B.J. Knauf And Jordan Woods Arrested For Theft

Just over 48 hours after possibly the worst loss in the history of Ross-Ade Stadium, the news for Purdue football continued to be bad. Wide receivers B.J. Knauf and Jordan Woods were arrested today for theft and are facing Class D Felony theft charges:

The two redshirt freshmen were arrested at a Kohl's department store in Lafayette, and were booked in the county jail Monday afternoon, Gordon said.

Both players are redshirt freshmen, but only Knauf has seen action so far. He has nine catches for 95 yards and a touchdown, 92 yards rushing with another score, 20 punt return yards and 101 kickoff return yards. Knauf trails only Akeem Hunt in all purpose yardage on the team.

A couple of thoughts:

1.       Stealing from Kohl's? Really? That place has a ridiculous amount of coupons and practically gives you money to shop there.

2.       If this is true, you don't get felony charges for mere shoplifting. It had to be pretty major.

3.       Also if true, they need to be kicked off the team. Immediately.

I am very serious on that last point. I am both a little old school and very hard line on such matters. It is not that hard to not steal stuff. It is not as if this is some little known rule. I am pretty forgiving for something like parking tickets or something, but this is a felony charge. You don't commit a felony without knowing what you're doing. If you're dumb enough to steal then you are obviously not taking football seriously and you need to be kicked off the team.

Of course, this is a country where you are innocent until proven guilty. The justice system will take its course and we'll see where it goes from here. At the very least they need to be suspended until their court date or until the charges are dropped.

This also puts the spotlight on Coach Hazell. He has talked tough about discipline and as we know, disciplinary problems were a bit of an issue under Coach Hope. In the infamous Fulmer Cup we had Dwayne Beckford notch multiple charges, Patrick Bade broke the front glass at Harry's, and even walk-on QB Erich Berzinskas got arrested once. Things were quietly an issue under coach Tiller too, as you only needed to know about Selwyn Limon, Torri Williams, Kyle Williams, Stu Schweigert, or Vinny Sutherland.

At least the comparisons of Knauf to Sutherland are even more accurate now.

Update (9/30/2013 9:20pm): Knauf and Woods stole a total of $40 worth of merchandise from Kohl's...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Knauf, Woods arrested for shoplifting at Kohl&#39;s. Items allegedly stolen were two tie bars, valued at $20 each. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Purdue&amp;src=hash">#Purdue</a></p>&mdash; mike carmin (@carminjc) <a href="https://twitter.com/carminjc/statuses/384847902348021761">October 1, 2013</a></blockquote>

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