Mack Brown addresses three North Carolina players facing charges in fatal crash

North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown addressed the three football players who are now facing charges following a fatal crash.

Sophomore offensive lineman Zach Rice, junior defensive lineman Travis Shaw, and sophomore defensive lineman Malaki Hamrick are all facing charges stemming from a fatal car crash in January. Now, Mack Brown says that the three players are still with the team and will face internal discipline.

“We had three guys that got misdemeanors that are going through the legal process right now,” Brown said. “It’s the first time something’s come up like that. We can’t investigate it. We’ve always done that. We’ve stayed out of it. It’s not our place. We’ll let the legal process take its course and then what we will do is, obviously, they’ll have consequences with disciplinary action within our program, but they will be involved with spring practice.”

Molly Elizabeth Rotunda, a 20-year-old North Carolina student, died in a car accident in January. According to documents, Rotunda was the passenger in a car whose driver is also facing multiple charges and the car was traveling 124 mph in a 45 mph zone. None of the North Carolina players were in the car that crashed.

Racing is suspected in the case. As of now, at least 10 people are facing charges relating to the case. All three football players were charged with misdemeanors relating to alcohol consumption under the age of 21. Rice was also charged for driving in a car that was following the one that crashed.

“We’re disappointed anytime any of our guys get mentioned in something that’s against the law, with a misdemeanor,” Brown said. “But, we’ve had the best record in the country of anybody. I’m really, really proud of those guys and disappointed in the three that are being in question, but that will work itself out.”

Shaw has played 24 games for North Carolina, recording 29 career tackles. Rice has primarily been a special teams player for North Carolina. Meanwhile, Hamrick showed promise during his freshman season with the program.

For now, Mack Brown has chosen to remain vague about the future of those football players.

“Yeah, you have to be very careful because in my 36 years as a head coach, I learned that I’m not supposed to be the investigator because then it can be tampering, and legal issues are very serious. So, I never get into details with the kids. I get into nothing ever happens good after midnight. You shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do that. And I don’t ask them, ‘What you did.’ That’s for the investigators to ask,” Brown said.

“And then you move forward and I try to treat them in all cases like I would treat my sons. We have to be careful that in modern-day media, especially with Twitter, we can move too fast. And we can try a case before people are guilty. And I think that’s awful…because we’re all waiting to see, and if they didn’t do anything wrong, then that’s why we have a legal system to determine that. Not me and not you, really.”

Mack Brown went on to compare those players to a son of his, who he pointed out has had his own legal issues. Because of that, Brown insisted that he wants these players treated the way parents would want their own children treated.

“We’ve got to remember that these are all human beings. Lot of rumors out there that probably aren’t true that people are saying. That’s very unfortunate. I wish everybody would treat these guys like they’d want their sons treated.”

The North Carolina Spring Game is scheduled for April 20th after practice started on March 19th.