Four Michigan State football players have been suspended while police investigate an altercation in a stadium tunnel after a 29-7 loss to the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday.
The incident occurred at Michigan Stadium, home of the Wolverines, which is nicknamed “The Big House.” The suspensions were announced after footage of Spartan players beating a University of Michigan player was posted by The Detroit News.
Michigan State Head Coach Mel Tucker shared the announcement of the suspensions in a statement on Monday that was posted to Twitter.
Footage of the scuffling pic.twitter.com/cipLWi5RBS
— Matt Charboneau (@mattcharboneau) October 30, 2022
“After reviewing the disturbing electronic evidence collected to date of the altercations between Michigan State and University of Michigan student-athletes on October 29, 2022, we are suspending Tank Brown, Khary Crump, Angelo Grose, and Zion Young effective immediately,” the statement read.
The statement added that the team was working with law enforcement and school leadership “to further evaluate the events in Ann Arbor.” The suspensions “will remain in place until the investigations are completed.”
Tucker said that the safety of student-athletes and the Spartan community “remain our number one priority.” He vowed that the program would “continue to take appropriate action in this matter.”
Michigan State Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller also released a statement condemning the altercation.
“The behavior we viewed was both [referring to Tucker] uncharacteristic of our football program and unacceptable,” he wrote.
Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh said two of his players had been “assaulted” and that one of them may have sustained a broken nose from injuries that occurred during the scuffle. The Michigan player in the video was identified as defensive back Ja’Den McBurrows.
A second video showed the other player Harbaugh referred to, showing bystanders running away.
The 2nd Jumping harbaugh was referring to
Just kick them all off or suspend them pic.twitter.com/SWooBiVTLo
— GBP (@GoBluePoole) October 30, 2022
Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel addressed the incident after the game on Saturday night.
“This is not how we should interact after the game,” Manuel said.
“This is not the way another team should grab a player and do what they did. It’s completely and utterly unacceptable. We will let Big Ten and law enforcement handle it. But this is not what a rivalry should be about. It’s not how it should be remembered. We won on the field,” he added. “This man and his team and those players went out there and won. For that to happen is unacceptable. And that’s all I’m going to say. I’ll leave it to [Big Ten Commissoner] Kevin [Warren] and law enforcement to handle from here on out.”
#Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel called the conduct by #MichiganState players in the tunnel "unnacceptable." Said @bigten commisioner Kevin Warren and local authorities are investigating pic.twitter.com/OIlKBzM4aJ
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) October 30, 2022
University of Michigan President Samuel Stanley also released a statement that condemned the violent behavior following the incident.
“I have spoken with Michigan State President Samuel Stanley and he personally apologized for last night’s incident in the Michigan Stadium tunnel,” he wrote. “We are in strong agreement that this behavior is unacceptable.”