FSU President Addresses Team Following Recent Incidents
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President John Thrasher meets with members of the football team Monday. (Florida State University) (TALLAHASEE, Fla.) — Florida State University president John E. Thrasher met with the school’s football team on Monday after one team player was dismissed for punching a woman and another was indefinitely suspended for allegedly assaulting a different woman within a week.
According to a statement released by Florida State, Thrasher met with Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher, his assistant coaches and their players Monday, and told them that playing football for FSU is a “privilege, not a right.”
“In light of recent off-field incidents, I reiterated to our players that they simply cannot put themselves in situations that reflect poor behavior or cause harm to others,” Thrasher said in a statement. “They must remember that playing football for FSU is a privilege, not a right. The actions of a few have the capacity to do serious damage to the reputation of our entire university. I told them their coaches, the Athletics administration and I will do all we can to support them and help them learn the values we expect them to uphold. But they will be held accountable for their actions.”
FSU indefinitely suspended sophomore running back Dalvin Cook on Friday after he was charged with misdemeanor battery by the state attorney’s office.
The incident involving Cook allegedly occurred the night before former FSU quarterback De’Andre Johnson punched another 21-year-old woman in a different bar near the FSU campus.
Johnson, 19, was scheduled to start as quarterback this fall before he was arrested last month on charges of misdemeanor battery.
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