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Before Saturday's game vs. Syracuse, CMU announced that Thomas Rawls, their grad-student transfer running back, would miss the game. The wording for the reason behind him being held out of the contest was peculiar:
Thomas Rawls will not play in today’s game against Syracuse as CMU continues to review an issue that came to our attention Friday.
— CMU Football (@CMU_Football) September 13, 2014
Well today during the MAC's weekly teleconference, head coach Dan Enos announced that Rawls had been suspended indefinitely, adding "that's all I can say right now."
Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun CMU beat writer Nate Schneider is reporting the apparent reasoning behind the suspension, and it's not good.
Rawls being charged with three felonies. Stealing a purse at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort and stealing two credit cards from purse.
— Nate Schneider (@natejschneider) September 15, 2014
Rawls transferred to Mt Pleasant in January, following his graduation from Michigan. The Flint, Michigan native had one season of eligibility left, and through CMU's first two games had emerged as the team's best running back option, amassing 276 yards and three scores on 57 carries.
Without Rawls on the field for Saturday's 40-3 home loss to Syracuse, the Chippewas managed just 34 rushing yards on 23 attempts. Junior running back Saylor Lavallii is the team's second-leading rusher with 41 yards on the season. CMU (2-1) travels to Kansas (1-1) this weekend for a 3:30 p.m. EST kick against the Jayhawks.
We'll update this story as we gather more information.
UPDATE: Thanks to The Morning Sun, we now have the documents pertaining to Rawls' arrest and charges. Rawls is facing up to four years and prison and a $5,000 fine for each charge.