It was reported earlier in the season that Washington cornerback Marcus Peters was dismissed from the team after reportedly butting heads with the coaching staff several times. What wasn’t disclosed was the extent of bad the relationship between Peters and the coaching staff has gotten before his dismissal. A report has surfaced that during a heated argument with a coach, Peters placed his hand around the coach’s throat and started to choke him.
It was widely known that former Washington Huskies cornerback Marcus Peters butted heads with coaches prior to his dismissal from the program in November, but an account published Wednesday detailed a much uglier scenario than initially reported.
“Peters was suspended and later dismissed from the Huskies football team after multiple incidents of ‘arguing’ with members of the Huskies coaching staff,” the NFL.com “Sources Tell Us” report stated. “The veteran scout said he witnessed one argument escalate into much more; Peters grabbed the assistant coach by the throat and started choking him, the scout reported.”
There’s no indication of when exactly the alleged episode occurred, but a conflict with an assistant coachwas reportedly the last straw for Petersen when he dismissed Peters on Nov. 6, though he said at the time that there was no one incident that led to the star defensive back’s ouster from Montlake.
Petersen had already suspended Peters for the Huskies’ Sept. 13 game against Illinois after the junior’s sideline tantrum following a personal foul penalty against Eastern Washington on Sept. 6.
The NFL.com article said that while scouts have major concerns about his behavior, many consider Peters an elite talent, with one talent evaluator calling him the “best cover corner prospect I’ve seen in the last 14 years.”
The 6-foot, 190-pound defensive back was named a 2014 Midseason All-American by NFL.com in October and led the team with three interceptions and seven pass breakups at the time of his dismissal. He is still considered a potential first-round pick in next year’s NFL draft, but will likely undergo a barrage of questioning about his conflicts with the UW coaching staff.
Peters is clearly a first round talent, but what is also obvious is that he has a laundry list of off the field issues that are more than likely going to hinder him from going early and will more than likely cost him millions. I hope this kid is able to sort out these issues and turn his career around, because it will be a shame if he has derailed his pro career before it even gets started.