UCF football head coach George O’Leary decided to suspend redshirt freshman J.J. Worton from all spring football activities after his arrest on Sunday morning that involved punching a peace officer.
Worton was charged with with felony resisting arrest with violence and felony battery on a peace officer, according to Orange County jail records.
The 6’2″ wide receiver attended a St. Patrick’s Day block party at the local UCF bar, Knight Library, and ended up getting into an altercation with law enforcement. Worton reportedly refused to leave the bar after asked to by a deputy and proceeded to flee from the cops, hide under a car and punch one of the deputies in the face before being subdued by pepper spray.
Worton, who led the Knights in receiving last season, will not take place in any further spring football activities.
“I’ve suspended him from all team functions for the rest of the spring until I get further information about what really took place,” O’Leary said in a statement from the Orlando Sentinel. “I’m trying to decipher that.”
Coach O’Leary is still trying to figure out the facts of the situation and will make his decision when he learns everything that happened during the incident.
“I said we’d make the appropriate decision when I got all the information,” O’Leary said in a statement from the Orlando Sentinel. “There’s still some out there. Obviously all the reports you read, there’s probably 50 percent true, 50 percent not true.”
UCF Football Lands First 2013 Recruit
In unrelated news, the UCF football team landed its first commitment of the 2013 recruiting class as Crestview High running back Micah Reed committed to the Knights.
Reed fielded offers from top programs, such as Florida, Louisville and Cincinatti before ultimately choosing UCF.
He said the chance to make an impact and inspire other promising players to come to UCF was a major factor in his decision.
“I want to inspire other kids to commit to UCF because I want to train together and have a good class come with me,” Reed said to the Orlando Sentinel. “We can do big things together. I think we would all be good motivation for each other. We can help UCF take the next step.”
The 5’11”, 182-pound back has great speed and can make an immediate impact for the Knights, who will graduate running backs Brynn Harvey and Latavius Murray at the end of the 2012 season.
Reed is a pick up for the Knights as they transition into the Big East Conference starting in 2013.
