More Bad News for USC: Tight End Junior Pomee Facing Felony Charges

Lost in the commotion that was National Signing Day was the news that USC Trojans tight end Junior Pomee was arrested and is facing charges of burglary, grand theft, and possession of stolen goods.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the USC Department of Public Safety responded to a call on January 29 and found the 21-year old second-year player was found drunk and passed out behind the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. He was in possession of stolen goods, including an iPad, iPod mini, and iPhone 5.

Sure, Apple products are cool, but they’re not cool enough to risk felony charges. Clearly Pomee doesn’t watch Samsung commercials, because if he did, he’d know Apple’s not even the next big thing anymore.

Pomee pleaded not guilty and is out on $110,000 bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for February 15, and it will be interesting to hear his lawyer explain how he’s not guilty when stolen goods were found on his person when he was found passed out in an alley.

In the meantime, he has been removed from all team activities, according to coach Lane Kiffin.

I still don’t understand why college football players risk their scholarships and their futures by doing such incredibly stupid things. It was a really bad move on Pomee’s part, because he’s completely dispensable. He redshirted his freshman year and while he played in every game in 2012, he didn’t catch a pass. He’s behind rising juniors Randall Telfer and Xavier Grimble on the depth chart, and that was unlikely to change.

USC doesn’t need him, and the team shouldn’t care if it loses him. The Trojans are operating with reduced scholarships for the next two seasons, so they can remove him from the team and have another roster spot to use on a player that will actually contribute and won’t be discovered drunk by the school’s public safety officers.

I know it’s college, but in the immortal words of Sweet Brown (Google it), “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

Sure, 21-year-old college students are often likely to overdo it on the alcohol. It shouldn’t get to the point of passing out drunk outside, but it happens. There is no excuse, however, for burglary and grand theft.

I don’t know if Pomee’s lawyer is going to try to say the player didn’t know the devices were stolen, but if Division I athletes are accepting gifts of high-end electronics, that becomes a compliance issue. I wouldn’t buy it anyway, because quite frankly, Pomee hasn’t been significant enough for people to shower him with techie toys.

It’ll be interesting to see what comes from Pomee’s court appearance next week, but one thing’s for sure: This is the last thing USC needs to be dealing with right now.