Two University of Miami football players were arrested on sexual battery charges Tuesday and kicked off the team and campus for an alleged incident involving a 17-year-old girl.
Court and jail records show JaWand Blue and Alex Figueroa, both 20-year-old linebackers, were booked Tuesday.
The two admitted to getting the classmate intoxicated and then allegedly raping her several times in Figueroa’s dorm room over the 4th of July weekend.
Blue and Figueroa turned themselves in.
They confessed to buying several alcoholic beverages for the victim, leaving her “physically helpless to resist” as they allegedly performed sexual acts without her consent, according to an affidavit.
The accuser reported the alleged incident to university police, and the Coral Gables police department investigated.
Students on campus were stunned by the allegations. “I think that’s terrible,” graduate student Liz Chapel said. “I feel terrible for the girl.”
In a statement, Miami athletic director Blake James said Blue and Figueroa have been barred from campus.
“Any allegation of a sexual assault is extremely serious, and the University will not tolerate conduct that threatens the sanctity and safety of our students and our campus,” he said. “We hold all of our students – especially student athletes – to the highest standards of moral conduct."
University president Donna Shalala also issued a statement, stating that the school has “zero tolerance for sexual assault.”
This is the fifth time in the past three years that a University of Miami football player has been booted from the team after run-ins with the law.
Blue and Figueroa have been released on bond and are scheduled to be arraigned later this month
