WSU Football: Arrests of Daquawn Brown, Austin Brown Beyond Concerning and Frustrating
By Josh Davis
Oct 12, 2013; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington State Cougars cornerback Daquawn Brown (25) knocks the pass away from Washington State Cougars quarterback Connor Ennis (8) during the first half at Martin Stadium. The Beaver beat the cougars 52-24. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
Mike Leach won’t probably talk about this, but I have a feeling we will know his thoughts soon enough about Washington State youngsters Daquawn Brown and Austin Brown that were both arrested on Friday, according to reports.
No they weren’t together and no they aren’t related, but both incidents that allegedly took place are against the code of ethics that Leach employs. If you’re looking for a quick breakdown of the police reports, CF.C has you covered. I’m not here to talk about the breakdown of these instances, but quickly my own personal feelings as any one of you, a loyal and hardcore fan of the University.
First of all, there’s the obvious football implications of these issues. The first thing we all will think or already thought was “OH NOOOOOO!” because of course we all know that D. Brown represents, at this point in time, the only player with any meaningful experience at cornerback. We’re all, at this moment in time… mortified that he will be kicked off the team.
As for my thoughts on the situation (NOT MY OPINIONS!!!, BUT MY THOUGHTS), based on the type of incident this was — assault of both a man AND most importantly a woman –, he’s done.
Now, I’m sure Leach is gathering all of the details, yada yada yada, but I don’t foresee a scenario with the information that we have where the Cougs aren’t moving on by the end of the week. Leach’s three rules to stay on his football team; No theft, no drug use of any kind and no abuse of women.
That being said, I hope I am gravely wrong and there is something being left out in Daquawn’s defense. It wouldn’t be the first time the Pullman Police did their duty by the book and we didn’t get all the details. They put a lot of kids in jail for some pretty lame things. This easily could have been a simple lapse in control during a fight with the dude where the woman got in the way or to be quite frank, self-defense. Either way, the mistake of finding oneself in such a situation was crucial.
This would be unfortunate for the football team, absolutely. I don’t know Daquawn but he’s got a certain attitude about him. On the football field we deem it to be “swagger” and god do we love that about him, but when you carry that chip in your everyday actions off the football field you really have to be careful not to cross that line of confidence vs arrogance or cockiness. Some guys balance it beautifully, while others do not. And don’t get me wrong I’m sure Daquawn’s a great kid, Mike Leach does his homework and finds kids that generally have their heads screwed on right, so again, let’s hope the story breaks right.
As for Austin Brown, we all know how this ends. Leach has had two kids charged with theft over his WSU tenure and both were sent packing. While Austin isn’t a key cog in the wheel or anything — he didn’t come up on any depth chart two-deeps or three-deeps — he had to have known that guys have been booted for this. Heck, maybe the fact that he’s way down the list is why he didn’t care.
But these are frustrating times for us fans. The Gabe Marks news (though the reports were vastly overblown if you’ve talked to witnesses and I have), now this. We’ve already had to deal with a bevy of terrible choices, suspensions, dismissals and transfers from the kids that weren’t happy with change the first two years. This type of thing was supposed to go away when Mike Leach recruited kids came in. But I guess it’s an age-long testament to two things; youthful ignorance always being a threat to kids and just how difficult a culture change in the program can be.
After all, this continues to happen at programs all over the country and as we seem to see year-in and year-out, we are far from immune here. We know it’s coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.
Stay tuned. ACU will be back when we know more details of the fallout.