Two days ago, during a presser with the media in regards to Fall Camp officially opening up for the Maryland Terrapins football team, head coach Mike Locksley addressed the situation and status of veteran cornerback Dontay Joyner who has been dealing with some off the field issues that has caused him to be away from the program.
Locksley's statement went as followed:
""Dontay Joyner is not with our program. He and I both met. He just finished his summer school class, I think, a couple of days ago. We both met and both decided mutually that he needs a fresh start. I mean, he's been through quite a bit here, and this summer really was not a good thing for him, not a good thing for us. I hate to see him have to go through what he went through, and so based on our conversations, we both have decided that - mutually decided - that he should find another place. He has two years of eligibility left. We're helping him find a place to go play. He's a guy that deserves another chance. We just felt like because of what he went through here in the state of Maryland, he probably needs a fresh shot."
Back in June, Joyner was arrested by police and spent 27 days behind bars. The reasoning for his arrest was harassment and threats he made to his girlfriend, including alleged death threats. What resulted following Joyner's release from prison was his pleading guilty to one count of telephone misuse and three years of supervised probation. The judge also ruled that he had zero contact with his girlfriend, a mental health evaluation, and enrollment in the abuse intervention program, according to the Baltimore Sun .
Locksley continued by describing what Joyner's departure means for the defense and how they'll have to adjust because of that:
"Huge loss for us, man. Dontay Joyner is a big-time football player. You don't just replace some of the production that he had here, but much like any other injury transfers, I don't really worry about those things. We have to recruit players. We've got some young corners like Darrell Carey and [Zahir] Cobb, kid that came from St. Albans that we feel have the ability to - we brought in a transfer from Boston College there that Aazaar knew very well recruited. So, is it a loss? Yes, it's a loss. But what we got to do here in the next three, four weeks is find out how we can better ourselves with expediting the growth of some of our new corners that are part of our program."
It's a tough situation for both parties, as Joyner is only 21 and still has a lot of life ahead of him. What can be taken away from this is the support that Locksley and the program still showed for Joyner, as a human being, despite a fortunate turn of bad decisions made by him that hopefully he can move on from and learn from to be better.
Joyner is a talented player on the field and will need to convince schools to take a chance on him while staying focused off the field.
The Terps move into Fall Camp with a plethora of young, intriguing options looking to fill the void left by Joyner.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/maryland as Dontay Joyner Exits Maryland Football .
