college football News and notes

Michigan: Sophomore wide receiver Grant Perry was suspended on Thursday after he was charged with assaulting a police officer and improperly touching a woman outside a bar in October. Perry, 19, was arraigned on two counts of misdemeanor criminal sexual conduct, a felony count of assaulting a police officer and a misdemeanor count of a minor in possession of alcohol. He has a preliminary examination Jan. 5 and is forbidden to have any contact with the alleged victim in the incident in East Lansing, home to rival Michigan State. Perry is accused of touching a woman waiting in line outside a downtown East Lansing bar at 12:20 a.m. on Oct. 15, during Michigan’s bye week. “When (police) arrived on scene, we tried to grab onto him, and we had to chase him,” East Lansing Police Lt. Scott Wriggelsworth said. “In the midst of that fracas, one of our officers suffered a minor hand injury.” Michigan released a statement saying that it once it learned Perry would face charges, “he was immediately and indefinitely suspended from all team activities until the legal process is completed.” At the time of Perry’s arrest, “he was immediately suspended from all team activities at that time and missed two games. Based on the information at that time, Grant was allowed to resume team activities pending the outcome of the investigation,” the statement said. The sixth-ranked Wolverines face No. 10 Florida State in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. In 10 games this season, Perry has one touchdown reception and 183 receiving yards. Perry surrendered to face charges Wednesday and was released on a personal recognizance bond, Wriggelsworth said.

Baylor: A court transcript shows then-Baylor University President Ken Starr lifted the academic misconduct suspension of a football player who allegedly went on to commit three sexual assaults. The Wall Street Journal reports that Starr granted a reprieve for Tevin Elliot in 2011 when the athlete was accused of academic misconduct. The newspaper says the information is “deep” in the transcript of Elliott’s 2014 trial at which the former defensive end was convicted of sexually assault four Baylor students.The nation’s largest Baptist university was rocked earlier this year by the assault scandal, which included claims members of the football staff knew of assault reports and ignored them. Starr was demoted, then left. He tells the newspaper he believed in second chances for students and athletes.

North Carolina; Junior tailback Elijah Hood won’t play in the Sun Bowl against Stanford due to medical reasons but will return to the team in 2017 instead of entering the NFL draft. In a statement from the school, Hood said he was “disappointed I cannot be with my football brothers” for the bowl game as he stays in North Carolina to recover, but said he was eager to return to school for his season season. The school didn’t specify the nature of Hood’s medical issues. The Charlotte native ranked as one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top rushers in 2015 after running for 1,463 yards and 17 touchdowns, but he ran for just 858 and eight scores this year for the Tar Heels (8-4).

Nebraska: First-team All Big Ten safety Nate Gerry will not play for No. 24 Nebraska when the Cornhuskers play Tennessee in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30. Coach Mike Riley said Thursday that Gerry and defensive back Boaz Joseph were ineligible for the game. Riley also said quarterback Tommy Armstrong has “run a little bit,” but Ryker Fyfe is expected to start against the Volunteers.

Alabama: Coach Nick Saban believes it’s hard to blame players for skipping the bowl games when the playoffs have overshadowed most of them anyway. Saban reiterated concerns that he has voiced before that switching to the playoff format would diminish the importance of other bowl games, and he says that has happened. LSU tailback Leonard Fournette and Stanford tailback Christian McCaffrey have announced they won’t play in their teams’ bowls to focus on preparing for the NFL draft. The coach said after practice that, “Everybody’s interested in the playoff. Nobody’s interested in anything else. So now that that’s trickled down to the players, how can you blame the players for that? I can’t blame the players for that.”

Associated Press