Last Sunday, Syracuse University starting cornerback Tanard Jackson was stabbed in the left side of his chest after an altercation at a fraternity sponsored dance in the Schine Student Center. A confrontation broke out between two groups during the dance, and it was reported that Jackson and a few of his teammates attempted to break up the fight.
Later that night around 2:00 a.m., while Jackson was walking to his car with roommate and teammate Reggie McCoy, the confrontation reignited in a nearby parking lot that included up to 15 people. Moments later Jackson was stabbed in the left side of his chest. He was later driven by his teammates to Crouse Hospital where he was released Monday afternoon after being treated for his stab wound.
According to Syracuse.com, head coach Paul Pasqualioni said, "It's unfortunate. He tried to avoid what happened. In the end, he couldn't. It's encouraging [though] that he was trying to do the right thing." However, police are still unsure of the motive behind the stabbing.
The suspect was reported to have been wearing a UCLA basketball jersey, jeans, and an earring in one ear. Police are also trying to track down a silver car that the suspect was reportedly seen in.
Although there hasn't been a definite date in which Jackson is to make his return, he is more than likely going to miss the Big East conference home opener against Rutgers. In an interview with The Post-Standard, Pasqualioni said, "We don't know how long he'll be out. My sense is he'll probably be out this week, although I haven't been told that. Then we'll see how he does. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt any worse than he is, so we just hope for a speedy recovery, and get back. For Tanard, get back to football, back to school and just move on."
The recent incident with Jackson has caused members of our own Bison football team to express some of their own concerns.
Sophomore defensive lineman Jarrett Burgess states, "It's terrible that stuff like that happens all the time. Some athletes sometimes just go around looking for confrontation. It's unfortunate, though, that it had to come down to weapons."
However, there are some incidents in which football players are not the ones at fault. "Sometimes football players can get cocky and they sometimes jump into fights themselves. But other times it's just that people are intimidated by football players and their popularity that they try to pick a fight with you and most football players don't back down," said sophomore free safety Vincent Morehead.
Simply stated by sophomore defensive lineman Marvin Wooten, "He was at the wrong place, wrong time."
Violence in college football has not been an uncommon trend. In both 1999 and 2001, two college football players were charged with domestic violence at the University of Arizona . Manuia Savea was charged with both criminal damage and domestic violence after he allegedly pushed his 24-year-old wife in the fall of 1999. In the second case, Markus Curry of the University of Michigan was charged with tampering with a telephone and misdemeanor domestic violence after an incident with his girlfriend in the fall of 2001. As a result he was suspended indefinitely from the Wolverine football team.
