to anger or enrage but to logically disagree with Yeoman's post where he downplays the gravity of Gholston's actions. And how is what I said any different than allintime's post that didn't get tagged as flamebait!?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flamebait
Now the previous post, I would argue, is flamebait.
October 15th, 2011 at 10:27 PM ^
Well doctor , when you jerk somebody's head in a direction it's not meant to go when their body is held down by a massive amount of weight, you could probably break their fucking neck.
October 16th, 2011 at 12:07 AM ^
You honestly think a player would try to break another player's neck during a game?
Some of you people are seriously delusional. And, you've probably have watched too many action flicks to think it can happen that easily.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:18 PM ^
The Nick Fairley play was just as dirty IMO. He should have been done after that play. How people can treat each other during a game like that is beyond me.
October 16th, 2011 at 12:16 AM ^
Well it is obvious that the 1 game suspension didn't work, so how about we go for a full season this time? Maybe that will get enough attention so that players actually play the game without intent to injure?
October 15th, 2011 at 8:11 PM ^
How was Gholston's punch different from Blount's punch?
October 15th, 2011 at 8:17 PM ^
Blount cold-cocked somebody off the field of play. It's different.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^
And Chip Kelly responded the next day. WG won't be suspended because Dantonio has no control over them... I wonder why... Is it because they get three strikes before a talking to...and 3 additional strikes before they are suspended for two minutes... The lack of punishment bugs me.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:23 PM ^
Blount's punch was after the game was over and the guy he punched didn't have a helmet on.
With that said, Gholston's neck twisting in addition to the punch probably deserves similar punishment to what Blount got for his punch.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:17 PM ^
So weird; it didn't work. The press box couldn't hear me from all the way across the field in Sec. 106.
I want to see the replay. Like Hoke (on Denard's last play of the game), I turned to see the play downfield; only later did I look back to see Denard in a heap under two Spartans, and the entire remainder of the MSU defense waving their arms for the crowd to make noise.
Anyway, Spartan Stadium didn't dare show a replay. Probably fearing a riot. They might have gotten one.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:38 PM ^
hi-fiving your brah. It looked like the players/fans were going ape over injuring Denard. The only way they riot is if someone put a re-run of Jersey Shore on the jumbo-tron.