Arkansas’ Wade Apologizes For Hit That Led To Ejection

October 31st, 2011 04:10 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Arkansas, Vanderbilt
Tags: Bobby Petrino, Marquel Wade, Robbie Neiswanger, SEC

Freshman receiver Marquel Wade — ejected from Saturday’s game with Vanderbilt after delivering a helmet-to-helmet shot to a defenseless punt returner and then celebrating the hit — apologized during Bobby Petrino’s weekly press conference today.

According to Robbie Neiswanger of ArkansasNews.com, Wade said, “I was wrong. I thought he had the ball.” When asked about the little hopstep he made as bobbed to the sideline post-hit, Wade said, “I thought I just made a good play. That’s all I can say about that.”

Wade also apologized for any embarrassment he act may have caused the Arkansas program.

Wade’s apology is a step in the right direction. We don’t believe the young man should be suspended for the remainder of the season, booted from the Arkansas team, or drawn and quartered as some have suggested. (The drawing and quartering is an exaggeration, for you literalists out there.)

But we do feel — as we stated earlier today — that he should receive a full-game suspension from the SEC for his hit. It was the kind of play that needs to be held up to all league players as an example of what not to do.

An inch or two this way or that way and we could be talking about a very serious injury today. For Vandy’s Jonathan Krause or for Wade. The league must crackdown on players launching themselves to make helmet-to-helmet hits.

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21 comments

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NashvillePete

why are other plays being brought up regarding this incident? Does another bad hit in another game make this a legit hit? No. The kid hit someone early, he led with his helmet, and he made a fool of himself on the sideline saluting people as he was led off the field. He deserves any negativity he gets. Now is he Fairley-esque in intentionally trying to hurt someone? I doubt it. But he made a bad play and should/well suffer the consequences. I just love how fans of said team try to color everything to make it more rosy than it is. I was at the game and I had level headed arkansas fans around me that told me it was BS too bad they aren't represented here.

Rich

So, let me understand, this guy is NOT suspended, but UGA's Geathers and Williams were? Wow. Wade -- no suspension. Fairley -- no suspension. Spikes -- no suspension. Wow.

Centaur

Johnmrsec-

Give it up, you cannot argue with Arkansas fans. They are right, everyone hates them, they are the best team in the country, they have the best coach in the country. The SEC wants them to lose, they tell the refs to fix their games.

The hit on the Vandy player was intentional and malicious. If it were not, then Petrino would not be making his player get in front of the media and apologize. They would also be fighting the one game suspension.

tradeassociation

So, is it MrSEC.com's fault that the kid got ejected? That the kid acted like a total punk on the sidelines and all the way into the locker room? (Had a kid disrespected his coaches under Bear Bryant or any of the other old time coaches that actually expected their players to respect their authority, he would have been kicked off the team and his scholarship revoked before the team bus parked back on campus). Oh, and I watched the entire play live on the SEC Network. Curious that the SEC Network announcers came to the exact same conclusion that MrSEC.com did: that it was an illegal, dirty hit, the player celebrated over the kid laying prostrate on the ground, and that he deserved to be ejected.

By the way ... the Vandy player didn't run into the Arkansas gunners. You Arkansas folks are just making stuff up to defend a guy who acted worse than NBA players do on the sidelines.

Dave

Wade DID NOT celebrate standing over the punt returner. Criticism with fabricated truth is worthless, sport.

Bulldog

Forgiven..Good move by WAde and UA. A Sincere apology for a mistake that was made, no matter how bad it was...this was the right move. Let's forgive the guy and move on. Hopefully we all learn from it and act better.

CLEO

anyone want to mention the helmet to helmet hits to Tyler Wilson that were NOT called in this game? ... what about those? oh ... that's right ... he is a Razorback ... nevermind we overlook those

johnmrsec

CLEO...

Helmet to helmet hits happen in every game. Did someone tee him up and launch himself at Wilson? If so, I'll call for that person's suspension, too.

Are you really childish enough to think that this site is trying to be anti-Arkansas? Go back and read what we wrote last year when Paul Finebaum called for the Hogs to be ejected from the conference.

What really burns me up is I can write 400 glowing notes about Arkansas, but let me stay that a player who launched himself helmet first at another player should be suspended for two halves instead of one and suddenly I haaaaaate Arkansas.

Absurd.

John

Dave

Vandy's DE #42 had an unblocked sack on Wilson where he indeed launched himself for a big hit which was helmet-to-helmet initial contact. No call. Arkansas CB Eric Bennett was tackled by his face mask after an INT. No call. Arkansas WR Jarius Wright was egregiously tackled by his face mask violently jerking his head while being pulled to the ground. It drew a flag, but no ejection.

Earlier this year, Wilson threw a pick 6 at Bama and Dontae Hightower headhunted a defenseless Wilson who was not involved in the play after the ball left his hand. Another no call. It was later referred to as a "great legal hit" by some media/bloggers.

Wade made a mistake on a timing play. The week before, his teammate timed it perfectly and had a huge hit on an OM punt returner. Wade is at fault, no doubt, but if he were a half second slower and laid out the punt returner as he caught the ball, it would have been applauded. A fine line, indeed. Wade never looked back at the punt returner and skipped to the sidelines. By most media accounts (not here), you would have thought Wade stood over him and taunted Miami U 80's style. I agree with the ejection, and I would not want to trade places with Wade given what strength/conditioning coach Veltkamp is going to do to him this week (Veltkamp was the one dragging him into the locker room by his jersey). Frankly, I'd rather sit out the rest of the season than suffer his wrath.

When[It]StrikesMe

Having seen the video of the apology here (http://www.wholehogsports.com/videos/2011/oct/31/5351/) and reading this video, it occurs to me that (unless it was cut off from the beginning of the video) Wade doesn't actually apologize to the person he should be apologizing to: Jonathan Krause. It's also noted that he hasn't reached out to Krause to apologize personally.

He defends his actions by saying he thought Krause had the ball and that his reaction was simply being pumped up. He then apologizes to Arkansas fans and the program for any embarrassment he may have caused. Until he actually apologizes to Krause, I don't see a real apology here. It's a non-apology apology (i.e., I thought you had the ball, so I'm not actually really sorry otherwise I'd actually say I'm sorry).

ascension

You are wasting you time Fayettechill, John at Mr SEC is never wrong plus he dislikes the Hogs for some reason and never misses a chance to take a shot at them !!!

johnmrsec

ascension...

Yep. That's why you can hear me tomorrow across the state of Arkansas on Hog Sports Radio. Hate them Hogs... always takin' shots at 'em!

John

UofA72

Fayettechill

URGENT MESSAGE from your proctologist!! They found your head!

Fayettechill14

Man, that "little hop-step to the sideline." What a vicious, dirty, taunting, malicious, jerkish, crazed, immature move on Wade's part. How DARE he hop-step straight to the Arkansas sideline!! You're right Mr. SEC, suspend for that move!!!

johnmrsec

Fayettechill14...

Uh, no. Suspend because he could have killed the other player or himself by launching helmet-first into someone else's head.

But feel free to twist things anyway you like to defend your team.

John

Fayettechill14

You referred to him celebrating over the injured player in your last article, and now it's a "little hopstep." Seriously, is there anything to that? He was full of adrenaline from a punt play, and while I'm impressed that you clearly can turn your adrenaline on and off like a switch, he "hopped" up and went straight to the sideline. That is absolutely nothing and to even mention it is worthless, just piling on a guy who made a mistake and knew it.

Fayettechill14

John,

If it didn't, which I agree that it should not be a factor in the ejection/suspension, why did you go out of your way to mention it twice? YOU wrote the article, man. You mentioned it once and then later, when setting up a hypothetical with Joe Adams (a low blow considering the 2009 helmet hit by Chad Jones on Adams) you went out of your way to include the fact that Adams calls for a fair catch when he gets blasted.

That is not important in the suspension, that is only important given the fact you have gone out of your way to villify this young man. He made a mistake, but he thought he had made a good play. He didn't taunt, he hardly celebrated, not worth noting in any other situation, but he was ejected for two reasons: 1) the guy was hurt, and 2) James Franklin ran all the way to midfield screaming for him to be ejected, and had the crowd joining him.

Yes it was a mistake and a bad play by Wade, but your article sounded like he was intentionally trying to badly hurt the guy and had no respect for the where the ball was or what was happening, and that is simply not true. I originally thought he should be suspended, but after watching the replay I settled down and realized what he was trying to do and the situation the returner put him in by running RIGHT AT HIM (an argument you have yet to address).

Thankfully, as of now, the SEC office and Coach Petrino agree with my reasoning, and Wade remains active.

As for your attack on Arkansas fans, I know you enjoy being right (you post as much EVERY TIME one of your predictions comes true), THAT'S what drew me, along with other Hog fans, to the comments. Excellent work on your self-fulfilling prophesy. Most of us agree with you, but if you insult people, they will respond.

That's the last I plan on commenting on this issue. You pick and choose what to respond to and won't address the points I take time to carefully lay out, and then when I make a good point you can't avoid, you claim I'm using it as a strawman when YOU wrote the original article bringing it up.

Had you been a little less scathing towards Arkansas fans, not bothered with "strawman" issues such as a fair catch, not taken a shot at Joe Adams, and simply said "I trust the SEC office and Coach Petrino to handle this young man properly. He made a bad mistake that he definitely can learn from," then you would have found agreement from the Arkansas fan base. But that was too simple so you had to interject your big-time opinion, one which would not be the same if it were Alabama and LSU.

Thanks for entertaining me,

Fayettechill

johnmrsec

Fayettechill14...

The fair catch part had nothing to do with the call for the suspension. Nothing. You're setting that up as your strawman.

If a player launches himself helmet-first into another player, he needs to be suspended. If he celebrates afterwards, that solidifies the decision in my mind.

John

Fayettechill14

Also, as for "piling on," you can't just say "don't pile on" and then say whatever you want. You are still piling on, whether you clarify it or not.

I'm not buying your awful celebration excuse (see above), and I'm buying the fair catch excuse either. The referee did not acknowledge the fair catch call (here's what happens when the ref doesn't acknowledge a fair catch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRdZZ1kfag ). Honestly, whether you think it was a fair catch or not doesn't mean squat when the ref didn't think it was. Wade was supposed to if the ref didn't and there's a returner running right towards him? So mentioning that is "piling on" as well... hopefully you see where I'm going.

Fayettechill14

We got upset when Joe Adams had his head knocked off by Chad Jones in 2009, but despite the incredible danger of that hit, there was no ejection, but were told by the national media that it was, in fact, Ryan Mallett's fault for leading his receiver too far. Not Chad Jones' fault. Why? Probably because he plays for LSU.

I've said this before, but I'm glad you armchair quarterbacks can turn your adrenaline on and off like a switch, but I don't think that 99% of us can. Wade (a) didn't know the guy was hurt, (b) as he admitted, thought he had the ball and thus it was a good play in his mind, and (c) was full of adrenaline from a dangerous punt return (made dangerous courtesy of a Vandy return man running straight into two Hog gunners) and had been running full speed and just made a big hit.

What else was he supposed to do? He just mistimed his hit, assuming the guy had the ball. It happens. The helmet lead was worth a penalty, and he probably should have set on the bench to cool off, but there were no grounds for ejection. Until someone explains to me how he could have handled it better, I'll maintain that he doesn't deserve a suspension beyond what the SEC hands down (which is probably 0-1/2 game)

johnmrsec

Fayettechill14...

Yes, I'm piling on. Secretly I've never liked Wade. Muwhahahaaaaa!

Celebrating, hop-step -- as if there's a difference in how I describe it -- it's still bush league to do that when a player is laying on the ground after you hit him.

I know this -- and so does everyone reading this -- if it were an Arkansas player who'd been flattened like that you'd be upset about the dirty play and dirty celebration.

Oh, and did you read the part where I said no one should pile on? You know, where I wrote that the talk of kicking him off the team, etc, is going too far in my view? No, you didn't. That didn't register with you. Because you have your agenda -- "everyone's out to attack my guy" -- and you pay no attention to anything that doesn't fit your agenda.

John

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