Five Rutgers Football Players Arrested After Practice Thursday

The last two weeks around Rutgers football have certainly covered a whirlwind of emotions.  Today we hit sadness unfortunately.  Ruhann Peele, Nadir Barnwell, Rahzonn Gross, Delon Stephenson and Dre Boggs were all arrested. Former player Tejay Johnson was also arrested and Delon's brother Daryl, a former Rutgers player, is wanted and remains at large.  This was an investigation conducted by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and the New Brunswick Police Department.

Johnson was charged with robbery, attempted burglary, burglary while armed, and conspiracy to commit an armed robbery, criminal restraint, theft and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.  Boggs was arrested for robbery, attempted burglary,  burglary while armed, and conspiracy to commit an armed robbery.  These charges are based on three separate incidents.

Peele, Barnwell, Gross and Stephenson were charged with aggravated assault, riot and conspiracy to commit a riot.  Johnson was charged in this attack as well.  The full report from Keith Sargeant is here.

Athletic Director Julie Hermann made a statement this afternoon here, stating all five active players were indefinitely suspended from the program.

Awful news from Piscataway.  Obviously terrible decisions by all of these individuals to jeopardize their careers, educations and futures with these mistakes.

Nadir Barnwell is the player at the center of the Flood investigation regarding his academic status.  It no longer matters and adds injury to insult for Flood regarding his efforts to help the player retain academic eligibility.

In terms of a football perspective, the defensive secondary is completely decimated respective to the depth chart.  Boggs was to start at cornerback and Stephenson was to start at free safety.  Peele was a backup corner after moving from wide receiver.  And Barnwell was at cornerback, although again his status was shaky to begin with.  According to the depth chart from Tuesday, Anthony Cioffi will step into the starting role at free safety.  At corner, redshirt Isaiah Wharton or true freshman Jarius Adams will start opposite true freshman Blessuan Austin.  Any way you slice it, the secondary is scary young and depth is non-existent.

Stick with On The Banks for more developments to this story and additional analysis regarding the outlook of the defensive secondary.