A former Nebraska football player is missing. Maurice Washington, 20, was identified as a missing person by the Nebraska State Patrol on June 19.
The Nebraska State Patrol classified the ex-Cornhuskers running back as missing but did not provide any details related to when he disappeared or why he was designated as “missing.” In March, Washington was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years probation for misdemeanor charges related to transmitting a video of an underage girl engaging in a sex act.
Washington, who was scheduled to be released March 20, pleaded no contest to the felony charge of possession of a video of a person under 18 engaging in or simulating sexual conduct. He was also charged with a misdemeanor for sharing a recording without the person’s consent.
If Washington had been convicted of both charges, he could have faced up two years in prison, a fine of $4,500 or both.
The charges stemmed from a text Washington sent to a girl in March of 2018. According to authorities, the message included an old, 10-second video of the girl, then 15, performing oral sex. Washington did not record the video, nor was he present during the recording.
Washington entered the NCAA Transfer Portal in January following his dismissal from the Nebraska program.
While Huskers head coach Scott Frost did not comment on the specifics of Nebraska’s final decision to move on, the running back’s status with the Husker program had seemed in serious jeopardy since October, with Washington not part of the team the second half of the season for various reasons.
Frost had said at the early signing day press conference in December that he planned to meet with the the player that week to discuss the next move for Washington. Nebraska athletics later put out a brief statement saying Washington has been dismissed from the team and was expected to enter the portal soon.
In October, Frost said he wouldn’t have handled the Washington situation any differently than he had, but wished the story had taken on a different course than it did. Frost explained that his philosophy on handling players with issues perhaps lines up to the man who coached him, Tom Osborne.
“He wasn’t quick to crumble kids up and throw them away,” Frost said. “Some of the kids that are in some of those situations, if they’re gone out of this program, that road doesn’t lead to very many good places. As long as I’m here, I’m going to try to help these young men as much as I can. That’s the promise I make to their parents when I sit in their living room and tell them we’re going to try to help them no matter what.”
Having just finished his sophomore season without using a redshirt, Washington was more or less suspended from the team seven games into 2019 campaign, with Frost saying then he was not part of the team’s plans in the immediate future.
The decision, the coach said at the time, had nothing to do with the legal matter in California. Rather, “there’s certain standards that we ask our players to uphold,” Frost said. “When those standards aren’t upheld, it doesn’t matter who it is, they’re not going to be a part of our plans that week or potentially longer.”
Washington’s on-field talent could not be denied, with him contributing from the jump as a true freshman, and the back proving one of Nebraska’s best weapons early in the season. He ran for 298 yards and averaged 6.0 yards per rush, while also ending up fifth on the team in receiving yards with 162, despite playing in six games.
As a freshman he had 455 yards rushing and 221 yards receiving, and was viewed as one of Nebraska’s best weapons heading into 2019.