Eastern Michigan was involved in one of the most disappointing stories of the weekend. After losing 59-10, cornerback Korey Hernandez sucker punched South Alabama cornerback Jamarrien Burt and a brawl ensued. An official apology was issued by the athletic director.
best angle i’ve seen yet, credit to south_alabamian on tik tok pic.twitter.com/2i6MbOYIeu
— sean 🍎⚪️ (@jagsfbguy) December 24, 2023
Eastern Michigan Apologizes For Brawl Against South Alabama
Athletic director Scott Wetherbee issued the following statement apologizing for the incident.
“We strongly condemn the actions of some of the student-athletes on the EMU football team in the ugly incident that took place following last night’s 68 Ventures Bowl. We are deeply upset and embarrassed by what happened. Their conduct does not reflect the great pride and high standards we place on the game and our program, and the expectations for good sportsmanship and exemplary conduct of student-athletes on and off the field. What happened was completely unacceptable. We apologize to the Eastern Michigan University community and to the South Alabama team and their fans.”
Take Accountability
In addition to this, Wetherbee revealed that he and head coach Chris Creighton had reached out to Jaguars head coach Kane Wommack and athletic director Joel Erdmann to personally apologize. Erdmann said that he appreciated the program “for taking ownership of the incident”. It is an unfortunate incident but the school has handled it well. There will be a full investigation and no doubt the players involved will receive a hefty punishment.
Hopefully, this resolves the issue and both programs can move past it. It is a situation that should never happen in sports.