Wisconsin WR Quintez Cephus charged with felony assualt, fellow WR Danny Davis named in criminal complaint

Submitted by Bambi on

There was already a post this weekend about Cephus announcing his leave/suspension from the team but he has officially been charged with felony assault. The main reason I'm posting this is that the official charges were filed and in the criminal complaint, fellow Wisconsin WR Danny Davis was named. Quote:

" Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver Quintez Cephus was charged Monday with second- and third-degree sexual assault of two intoxicated women who said he sexually assaulted both of them and said Cephus and his roommate, teammate Danny Davis, laughed and took photos of the women, according to a criminal complaint.

[...]

According to the complaint, Cephus told investigators that he and one of the women had sex, but “It was all good. She was all into it,” the complaint states. He said he also had sex with the other woman. He at first denied taking any photos, but then said one was taken but was quickly deleted."

Nothing by Wisconsin has been announced with regards to Davis, but if he's suspended too that's a huge blow to Wisconsin's depth chart. Last year's leading receiver was TE Troy Fumagalli who graduated. Cephus, a JR, was the second leading receiver and had 30 catches for 501 yards and 6 TDs despite missing the last 5 games due to injury. Davis was the 4th leading receiver in his freshman year had 26 catches for 418 yards and 5 TDs and emerged at the end of the season when Cephus went down.

The two remaining receivers for Wisconsin who had double digit catches last year are JR AJ Taylor. Taylor is purely a slot and 31 catches for 475 yards and 5 TDs but also missed a scrimmage with a leg injury two days ago. The last player is Sophomore Kendrick Pryor who had 13 catches for 179 yards and 1 TD.

Link to Wisconsin blog with report.

ak47

August 21st, 2018 at 12:15 PM ^

And one of the top olines in the country and a good qb. But other than three quarters of their offense being more experienced and proven, sure exactly the same.

So far Wisconsin seems to be handling this well assuming Davis is also suspended as this plays out.

bronxblue

August 21st, 2018 at 2:31 PM ^

They have a very good offensive line, but people seem to be ignoring the fact Hornibrook was one off the league leader in picks last year on not a lot of volume (318 passes compared to Tanner Lee, the leader with 16 picks but with over 100 more pass attempts) and not is down perhaps his best wideout.  

Wisconsin will be good this year, and their schedule is really pretty weak, but they don't look particularly scary to me.

But credit to them for handling this well.

Hold This L

August 21st, 2018 at 3:49 PM ^

They always have a good o line. But in terms of offensive effectiveness, they are Michigan, or what Michigan was. They will have no pass game and rely solely on the run, where teams will just load up the box like they did with Michigan. It doesn’t matter how good your line is when they’re outnumbered. 

BlueKoj

August 21st, 2018 at 3:44 PM ^

Four AA candidates on the OL seems as far from last year’s UM team as one can get. Hornibrook threw a lot of picks, but he was far more effective than UMs QBs. Even losing his best targets won’t drive him to those depths. Very little about their offense seems akin to UM 2017.

GoWings2008

August 21st, 2018 at 12:14 PM ^

People called me crazy for thinking their #4 ranking was inflated.  I knew that Cephus was gone after the report earlier in the week, but now it's even more inflated.  They lost too much IMO to be #4 and this makes it worse.  I wish I could feel sorry for them, but stupid actions require punishment....cough...urban meyer...cough. 

Ryno2317

August 21st, 2018 at 12:14 PM ^

Wisconsin obviously needs a man of moral character to lead their WRs.  Someone with great leadership qualities and someone who will absolutely not tolerate any off field issues.  Anyone think that Zac Smith will apply?  Maybe he can get a job reference from Urban after tomorrow?  

Ihatebux

August 21st, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^

Not sure about UW, but Sparty would take quite a hard stance on their players for this offense.  I'm thinking Mork would probably make them pick up trash after practice possibly do a few extra wind sprints.

AZBlue

August 21st, 2018 at 4:07 PM ^

Me thinks we would have seen another outcome if it weren’t for the Nassar investigation and accompanying spotlight.  (Particularly with the charge they managed to plea down to after things blew over.). Of course the 3rd time re-offender case still would have been there to focus public opinion on the “strict” discipline style of the Morkster...

 

Pre-emotive RCMB deflection......”But But But Grant Perry grabbed some girl’s ass!!!!!!!!!!”

Arb lover

August 21st, 2018 at 12:29 PM ^

For the record, Michigan removed a player for filming a sexual encounter without her permission, without any allegation of sexual harassment/misconduct. If they do anything less than termination in this instance I would imagine Wisconsin people will cry foul, especially if there are, as they allege, pictures taken without consent. From my take Madison's atmosphere is fairly similar to Ann Arbor's, and that stuff isn't tolerated or covered up. 

Arb lover

August 21st, 2018 at 3:26 PM ^

I guess I'm not a prosecutor so I'll leave that distinction to them. There were two counts, one of taking the picture of an unclothed person, and the second of distributing it. I don't know the specifics here but it sounds like the lady found out there was a picture. Pictures are usually shared at least minimally with friends, in my experience. 

I'm perfectly happy with your assessment of what should be done, as long as it isn't brushed under the rug with slaps on the wrist, or no charges brought by the local prosecutor, the system seems to be acting normally, so lets let the process work, right? Hopefully these guys and everyone else who hears about this comes to learn that some things are very serious and aren't done. Period.

LSAClassOf2000

August 21st, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^

Yikes, and all this after we all saw the article pronouncing this WR corps as the best Wisconsin has ever had. 

I would have to think Davis is probably at least suspended if not gone too - not sure where Wisconsin fans stand on this, but I assume that's the prevailing thought. If so, that's a gigantic blow to them. 

charblue.

August 21st, 2018 at 1:09 PM ^

What's more, in the original story posted about Cephus leaving the team voluntarily to fight the then un-filed charges, it was noted that once filed anyone named in them would be subject to automatic team suspension with reinstatement determined by certain school officials.

I wonder whether Cephus' roommate's involvement in this incident will also lead to some form of discipline regardless of whether he is formally charged in the case. Sounds like he would be Cephus' chief witness, and their relationship would clearly be compromised if he remains on the team while his partner is off the roster.

AP voters yesterday ranked Wisconsin No. 4 in the nation, one step higher than Ohio State at No. 5, in which pollsters acknowledged that they dinged the Buckeye's placement because of Meyer's uncertain status heading into the season pending an investigative review of his supervision of his former receivers coach.

 

 

B1G Winning

August 21st, 2018 at 3:12 PM ^

Some of the comments about the case in a thread on the Wisconsin 247 forum are appalling.  Very hard to read.

Everything from blaming the bar they drank at, blaming the girl for drinking too much, blaming "femanazi's" for turning America's justice system against men, etc.

Thankfully some of the posters there aren't afraid to call out their counterparts.

Double-D

August 21st, 2018 at 9:11 PM ^

LTT was expelled from Michigan for being guilty of what Davis is accused of.   I would expect Wisconsin to take the high road.   They are not MSU/OSU/PSU.  

throckman

August 21st, 2018 at 9:23 PM ^

That is exactly what I wrote in my emails to Alvarez and Blank - UW is not MSU or OSU or PSU. As a UW alumnus, I expect my school to do the right thing, which is suspending these WRs while they are suspected of criminal behavior.

Every last one of my Badger buddies is pissed our guys would do something like this.  We hope they're innocent but that's for the courts to decide.