There’s been another storyline that’s dominated the West Virginia football program the past couple of days.

Early Tuesday afternoon, West Virginia football player Kerry Martin penned a lengthy statement that he posted on Twitter in which he alleged the mistreatment of himself and his teammates by WVU assistant Vic Koenning.  A short time later, the Mountaineers placed the defensive coordinator on administrative leave.

Tuesday night, West Virginia released a letter from head football coach Neal Brown.  In it, Brown describes himself as “sick about today’s events,” writing that he “first learned about Kerry’s stated concerns via Twitter.” That’s noteworthy because the safety claimed in his statement that he had meetings with Brown regarding Koenning’s alleged mistreatment.

Wednesday evening, Koenning issued a statement of apology via his Twitter account.

I respect Kerry Martin’s right to share that some of my words and actions impacted him. I care deeply for KJ and, when given the opportunity to speak directly, am optimistic we can find common ground. In the interim, I want to offer my sincere apology to both KJ and the entire WVU Family.

I never intended anything I said or did to offend or be insensitive. But KJ’s tweet reminded me that sometimes intent is not always clearly communicated. I’ve devoted the last 30 plus years of my life to serving young men through coaching. I’ve always tried to see things from the perspective of others. I’m not perfect – but I’m also not the person many on social media have painted me to be. I’m still learning every day and this is an opportunity for me to listen, learn and improve.

Over the past several days, some of our players have asked me why I haven’t spoken out publicly against racism and social injustice. Coach Brown and our administration addressed those important issues on behalf of our program and I fully supported their messages – then and now. At the time, I did not see the need to issue a separate statement. Again, I recognize that this only takes into account my perspective and not that of the players I am leading. Of course I stand against racism and social injustice of any kind. I hope my players know that already, but I proudly say it now. There is no place for that any time, anywhere or any place.

I look forward to fully cooperating with WVU’s independent investigation by sharing what is in my heart and getting to the truth. I will have no further comment out of respect for that process. We will get through this together and be stronger as a team for it.

In announcing Koenning had been placed on administrative leave, athletic director Shane Lyons stated that “the department will work with the appropriate parties to conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations.” Brown subsequently confirmed that an independent investigation had been launched.

Koenning has been with Brown the past five seasons.  Four of those were spent at Troy along with the 2019 season at WVU.

Antonio Brown and his trainer are facing criminal charges after allegedly engaging in a physical altercation with a truck driver outside of Brown’s home in Hollywood, Fla.

An arrest warrant was issued for Brown on one count of felony burglary with battery. His trainer, Glenn Holt, was arrested at the scene and faced an identical count of felony burglary and battery. Holt posted a $20,000 bond and was released from jail.

There is no option of bond attached to the arrest warrant for Brown, who turned himself in to police in Broward County, Fla.

Below is a summary of the events that led to the charges against Brown and Holt, based on police accounts and media reports.

MORE: Brown films disturbing tirade against police, mother of his children

Antonio Brown news

April 3

Brown is facing three charges in connection with the case, according a court document obtained by ESPN.com: felony burglary conveyance, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal mischief. Prosecutors in Broward County did not include the initial charge of felony burglary with battery in its March 20 filing, ESPN reported.

Jan. 24

Brown spent Thursday night in custody as he awaited his bail hearing Friday morning. According to reports, Brown was granted bail with a few conditions.

Jan. 23

Update (11 p.m.): Brown arrived at the Broward County Jail late Thursday night, Miami television station WFOR reported. 

Update (10:10 p.m.): Christian Lata, public information officer for the Hollywood Police Department, told USA Today that Brown is expected to turn himself in Thursday or Friday. “I would assume it would be sooner than later,” Lata was quoted as saying Thursday afternoon. Brown had not turned himself in as of Thursday night.

Jan. 22

Update (9 p.m.): An arrest warrant has been issued for Brown on a felony charge of burglary and battery.

Update: (6:20 p.m.): TMZ obtained court documents that allege the incident stemmed from the moving truck driver asking Brown for $4,000 payment for helping him move belongings from California. Brown threw a rock at the truck when the spurned driver drove away, TMZ reports, and allegedly committed assault when the driver returned to again ask for his owed cash. Holt is alleged to have also participated in the altercation by taking the driver’s keys and trying to swipe Brown’s items from the back of the vehicle for his client.

Update (4:42 p.m.): Chelsie Kyriss, Brown’s ex-girlfriend and the mother of his three kids, shared an emotional message on Instagram expressing concern for Brown, imporing his to seek mental health treatment. Kyriss said she has distanced the children from Brown to begin “a new life free from any impulsive, reckless and unhealthy behaviors.”

Update (11:31 a.m.): Antonio Brown remained at his home Wednesday morning as the police investigation continued. Brown has “locked himself in his house,” a public information officer told USA Today, and thus far has resisted efforts by police to contact him regarding their probe into Tuesday’s incident.

“They want my name slandered,” Brown posted to his Twitter account at 11:14 a.m. ET Wednesday.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

What happened at Antonio Brown’s house?

A moving truck and its driver arrived at Antonio Brown’s house Tuesday afternoon to deliver some of his belongings, according to ESPN. Police responded to a call at the residence from a person later identified as the truck driver, who accused Brown and his trainer, Glenn Holt, of battery.

The driver, who was not identified by name, told police the incident began when Brown refused to pay a $4,000 bill for the moving truck service, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. An argument over the unpaid bill started and the driver alleges Brown “forced his way into the driver’s side of the main cabin and began to physically strike him,” per the report.

The TMZ report said Holt then grabbed the keys from the driver and began unloading Brown’s belongings, damaging other items inside the truck that did not belong to Brown.

Television cameras on site showed a large police presence.

Holt was arrested at the scene and charged with one count of felony burglary and battery. He was arraigned at Broward County Jail on Tuesday.

Police said they made repeated and unsuccessful attemps to question Brown in the 24 hours after the incident occured. He had remained inside or near his home Wednesday. It was unclear Wednesday night whether Brown would cooperate with the warrant and turn himself in to police.

What is a battery charge?

In Florida law, battery charges can range from misdemeanor to felony depending on the severity of the incident.

A simple battery charge is applied when a person “actually and intentionally touches or strikes another person against the will of the other; or intentionally causes bodily harm to another person.” Simple battery is considered a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida and carries a sentence of up to a one year in jail.

Aggravated battery, the more serious charge, occurs when a person:

• Intentionally or knowingly causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement
• Uses a deadly weapon
• Commits aggravated battery against a victim who was pregnant at the time of the offense and the offender knew or should have known that the victim was pregnant

Aggravated battery is usually charged as a felony in the second degree, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

Antonio Brown timeline

Brown, currently an NFL free agent after being cut by the Patriots, was already under investigation for an unrelated rape accusation. The league is still reviewing that case.

Last week, Brown live-streamed a video of himself yelling obscenties toward police and the mother of his children with his kids present. He threw a bag of penis-shaped gummy candies at the officers. That led his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to conditionally sever ties with him until he seeks counsel.

Brown played in only one NFL game this past season.

Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Ryan Leaf was arrested Friday afternoon on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge.

According to a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s booking report, Leaf was arrested around 2 p.m. in Palm Desert, Calif., on a single domestic battery charge. Details of the incident that resulted in his arrest are unknown at this time.

Leaf was booked at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility and released Friday night on $5,000 bail. He is scheduled for a court hearing in September, per the report.

A FORMER New York Knicks player was recently arrested three times in the span of 10 days.

Gerald Wilkins, 56, faces charges stemming from three different incidents — on three separate dates.

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According to WGCL-TV in Georgia, Wilkins allegedly threw an object at a colleague and “aggressively” chased the colleague with a screwdriver on Tuesday.

He was reportedly charged with simple battery, theft by taking, and aggravated assault.

Days before on June 6, Wilkins was involved in a domestic dispute during which he apparently barricaded himself in the victim’s bedroom.

Police claim that when they arrived on the scene, they had to break into the room.

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When they managed to get in, Wilkins had allegedly poured accelerant out and disabled the smoke alarm.

Wilkins was charged with criminal trespassing and hindering law enforcement.

Less than two weeks ago on May 31, Wilkins allegedly tried to force his way into a woman’s house and pushed her.

The 56-year-old has been charged with simple assault in that case.

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Wilkins is the brother of Dominique Wilkins, a former player who mostly played for the Atlanta Hawks, and who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2006.

In 1985, Gerald Wilkins was a second-round pick for the Knicks and played with the team until 1992.

He also played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, and Memphis Grizzles before he retired after the 1998 season.

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor domestic battery on Friday afternoon in Palm Springs, Calif., about 110 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Leaf was released late Friday night from Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility on $5,000 bail. He is due back in court on Sept. 25 to answer to the charges.

It is unclear who the alleged victim is in the case.

It wasn’t immediately known if Leaf had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Leaf, 44, one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history, has dealt with drug, legal problems and mental health issues since flaming out of the league by the time he was 25.

The much-hyped quarterback was the second overall pick in the 1998 draft by the Chargers, one spot behind two-time Super Bowl champ Peyton Manning. He lasted three years in San Diego and then had a short stint with the Cowboys before personal problems and poor play drove him out of the league. He finished his NFL career with a 4-17 record with 14 touchdowns and 36 interceptions.

It was a stunning fall for a player who had finished third in the Heisman voting during the 1997 season playing for Washington State and was thought to have a legit shot to be the first overall pick.

Leaf’s problems eventually landed him in a Montana prison for 32 months between 2012 and 2014 after he was arrested for breaking into the homes of friends and strangers to steal oxycodone and Vicodin to fuel his drug habit. He had been on probation at the time of his arrest for swiping pills from injured players while he was an assistant football coach at West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas.

After his release from prison, Leaf began to rebuild his life and has worked to help addicts and alcoholics stay sober as a Program Ambassador for Transcend Recovery Community.

Last July, Leaf was hired by ESPN to be a football analyst. Leaf worked for the Pac-12 Network last season and has been co-hosting a show on SiriusXM’s Pac-12 channel.

Ryan Leaf’s latest run-in with the law saw the ESPN college football analyst and former NFL quarterback arrested Friday and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery charge in Palm Desert, California, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s department.

Police only referred to the alleged victim as a spouse, former spouse, fiancee, dating partner or co-parent.

The 44-year-old Leaf was being held on $5,000 bail as of Saturday morning, and is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Leaf is considered one of the biggest busts in NFL history after being selected No. 2 following Peyton Manning in the 1998 draft. He has often found himself in trouble since his career flamed out in 2001 after four seasons, in which he made just under $13 million, with the Chargers and Cowboys.

Leaf then began self-medicating with Vicodin and in 2009 was sentenced to 10 years of probation and fined $20,000 after facing drug and burglary charges in Texas.

Leaf then spent two years in prison in 2012 after breaking into a Montana home to steal prescription drugs, which was in violation of his Texas probation order.

A year later, Leaf was found guilty of “behavior that violated conditions of his drug treatment placement,” which included accusations of threatening a program staff member at the rehabilitation center. Leaf was sentenced to five years in prison but was released seven months later.

The former Washington State star has since worked to rebuild his reputation, and his road to recovery culminated in an ESPN gig ahead of the 2019 college football season.

Before his first TV appearance with ESPN, Leaf tweeted, “How’s this for a story…2nd Pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. Crash & Burn so bad many consider the biggest draft bust ever, goes to prison, chooses to get back up and carry on. 6 years later, employed by @espn living the dream and cohosting #nfllive for the 1st time today! #soberlife.”

Leaf, who was listed by police as 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, has been engaged to Anna Kleinsorge, a former Georgetown volleyball player, since 2017 and they have one child together. Leaf previously was married to Nicole Licia, a former Chargers cheerleader, but the two separated in 2003 and later divorced.

Ryan Leaf, the former Washington State quarterback and No. 2 overall NFL draft pick who recovered from substance abuse problems to carve out a career in sports broadcasting, was reportedly arrested Friday in Palm Springs, California, on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge according to TMZ.

According to a booking report filed by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Leaf was charged with domestic battery of a spouse, former spouse, fiancee, dating partner, or co-parent and was arrested by the Palm Desert Police Department around 2 p.m. Leaf was then booked into jail at 3:32 p.m., according to the report.

Bail for Leaf was set at at $5,000. He was still in custody when this story was posted and no further details about what may have led to the reported dispute are available. Leaf is set to appear in court at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

The 44-year-old has been engaged to Anna Kleinsorge, a former Georgetown volleyball player, since 2017. She gave birth to their first child, McGyver, in October 2017. Leaf was formerly married to Nicole Lucia, at the time a cheerleader for the San Diego Chargers – the team that made Leaf the No. 2 pick of the NFL draft in 1998 – but the two separated in 2003 and later filed for divorce.

On Thursday, Leaf posted a video of his son running in circles in their house, along with a caption that read, “Come on…this is one cute kiddo, loving this time with my family. Look what we made @bannanazon #loveyou.” The Twitter handle, @bannanazon, is linked to an account for Leaf’s fiancee, Kleinsorge.

A native of Great Falls, Leaf has spent the past two years working as a college football color analyst. He worked multiple WSU games for the Pac-12 Network before inking a deal with the ESPN networks last July. Leaf and broadcast partner Clay Matvick were on the call for the Cougars’ most recent game, a 31-21 loss to Air Force in the Cheez-It Bowl at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Last year, Leaf was also inducted into the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 2019 class, and was celebrated on the field during the Cougars’ Sept. 7 game against Northern Colorado.

Leaf’s career in the NFL lasted just five seasons. The former Heisman Trophy finalist is widely considered one of professional football’s biggest disappointments, especially in relation to where he was picked in the 1998 draft, just one spot after Indianapolis Colts great and future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning.

Seven years after his NFL career ended, after Leaf made just 21 starts with the San Diego Chargers and Dallas Cowboys, he encountered legal trouble and was indicted on burglary and controlled-substance charges in Texas. Three years later, Leaf was in Great Falls when he was arrested on burglary, theft and drug charges, then arrested less than a week later on similar charges.

Leaf’s situation worsened when he was found guilty of “behavior that violated conditions of his drug treatment placement” and subsequently accused of threatening a program staff member at his rehabilitation center. In May 2014, Leaf was incarcerated in Shelby, Montana, and four months later was sentenced to five years, although he was released seven months later.

Since his release, Leaf has managed to curb his substance abuse problems and used his platform to speak to various groups about the severity of drug addiction. In addition to his work in sports media – Leaf co-hosts a Pac-12 radio show on Sirius XM – the former QB has served as a program ambassador for Transcend Recovery Community, a group of sober living houses in cities across the country.

Leaf delivered a speech at a HOF ceremony in Spokane the night before he was celebrated in front of tens of thousands of fans at Martin Stadium, telling the crowd, “I can only expect there were many years when the athlete maybe deserved to be here, but the man didn’t live up to it. And that’s why I think it’s so much more special today. I’m so glad I’m sober to appreciate what you guys have given me.

“Over the last 21 years since I left Washington State, for a long time I didn’t represent the crimson and gray very well. And because my name was recognized and talked about all the time when I messed up, you guys were drug down into the mud with it, and you didn’t deserve it. It’s an opportunity for me to apologize to all of you for having been that person for so long.”

The former NFL quarterback was taken into custody around 2 PM PT. He was booked for domestic battery — and bail was set at $5,000. As of this writing, he is in custody. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.The incident comes at a time when Leaf was covering college football as an analyst for ESPN and had been forthcoming about his sobriety and the abuse issues that led to him spending time in jail.

Leaf, 44, played college football at Washington State. He was the second pick in the 1998 NFL Draft behind Peyton Manning by the San Diego Chargers. He was 4-17 as a starter in three NFL seasons, two with the Chargers and one with the Dallas Cowboys.

Leaf found all sorts of trouble on and off the field with San Diego after his short time there in his NFL career. He was arrested twice in 2012 and charged with burglary and theft of prescription drugs. In 2014, Leaf was sentenced to five years for breaking into a home in Montana to steal prescription drugs, and for violating probation.

Leaf has been engaged to Anna Kleinsorge, a former Georgetown volleyball player, since 2017. Kleinsorge gave birth to their first child, McGyver, in October of 2017.

 

Former Washington State and NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was arrested Friday in Palm Springs, California, according to jail records.

Leaf, 44, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic battery by the Palm Desert Police Department at 1:59 p.m. Friday, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s office jail records. Leaf is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday and is being held on $5,000 bail.

Leaf played for the Cougars from 1995-97 and led them to the 1998 Rose Bowl, their first appearance in the game in 67 years. He was selected with the second overall pick in the 1998 NFL draft by the San Diego Chargers.

The former quarterback has had a history of substance-abuse and legal troubles. In 2014, Leaf was sentenced to five years for breaking into a home in Montana to steal prescription drugs, and for violating a probation. He was arrested twice in 2012 and charged with burglary and theft of prescription drugs.

Leaf has been engaged to Anna Kleinsorge, a former Georgetown volleyball player, since 2017. Kleinsorge gave birth to their first child, McGyver, in October of 2017. Leaf was formerly married to Nicole Lucia, at the time a cheerleader for the San Diego Chargers – but the two separated in 2003 and later filed for divorce.

Leaf has been open about his road to sobriety since and was hired by ESPN as a college football analyst in 2019.

This story will be updated.