North Carolina Tar Heels: Mike Hughes Reinstated, Stewart Next?
The North Carolina Tar Heels football team has reinstated freshman cornerback Mike Hughes, according to reports from the Associated Press. Hughes was indefinitely suspended after an altercation at a fraternity house after the team’s victory against Georgia Tech a week ago. In that time Hughes has been charged with assault inflicting serious injury.
The charge is a misdemeanor and the cornerback has a court date for November 19. Coach Larry Fedora said that things revealed in the court proceedings could affect whether Hughes remains unsuspended. For the meantime, Hughes will practice with the team and play against Virginia on Saturday.
Hughes was not alone in his suspension. Sophomore cornerback M.J. Stewart also was involved in the incident. While Hughes was only charged with assault, Stewart was charged with assault and battery.
Stewart will be in court today, and Coach Fedora decided to hold off reinstating him until Sunday. This was cause him to miss the Virginia game. Like Hughes, Coach Fedora could keep Stewart suspended if something new comes out of his court appearance.
So as it stands, Hughes missed one game while Stewart will miss two. Stewart is being treated harsher because he is a sophomore, seems to have the more serious charge, and he was involved in an incident last year during training camp that got him in previous trouble.
As far as the football side goes, the Tar Heels may have been hurt by injuries to their defensive linemen but they are quite deep at defensive back. Brian Walker and Malik Simmons took on extended roles against Wake Forest without too much problem. Sure somebody should have covered Cam Serigne, but that is a team coverage problem as much as it is any one person.
The Tar Heels play the Virginia Cavaliers at 3:30 at Kenan Stadium on Saturday.