Franklin - Bad Sporters https://www.badsporters.com News Blogging About Athletes Being Caught Up Tue, 14 Jan 2020 20:36:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 Franklin, PSU facing federal lawsuit for hazing https://www.badsporters.com/2020/01/14/franklin-psu-facing-federal-lawsuit-for-hazing/ https://www.badsporters.com/2020/01/14/franklin-psu-facing-federal-lawsuit-for-hazing/#respond Tue, 14 Jan 2020 20:36:25 +0000 https://www.badsporters.com/?p=4900 Former Penn State football player Isaiah Humphries filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the university, coach James Franklin and former teammate Damion Barber. The suit alleges Humphries was subject to hazing brought on by Barber, linebacker Micah Parsons, defensive lineman Yetur Gross-Matos and linebacker Jesse Luketa, and that the coaching staff was aware of the […]

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Former Penn State football player Isaiah Humphries filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the university, coach James Franklin and former teammate Damion Barber.

The suit alleges Humphries was subject to hazing brought on by Barber, linebacker Micah Parsons, defensive lineman Yetur Gross-Matos and linebacker Jesse Luketa, and that the coaching staff was aware of the hazing and did not protect Humphries.

The allegations include instances of the players named collectively orchestrating, directing and facilitating a campaign to harass and haze underclassmen on the Penn State football team. The hazing alleged in the suit includes the participants stating they intended to make the underclassmen “their bitch because this is a prison.”

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The participants allegedly referenced former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky — who is serving a 30- to 60-year prison term for sexually abusing children — by exclaiming, “I am going to Sandusky you.”

The actions included wrestling underclassmen to the ground while maintaining restraint, simulating a “humping” action; wrestling underclassmen to the ground while another participant placed his genitals on the face of underclassmen; and even instances of the participants placing their genitals on the buttocks of the alleged victims, stroking their genitalia.

Humphries is being represented by Philadelphia attorney Steven Marino, who says the incident is not isolated to just his client.

“Isaiah attended the school during the calendar year of 2018, he leaves Penn State to another school where he’s offered a scholarship in December 2018,” Marino said. “The events that arise to an investigation conducted by Penn State’s office of sexual misconduct and response, that doesn’t arise until May 2019. That investigation was triggered by an anonymous tip and the source of that tip was not my client.”

The results of the investigation were then submitted to the Penn State University office of student conduct, according to the lawsuit, and the office of student conduct prosecuted charges lodged against Barber. It is not clear, however, what specific student conduct rule violation he was charged with.

Barber was suspended for the first game of the season, against Idaho, for what was termed at the time of the suspension as a violation of team rules, but he played in the second game of the season, against Buffalo.

Marino says the father of his client, Leonard Humphries, notified the Penn State coaches of the hazing and that no action was taken at the time of those complaints. Leonard Humphries is a former Penn State football player and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the 1992 NFL draft.

“This is a family with a football pedigree,” Marino said. “The father knows the coaches and told them what was happening to his son as it was reported to him by his son. No affirmative action was taken to protect this student athlete at that time.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege the coaching staff knew about the hazing and on multiple occasions “observed the harassment and hazing which the plaintiff and other lower classmen were being subjected to in the football locker room.”

Humphries is alleging the coaching staff overly and unfairly scrutinized his athletic performance for reporting the harassment and that he was scorned and punished by the staff.

Humphries left the Penn State team in 2018 and enrolled at Cal, where he is now a part of the Bears football program.

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Penn State football hazers threatened 'to Sandusky’ teammates, ex-player claims in suit against James Franklin https://www.badsporters.com/2020/01/14/penn-state-football-hazers-threatened-to-sandusky-teammates-ex-player-claims-in-suit-against-james-franklin/ https://www.badsporters.com/2020/01/14/penn-state-football-hazers-threatened-to-sandusky-teammates-ex-player-claims-in-suit-against-james-franklin/#respond Tue, 14 Jan 2020 19:26:29 +0000 https://www.badsporters.com/?p=4897 Coach James Franklin and his staff ignored violent hazing on Penn State’s football team, including threats by the perpetrators that, “I’m going to Sandusky you,” an ex-player claims in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday. The hazing was overtly sexual, ex-player Isaiah Humphries contends in his U.S. Middle District Court complaint. He names the university, Franklin […]

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Coach James Franklin and his staff ignored violent hazing on Penn State’s football team, including threats by the perpetrators that, “I’m going to Sandusky you,” an ex-player claims in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The hazing was overtly sexual, ex-player Isaiah Humphries contends in his U.S. Middle District Court complaint.

He names the university, Franklin and ex-teammate, Damion Barber of Harrisburg, as defendants in the case. Also, he accuses players Micah Parsons, Yetur Gross-Matos and Jesse Luketa of being ringleaders of the alleged abuse.

Luketa even threatened to have him killed for complaining about the hazing, Humphries contends. He says Franklin and the other coaches forced him out of the football program for complaining.

Penn State officials declined to comment on the suit immediately, saying they had not yet seen it.

Humphries claims he resigned his Penn State football scholarship and transferred to the University of California because of the hazing. He seeks unspecified financial damages for the harm he says it caused to his football career and to his physical and mental health.

The hazing occurred in several areas on campus, including the Lasch Building, and was observed repeatedly by coaches who didn’t intervene, the suit states.

Humphries says the hazers told underclassmen on the team that they were “their bitch because this is a prison” and threatened them with sexual assault.

“I am going to Sandusky you,” was a threat also voiced by the supposed abusers in reference to disgraced former Coach Jerry Sandusky, who is in prison for molesting young boys, Humphries claims.

He claims his alleged tormenters would wrestle victims to the ground, then shove their genitals in the victims’ faces or between their buttocks and hump them. Those who resisted were bullied, he contends. Hazers also stole their targets’ clothes, Humphries says.

Humphries claims he and his father, Leonard Humphries, a former Penn State player who went on to play in the NFL, complained about the alleged hazing, but were ignored.

In retaliation for complaining, Humphries claims he was ordered to perform football drills the coaches knew he would fail. He contends the team’s academic advisor subjected him to “irrational and inappropriate censure.”

When he decided to leave, Penn State coaches gave negative reviews to their counterparts at other college programs to which he was considering transferring, Humphries contends.

Luketa threatened him with physical harm, he claims and told him if he “ever visited ‘his city’ in the country of Canada that he would make certain that (Humphries) was gunned down upon arrival,” the suit states.

Humphries claims Barber was charged with violating Penn State’s anti-hazing policy and sanctioned after an investigation by the university’s Office of Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response last year.

Humphries is represented in his suit by attorney Steven F. Marino, the same lawyer who filed a lawsuit against Franklin and Penn State on behalf of former team doctor Scott A. Lynch, who claims Franklin pressured him to return injured players to the field.

A safety, Humphries was a four-star recruit for the Lions from Sachse, Texas. He did not suit up for the Lions in 2018 and left after just one season. Humphries sat out the 2019 season before playing for the PAC-12 school as a redshirt sophomore in 2020.

Staff writer Greg Pickel contributed to this report.

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State College, PA – Former Penn State Football Player Sues Franklin, University, Ex-Teammate Over Hazing Allegations – https://www.badsporters.com/2020/01/14/state-college-pa-former-penn-state-football-player-sues-franklin-university-ex-teammate-over-hazing-allegations/ https://www.badsporters.com/2020/01/14/state-college-pa-former-penn-state-football-player-sues-franklin-university-ex-teammate-over-hazing-allegations/#respond Tue, 14 Jan 2020 19:12:30 +0000 https://www.badsporters.com/?p=4894 A former Penn State football player has filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was harassed and hazed by other team members and subjected to retaliation by the coaching staff after reporting the conduct. Attorney Steven Marino filed the lawsuit on Monday in U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania on behalf of former Nittany Lion defensive back […]

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A former Penn State football player has filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was harassed and hazed by other team members and subjected to retaliation by the coaching staff after reporting the conduct.

Attorney Steven Marino filed the lawsuit on Monday in U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania on behalf of former Nittany Lion defensive back Isaiah Humphries against the university, coach James Franklin and defensive tackle Damion Barber. Marino also represents former Penn State team doctor Scott Lynch in a separate lawsuit against Franklin and the university.

Humphries, who enrolled at Penn State in January 2018 on a football scholarship, alleges that Barber, along with teammates Micah Parsons, Jesse Luketa and Yetur Gross-Matos led “a campaign to harass and haze lower classmen members of the Penn State football team,” as a form of initiation. Parsons, Luketa and Gross-Matos are not named as defendants.

They would wrestle teammates to the ground, Humphries claims, and simulate sexual acts, as well as place their genitals on or near the alleged victims. The incidents occurred in the Lasch Football Building locker room and showers, campus dorms and other locations, according to the lawsuit.

They also allegedly stated that they intended to make lower classmen “their bitch because this is prison,” and threatened “I am going to Sandusky you,” a reference to former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted of child sexual abuse.

Police received a report last spring of indecent assaults by a student in the Lasch Building. In December, WJAC-TV reported that a lengthy investigation resulted from one former player’s claim of being hazed by other players. Numerous team members denied the allegations and police and the Centre County District Attorney’s Office did not file charges. One player took and passed a lie detector test according to WJAC. 

Humphries, who left the program at the end of his freshman season in 2018, claims that members of the coaching staff observed the alleged conduct on multiple occasions. He also says he reported it to the coaching staff and that his father, former Penn State player Leonard Humphries, reported it directly to Franklin, who did not take any action.

Instead, the lawsuit claims, Franklin and the coaching staff retaliated against Humphries, who says he “was scorned and punished.”

Humphries alleges he was required to participate in athletic drills designed to ensure he would fail, and that performance was used to deny him playing opportunities. He also says the team’s academic advisor subjected him “to irrational and inappropriate censure.”

The lawsuit claims Humphries was denied medical accommodations for diagnosed anxiety and narcolepsy and that the coaching staff tried to get him to leave the team by offering a medical retirement option.

When he decided to transfer, Humphries says, the staff provided negative reviews to other college programs. He ultimately transferred to the University of California.

Before leaving though, he claims he was ostracized and shunned by other players in retaliation for reporting the alleged hazing, and that Luketa threatened him with physical harm.

Last spring, Penn State’s Office of Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response received an anonymous complaint of harassment and hazing by football team members. After a formal investigation, Barber was charged with violating the student code of conduct and sanctioned by the Office of Student Conduct, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims negligence in violation of Pennsylvania’s anti-hazing law and infliction of emotional distress by each defendant. It also includes counts of assault and battery and civil conspiracy against Barber.

Humphries is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. 

Barber, Parsons and Luketa are current members of the Penn State football team. Gross-Matos declared for the NFL Draft following the 2019 season.

A Penn State spokesperson has not yet responded to request for comment.

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