Mel Tucker releases statement regarding Michigan, Michigan State tunnel fight Saturday night
Mel Tucker has released a statement regarding the tunnel fight between his Michigan State Spartans and the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday.
Following the Wolverines defeating the Spartans 29-7, multiple Michigan State players were seen on video fighting with what appeared to be a lone Michigan player. Speaking with the media later in the night, Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh went as far to say two of his players were “assaulted” during the altercation.
Now, Tucker has taken to Twitter to release a statement on the matter, stating that his program will cooperate with multiple parties, including law enforcement, the Big Ten and the University of Michigan, to find out what happened and take “appropriate action.”
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“As Spartans our program has a responsibility to uphold the highest level of sportsmanship,” tweeted Tucker. “While emotions were very high at the conclusion of our rivalry game at Michigan Stadium, there is no excuse for behavior that puts our team or our opponents at risk.
“In complete cooperation with law enforcement, the Big Ten Conference and MSU and UM leadership, we will evaluate the events in Ann Arbor and take swift and appropriate action.”
Moreover, it’s unclear exactly which Michigan State players and which Michigan players were involved, but multiple reports and further video from Matt Charboneau of The Detroit News noted that the Michigan player was potentially wearing No. 1. Michigan has two players that wear No. 1 — wide receiver Andrel Anthony and defensive back Ja’Den McBurrows.
A close look at the video around the eight-second mark appears to show the Michigan player have a nameplate with “Mc” at the beginning.
Several Michigan State players can be identified by nameplates in the video. Angelo Grose, Zion Young, Jordan Simmons and Itayvion ‘Tank’ Brown all appear to be a part of the fight, as does Charles Brantley.
In his press conference after the game, the aforementioned Tucker said that he did not know what happened.
“I know it was a heated game. Things were heated. We’re trying to get our guys in the locker room. We’re gonna have to figure out what happened,” Tucker said, per Matt Fortuna of The Athletic.
Later, Harbaugh spoke on the incident, adding that one of his players potentially broke his nose during the scuffle.
“Two of our players were assaulted. You saw the one video, the 10 on 1. Pretty bad,” the Wolverines leader said according to Austin Meek of The Athletic. Harbaugh added one had a nasal injury, potentially a broken nose. He also said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuelwould address the incident.
“It needs to be investigated and brought to a conclusion,” he added, according to Chris Solari of The Detroit Free Press.
Manuel has apparently already spoken with conference commissioner Kevin Warren. A number of the accounts from reporters covering the game indicate that the Michigan athletic director was extremely upset with what happened after the game.
“This is not the way another team should grab a player and do what they did. It’s completely and utterly unacceptable,” Manuel said according to Meek.
What will come in terms of punishment for this incident remains unclear — as does the full scale of the injuries or aftermath — but this is clearly something more than the usual postgame scuffle.
For now, more details are sure to trickle out before any formal actions are taken — suspensions or otherwise.