Antavian Edison Likes This Drop

As reported by GBI and others, charges against Antavian Edison stemming from a gun arrest during a motor vehicle stop earlier in May have been dropped. Edison is reportedly at Purdue doing Maymester and Coach Hope is glad that it was just a matter of being "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Here at BS, we're primarily crusty old men (give or take), so we tend to think that just as good football teams make their own luck, many guys find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time for...well...reasons. Here's hoping this was in fact an anomaly and that Antavian stays on the straight and narrow going forward.

It serves as a good lesson for all of us, though: if your uncle is a convicted felon illegally carrying a loaded gun, it might be best not to spend a lot of time with him.

Atavian Edison Gun Arrest Details

As you've heard by now (perhaps from us if you are a Twitter user -- and if you are a Twitter user and are NOT following us, what are you waiting for?), Purdue wideout Antavian Edison was arrested on a gun charge over the weekend in Fort Myers, Florida. The USA Today story is here but I will lay out some of the key points here.

Edison was riding with his uncle in a Lincoln (Antavian was driving) and he ran a stop sign. That's never a good idea, for lots of reasons, but it's even dumber when you have a weapon and ammo illegally in the car with you. The police pinched him and found "...a silver "Pink Lady" .38 Special revolver lying between the driver and front passenger, loaded with five rounds of ammunition."

I'd almost be more embarrassed that my bad-ass gun charge involves the words "pink lady" to describe the gun. A .38 is not something to sneer at, of course. [NOTE: Updated to acknowledge the Pink Lady only holds five bullets. Sorry, I'm just not used to lady guns like some of you boys are.]

The concealed weapons charge is a felony in Florida, which is a big deal, too. This isn't a misdemeanor marijuana charge, you know? Felonies have teeth.

Antavian's uncle -- who is just 23 -- has a rap sheet, too, including a robbery rap in 2005 (when he was 16, I guess?), which means his charge is possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. I would imagine this all but guarantees that Uncle Devon will be seeing the inside of the clink, but those will law degrees are welcome to chime in here.

In typical Purdue athletic department prowess with the media, the school said they would not be commenting at this time. I know it's not the NY press, for example, but this situation should probably be commented on soon. If it has been officially commented on and I just haven't seen it yet, please let me know.

And finally in the story, the principal of Antavian's high school spoke highly of Antavian and said he was always "low-key" and "respectful." He also said he's "sure there's more to" the story, too. That's certainly possible, but illegally possessing a revolver and having it between the seats of your car while you're violating traffic laws is something people tend to judge, and rightfully so.

We'll keep you posted if we learn anything more.

You can find Antavian on Twitter at @EliteBreeze13.

Quick Take On Recent Football Stupidity

It's now official, Beckford has been rightfully suspended for the bowl game...and in his wake, Gerald Gooden and Will Lucas thought it'd be a good time for them to introduce themselves to the police.

On Monday night after accruing a bunch of parking tickets, Lucas and Gooden removed the boot from Gooden's (I believe) and took back the property.  The problem is, once a vehicle is booted, I believe the police regard that car as theirs until the fines are paid...but if you get that far, usually the tickets and fees are a few hundred bucks.

After taking their car back, the two were arrested for theft.  Sweet.

Gooden (2) & Lucas (45)

If you're keeping count, Purdue has two starters already suspended and another with a blown ACL.  So now, Gooden, Lucas and Hope await Purdue's ruling on the matter (it was university police, not West Lafayette).  My thought is pretty simple- these guys deserve to be suspended for the bowl game.

If they are, either by Purdue or by Hope, Gooden will have played his last game at Purdue and the team will lose its second LB this week.

Perhaps the three seasons in which the team didn't go to a bowl game kept Purdue's players from getting themselves into trouble. In both Beckford's and the Gooden/Lucas cases, the players probably would have been at home had they not been forced to stay on campus. In a roundabout way, they're getting what they want, right? Many players complained about the bowl draw via Twitter...so I'd give these guys their wish and send them home.

There's a pretty good debate raging on GBI and Twitter about the most-recent arrests and how egregious they are. Some are calling the guys thugs; I don't agree with that assessment...but they're definitely two guys who made some silly decisions (not paying parking tickets) followed by a really stupid one (taking the car back without paying the fines).  Like Mom always said, you can pay now or pay later, but you're going to pay.  As is the case in most crimes, this one would/could only end with the police getting involved as the proof is extremely simple to gather.

The second part of this issue that tweaks me a bit is if a normal student were to do this, what trouble would he be in? I don't think he'd get off by merely paying the parking tickets and boot fine; so these guys should be no different.

I think most of the Purdue football players are pretty decent people...I've met enough of them to make my own opinion about it. Purdue's football program struggled all season to get the fans behind them...and incidents like what we've seen in the last week don't help an already beleaguered program's image.  Hope shouldn't wait for the university's ruling, in my opinion, to react to this one...his waiting two days on the Beckford situation was probably too much.

Western Michigan's offense feasted (at times) during the regular season on weak defenses.  I really thought they'd struggle to put up a big number versus Purdue.  Now, since three starting defenders are potentially out, we might have seen the tipping point that I joked about yesterday.


Out for Little Caesar's Bowl
Beckford (LB)- DWI
Ross (WR)- Academics

Bolden- ACL injury

Awaiting Decision
Gooden (DE)- theft
Lucas (LB)- theft

Lewis Jackson Arrested (Unconfirmed)

We don't yet know if this is our LewJack but it appears that Lewis Jackson, Purdue's freshman point guard, may have been arrested two days ago in Piatt County, Illinois for not only underage drinking, but also possession of weed and the paraphernalia that goes with it.

Not sure what impact this will have on his '09-'10 season. Much as I hate to admit this, I'm glad it happened now and not during the season when he might get suspended for it.

We'll see how it plays out and will continue to try to determine if this is for sure LewJack.

(Big thanks to reader Joey for the tip.)