Fresh off yet another loss, and sitting with a 3-4 overall record, TCU has crashed hard into mediocrity for a team with such high hopes to begin the 2018 campaign. Now, the Horned Frogs will have to fight to become bowl eligible without its best offensive playmaker.
Senior wide receiver and kick return specialist KaVontae Turpin, a 5-foot-9, 157-pound dynamo with a special school record, has been dismissed from the team by head coach Gary Patterson after he was arrested Sunday night for assault in Fort Worth, Texas.
According to the Tarrant County Jail records, Turpin was arrested and charged with assault with bodily injury to a family member and was released from custody on Monday. He was originally suspended indefinitely by the program, making his playing status against Kansas this weekend very murky, before officially being kicked off the team Tuesday.
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This is a massive loss for TCU on the football field. Turpin's speed is a complete game changer and his 717 all-purpose yards as a kick returner, punt return specialist, an wide receiver, including 24 catches for 348 yards with two touchdowns, have kept the Horned Frogs competitive in 2018.
But there might be more to the story here, and the arrest hours after the 52-27 loss to Oklahoma isn't an isolated incident.
Turpin, a Monroe, Louisiana native, was also arrested in Las Cruces, New Mexico in March for battery of a household member, which the university released a statement Tuesday afternoon.
"The football staff was aware there was an incident in New Mexico, but not that charges included an alleged battery," the statement read. "The publicly available information they reviewed at the time only showed a charge related to property damage. We did not know until yesterday that his legal issues were unresolved."
How didn't TCU know everything here about wide receiver KaVontae Turpin? Better yet, why didn't they look into this further? There are so many questions here, and, initially, it doesn't look good for the TCU football program, especially TCU coach Gary Patterson.
Turpin has assuredly played his final game at Amon G. Carter Stadium, and there's definitely a strong chance more questions arise about the Horned Frogs program long after Turpin cleans out his locker for good.
