Vols' Schaeffer, Smith charged in campus assault, suspended from team

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee quarterback Brent Schaeffer and receiver Bret Smith were suspended indefinitely from the team Monday, a day after they were charged with hitting a student.<br> <br> Police were told Schaeffer and Smith hit a student who was arguing with Schaeffer&#39;s girlfriend in a campus dormitory early Sunday.<br> <br> Part of Schaeffer&#39;s involvement in the incident was caught on tape by a video camera in the dorm lobby, University of Tennessee police said. The two have been charged with a misdemeanor.<br> <br> Coach Phillip Fulmer suspended the players, who will miss the remaining two days of spring practice this week and the annual Orange and White game on Saturday.<br> <br> ``They made a bad social decision and were poor representatives of our team,&#39;&#39; Fulmer said in a statement released Monday.<br> <br> Last season, Schaeffer, of Deerfield Beach, Fla., became the first true freshman to start at quarterback in a Southeastern Conference opener since Georgia&#39;s John Rauch in 1945. Schaeffer and fellow freshman Erik Ainge were considered co-starters until both were injured.<br> <br> Schaeffer, who broke his collarbone at South Carolina in October, was battling to regain the starting job this spring with Ainge and senior Rick Clausen.<br> <br> Smith, of Warren, Ark., led all receivers last year as a sophomore with five touchdown catches.<br> <br> According to an affidavit campus police filed in Knox County General Sessions Court, student Quantavios Emerson was arguing with Schaeffer&#39;s girlfriend about her cell phone Sunday when Schaeffer hit Emerson in the neck.<br> <br> The affidavit also said Schaeffer and Emerson each grabbed bats but dropped them before hitting anyone and Schaeffer then picked up Emerson from behind and threw him down.<br> <br> Emerson struck his head on the floor. Smith then hit Emerson while he was on the floor, the report said.<br> <br> Emerson went to University of Tennessee Medical Center, where he got four staples to close a cut on his head, authorities said.<br> <br> A university police officer who arrived after the incident was told an unknown couple were fighting in the study area at Clement Hall and the woman slapped the man in the face, according to a report filed by the officer.<br> <br> The video showed Schaeffer and the woman enter and then leave the lobby. Emerson came out of the lobby holding a metal bat, and he appeared to be yelling at them, according to the campus police report.<br> <br> The video showed Schaeffer throwing Emerson to the ground. Campus police said Smith was not seen in the tape.<br> <br> Emerson told the officer at the hospital he did not want to prosecute anyone, and ``that the fight was over,&#39;&#39; the police report said. Several hours later police interviewed Emerson in the dorm, and he named Schaeffer and Smith as the suspects.<br> <br> The players were arrested close to midnight at a different campus dorm where many athletes live.<br> <br> Both players were released on their own recognizance Sunday. Their arraignments are scheduled for April 18.<br> <br> Schaeffer&#39;s attorney did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Smith could not be reached for comment.<br> <br> Contacted in his dorm room, Emerson said he was doing OK but he wasn&#39;t ready to talk about the incident.<br> <br> Tennessee reserve linebacker Daniel Brooks, a junior from Jackson, was named a suspect in an assault case in March. No charges have been filed.<br> <br> In December, Brooks was also accused of punching someone in the face at an off-campus party that turned into a brawl. A complaint was filed with police, but the case was dropped after the victim said he didn&#39;t want to prosecute, authorities said.<br> <br> Besides the two incidents involving Brooks, there had been six other times since February 2004 that a Volunteer football player was investigated by police for offenses ranging from underage drinking to felony reckless endangerment.<br> <br> Three players have been dismissed from the team.<br> <br> (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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