BLOUNT REINSTATED

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Blount reinstated to UO football team
Nov. 9th, 2009
The Register-Guard

LeGarrette Blount has been reinstated to the Oregon football team and will be available to play Saturday when the Ducks host Arizona State at Autzen Stadium, coach Chip Kelly announced Monday morning.

Blount was suspended by Kelly after the senior running back punched a Boise State player in the moments after the Ducks’ season-opening loss in Boise.

On Oct. 2, Kelly announced a plan that would allow Blount to return to the team, provided he meet the conditions laid out by Kelly.

Blount has missed the last eight games but has remained with the Ducks as a member of the scout team.

“I’m grateful to coach Kelly that he cares enough to offer me this second chance,” Blount said in a statement. “Now it is up to me to prove to people that their lasting impressions of me are not what they saw in Boise.

“When I am ready to address this further with the public and the media, I will do so,” Blount added. “Until that time, I feel my actions can speak louder than anything I could say. I just want to help my teammates who have been supportive of me.”

In a press release, Kelly emphasized that Blount would continue to be held accountable to those conditions for the remainder of the year.

Kelly said he forwarded his recommendation for Blount’s reinstatement to Oregon athletic director Mike Bellotti Sunday night, who in turn passed it along to University President Richard Lariviere and Pacific-10 Conference Commissioner Larry Scott.

“After a thorough review of the situation, I am convinced LeGarrette Blount paid a significant and appropriate price for the mistakes he made on the field, and that he has learned important life-long lessons,” Scott said in a statement.

Bellotti said he learned, approximately the time the UO men’s basketball game ended Sunday night, that the Pac-10 had approved reinstating Blount. He said he’d been optimistic about obtaining that approval.

“We all feel very comfortable,” Bellotti said Monday. “This was a well-orchestrated, supervised situation. LeGarrette’s done everything that’s been asked of him, and we’ll continue to do that the remainder of his time.”

Bellotti said Blount “had some grades come due and papers last week, and I think there’s a comfort zone that he’s not only doing all the steps, but doing it in a proper manner.”

Bellotti said he’s reviewed the reporters by two athletic department officials charged with overseeing Blount’s progress, football academics coordinator Tim Bruegman and assistant athletic director James Harris.

“There were real markers or steps that LeGarrette had had to do or had to perform,” Bellotti said.

Overall, Bellotti said, “I’m pleased. I think it was handled in a manner that makes a very serious statement about Oregon athletics and what we expect of our athletes. At the same time, there was a human element to giving him a second chance and giving him the opportunity. But he earned that opportunity to get back on the field.”

Bellotti emphasized that Oregon’s decision was not influenced in any way by boosters, donors or lawyers.