sports@dailylobo.com
Less than a week before the first Lobo football game, a second football player was arrested and suspended from the team this week.
Lobo football player David Vega was arrested after an incident in which police were called to the scene early Sunday morning. The Daily Lobo was unable to obtain a copy of the criminal complaint by Tuesday evening.
On Monday Lobo football player Devonta Tabannah was suspended after he was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Tabannah was arrested and charged with DWI, failure to obey a traffic control device and failure to provide registration, a driver’s license or proof of insurance.
UNM football coach Bob Davie said he learned about Vega’s arrest Tuesday afternoon shortly after a team meeting. He said Greg Archuleta, the assistant director of communications for Athletics, called Davie to notify him about a report that Vega had been arrested over the weekend over a “minor in possession about how he (Vega) didn’t show his ID.”
Davie said he immediately went to the quarterback meeting to confront Vega about his arrest and suspended him from the football team until further notice.
“I asked him if was true … and he started stuttering a little bit,” he said. “I said ‘you’re gone.’ I said, ‘I’m sorry, but based on your past performance and based on the fact that it happened on Saturday night and you didn’t come forward to see me, you’re gone. Go pick up your stuff out of your locker.’”
Davie said the loss of another football player is unfortunate, most importantly because Vega does not have a football scholarship.
“His family made a pretty good sacrifice to get him here and he made a sacrifice to get here,” he said.
But when asked how much Vega’s suspension would affect the team, Davie said “zero.”
Davie said Vega’s suspension might have been avoided had Vega been honest about his arrest and if he hadn’t already been suspended only two weeks prior.
On Aug. 11, Vega and defensive backs Zoey Williams and Tim Foley were suspended for an unspecified violation of team rules. The players were immediately sent home from football camp in Ruidoso, and Vega and Foley were reinstated on Aug. 20, the first day of classes.
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“To be quite honest, if it wouldn’t have been for his former actions and the fact that I don’t trust him very much right now, I don’t know if I would have suspended him immediately based on the facts he told me, but it’s too late for that now for him,” Davie said. “He doesn’t have to convince me because I’m not listening.
All that matters to me is that he had a previous incident with me and he didn’t tell me when it happened.”
But Davie said Vega’s suspension may not be permanent and depends whether Vega is found innocent.
“I’m certainly going to give him the chance to prove his innocence, but he won’t be on this football team until he does,” he said. “The moment I heard it, he was gone. His pads were pulled and his locker was cleared out without the chance of even asking.”
