Montana QB Kemp suspended from team

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MISSOULA, Mont. — The University of Montana football coach said Saturday that quarterback Gerald Kemp has only been indefinitely suspended from the team, not dismissed as the school said a day earlier.

Coach Mike Delaney told the Missoulian that Kemp was suspended for violating team rules but could be reinstated. He did not elaborate.

“He is suspended indefinitely pending some things that would have to happen on both his side and our side to reinstate him,” Delaney told the newspaper by phone as he traveled to Big Sky Conference Summer Football Kickoff meetings in Park City, Utah. “It’s not 100 percent either way.”

The first-year coach said the suspension was his decision and has nothing to do with Kemp’s arrest in October.

Police used a stun gun to subdue Kemp and another player as officers tried to break up a loud party. Both Kemp and cornerback Trumaine Johnson pleaded no contest in December to disorderly conduct charges.

“It was a situation between Gerald and I and team policies and team rules with us,” Delaney said. “I won’t divulge exactly what that was, but I can tell you that there were not multiple incidents that led to his suspension.”

Kemp passed for 218 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 223 yards and two scores as a junior in 2011. If he is not reinstated, the Grizzlies would have four quarterbacks on the roster, including incumbent starter Jordan Johnson, whose status with the team also has been questionable in recent months.

In March, a woman accused Jordan Johnson of sexually assaulting her in February. No charges have been filed, and Johnson’s name remains on the Grizzly roster.

Kemp’s suspension comes several months after the university fired its coach and athletic director amid a number investigations into the program.

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the university, campus police and Missoula police and prosecutors improperly handled reports of rape and sexual assault, including allegations involving football players. The Department of Education also is looking into a sexual discrimination complaint filed in January that named the football program.

In May, school officials announced that the NCAA had opened an investigation into the program. Officials haven’t said what the investigation involves, and university President Royce Engstrom has said he didn’t know.

Then-Athletic Director Jim O’Day and head coach Robin Pflugrad were fired on March 29. No official reasons were given.

And last month the school announced that vice president for external relations Jim Foley had stepped down from that position but would continue working for the school. Foley’s emails helped fuel the ongoing controversy over the handling of rapes reported at the school.

Emails released in May showed that Foley questioned whether a female student could be punished for speaking publicly about how the school was handling her report of being raped. Foley also urged use of the term “date rape” rather than “gang rape” in a case involving allegations against four Montana players.

Foley also met Kemp and Trumaine Johnson at an attorney’s office on a Sunday after their arrest.

Tags: montana grizzlies, college football, gerald kemp, sports, montana