A New Jersey football player whose team is embroiled in a hazing controversy no longer has the opportunity to attend Penn State on a football scholarship.
Penn State pulled its offer to Sayreville War Memorial High School running back and defensive back Myles Hartsfield, according to various reports on college football recruiting sites including Rivals.com and 24/7 Sports.
Hartsfield, a three-star ranked athlete on Rivals.com, had verbally committed to play defensive back for the Nittany Lions, according to NJ.com.
The Nittany Lions’ athletic department would not confirm reports that Hartsfield won’t be going to Penn State.
“It would not be appropriate for Penn State to comment on this matter,” said football team spokesman and assistant athletic director Jeff Nelson.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called the allegations of hazing by Hartsfield’s Central New Jersey high school team, “extraordinarily disturbing.”
Seven members of the Sayreville “Bombers” were suspended and face sex-crime charges stemming from alleged hazing. Students at the school told investigators that during a series of hazing rituals between September 19 and September 29, at least one of the suspects held them against their will while other suspects improperly touched them in a sexual manner. One of the victims also told police he was kicked during an attack.
None of the seven accused players were identified since they are minors.
It wasn’t clear if the 5-foot-10-inch, 180-pound Hartsfield, a senior-team captain, is one of the teens facing charges.
Sayreville Superintendent Richard Labbe canceled the rest of the school's football season last week over the allegations.
Labbe has said he is weighing the future of the football program, which has won three sectional titles in four years and is the pride of Sayreville, a community of about 40,000 people 25 miles southwest of New York City.
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"I will say clearly: Whether we have a football program moving forward is certainly a question in my mind," he told NJ.com. "Based upon the severity of the charges, I'm not sure."
Three of the students were charged with aggravated sexual assault, hazing and other crimes stemming from an act of sexual penetration against a team member. The four other students were charged with aggravated criminal sexual contact and other offenses.
NBC10 reached out to Sayreville Athletic Director John Kohutanycz about Hartsfield’s future and the future of other members of the football team but have yet to receive any comment.
With Penn State off the table, Hartsfield could still land at a variety of Division 1 college football programs including Temple, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Georgia Tech, according to Rivals.com.
