The only story to tell about Justin Chaisson is a sad one
Published: 8/22/2010 10:45 PM
Last Modified: 8/22/2010 11:39 PM
It didn't take long at all.
Bob Stoops announced that redshirt freshman defensive end Justin Chaisson had withdrawn from Oklahoma at around 12:30 last Friday afternoon. At 12:39, a post on an ouinsider.com message board read: "If we hear his name again in the upcoming years, I have a feeling it won't be good news."
There was this post on the OU Rivals website SoonerScoop.com: "I wish him luck but it was a mistake having him come to Norman after what happened."
They even weighed in from Austin. A tweet on the Twitter page attributed to Geoff Ketchum, owner of the Texas Rivals website Orangebloods.com: "Stoops should have thrown Justin Chaisson off the team for the karma he brought the program last year. kidnapping + screwdrivers = badjuju."
So by way of reaction, we had dread, regret and malice. A disturbing situation, regardless of the viewpoint. A conflicted one, too, at least for me.
Initially, it was easy to revert back to the Las Vegas police report filed in March of 2009. Witnesses reported Chaisson arguing with his ex-girlfriend in his high school parking lot, then following her to a coffee shop and forcing her into an SUV. The girl alleged Chaisson punched her in the ribs, drove her to the desert, and held a screwdriver to her neck while threatening to kill her.
The felony charges went away – they were pleaded down to misdemeanors, allowing Chaisson to join the Sooners – but the sordid details never did. And because Chaisson spent his only year at OU redshirting, unseen on the field and unavailable to media, the only impression anyone had to go on was made by that police report.
What a shame.
I'm not sure OU should have ever allowed Chaisson's admission. Just one year earlier, the university admitted Josh Jarboe, a prized freshman once charged with a felony for packing a pistol on his high school's grounds. Jarboe paid OU back by performing a freestyle rap about shooting people. It wound up on YouTube and Jarboe wound up kicked off the team.
Especially after that episode, it sure seemed a bit dicey to open the door to Chaisson. But then Stoops knew that already. He surely knew the kid better than any of us did. He had accepted other problem children in the past, and seen to their development as players and people.
Furthermore, Stoops released a statement with the news Chaisson was coming. He included the phrases "matters of conduct," "responsibilities of exemplary behavior" and "professional counseling."
The decision to admit Chaisson made, I figured it would be interesting to follow his maturation process off the field more than on. Instead, I never spoke a word to him. Didn't come to know a thing about him, beyond how good a high school defensive end he was, and how terrible a situation he got himself into.
Now the kid's gone. He has left it to observers to criticize OU's decision to accept him in the first place. Or to take their shots at him or Stoops. Or to wonder what his departure does to the Sooners' depth at defensive end. Whatever.
Stoops says he went home. There, I can't imagine what it must feel like to have your existence in so many circles defined by strictly by violence.
There must be more to Justin Chaisson than football and that police report. I'm sorry that he wasn't around long enough for me, or any of us, to find out.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
