August 6, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
Lobo Could Miss Time
By Greg Archuleta, Journal Staff WriterUniversity of New Mexico football coach Rocky Long says starting defensive end Phillip Harrison could miss playing time if his legal issue is not resolved by the season opener.
Harrison, a junior who graduated from Highland High School, and two of his roommates were arrested on felony charges of contributing to the delinquency of minors in the early morning of July 27.
A police party patrol unit broke up a gathering at their residence and found 27 people under age in possession of alcohol, according to a police report. One of the minors told police she was served alcohol inside the home, but the report did not specify whether Harrison, 21, was the one providing the alcohol.
The Lobos open the season on Aug. 30 against TCU at University Stadium, and Long told a group of reporters at UNM media luncheon Monday that Harrison had hired an attorney and was determining his options.
“He's going to practice,” Long spoke of Harrison to the group,” but if it's not worked out by the first game, he's probably not going to play in the first game.”
Later in a one-on-one interview, Long said only that he would give Harrison as much time as he could during the preseason before making a determination of Harrison's status for the TCU game and beyond.
“Obviously, he has to go through the legal system and determine what his best options are,” Long said. “Once he decides how he's going to handle it personally, it clears it up to what I will or have to do. If he's unable to clear it up before the first game, then I'll make a decision on how I'll handle it before the first game.”
A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said that it had just received Harrison's case and was only in the beginning stages of reviewing it.
The district attorney has 60 days from the arrest date to indict Harrison and roommates Phillip Wilson and Tyler Sroufe. Then, it has 10 days to arraign them.
Several more months almost certainly would pass before the case would go to trial.
Long says he would be acting irresponsibly and unfairly if he were to discipline Harrison prematurely.
“There's a real good chance if he goes through the legal system that it won't be resolved before the first game,” Long said. “I think everybody has to be given the chance to state their case, and you have to have as much information as you possibly can before you make a decision. You can't make a knee-jerk decision on this because of public opinion or public pressure, because then you're not giving the individual his rights within our system.”
Long says defensive end Jaymar Latchison and linebacker Jonathan Rainey, both of whom were cited for underage drinking at the party, already have been disciplined and that discipline will continue through the course of the season.
Long adds his actions are consistent with the way he's acted throughout his 11 years as head coach.
“If people look at the history of our program, any player in our program that has been guilty of a serious crime has been disciplined,” Long says. “If Phillip is guilty of a serious crime, he'll be disciplined too.
“We have a written policy that our players are given and explained to before every season and before every second semester, guidelines as to what might happen to them if they're accused of certain things. But there is room in there for discretion because of particular instances or particular things that come to light as the process goes along.”