Kevin Whaley Dismissed After Arrest

Kevin Whaley is just the latest Golden Gopher football player to run afoul of the law, but this time, the university is taking a stand. According to a report in the Pioneer Press, Minnesota is releasing the redshirt freshman running back from his scholarhship, allowing him to transfer to another school immediately. Where he ends up is anyone's guess, but what we know for sure is he'll never wear the Maroon and Gold again.

Per the Marcus Fuller story:

Minnesota athletics director Joel Maturi said the university had to part ways with Whaley after he was arrested on an assault charge at a nightclub in Scottsdale, Ariz., following Minnesota's 14-13 Insight Bowl loss to Iowa State on New Year's Eve.

It's the second time Whaley has been arrested for assault in a nightclub in his brief stint as a Gopher, and apparently the U had had enough. Not sure if this was Brewster's call or if it was forced by Maturi, but either way, two arrests in two years for a decent but not great running back was enough to punch his ticket out of town.

Whaley would have pushed for a starting job in the spring, but with three heralded freshmen coming in, it's not like depth is going to be an issue. Then again, we thought that last year until our top recruit didn't qualify because of academics, and the rest of our backs were underwhelming and unproductive.

More of an issue for me is this: Whaley was the eighth football player just this year involved in off-season incidents. Eight guys! The Gophers had more players show up on the police blotter this year than wins!! Fans will tolerate this kind of stuff if you're winning (Bobby Bowden has probably had as many players arrested and suspended than games won down at Florida State), but if you're going 6-7 and losing to Iowa State? Yeah not so much.

It seems Brewster has rolled the dice A LOT on guys with character issues, and whether it be legal troubles or academic troubles, his players seem to be in the news more for the wrong reasons than the right ones. I don't see this tactic changing, however, as we all know 2010 is a make-or-break year for Brewster (or at least it'd better be). Because he's coaching for his job this fall, and because he hasn't seen the kind of on-field results he, and all Gopher fans, have hoped for, you can be sure he's going to continue to throw good character out the window and continue to gamble on troubled players in hopes he can get just a few that can help him win in 2010.