Rod Moore, Michigan defensive backs taking Gemon Green, Ja'Den McBurrows injuries hard
Michigan football is working on moving ahead to this weekend’s game at Rutgers, but the Michigan State situation is lingering days after the victory. A pair of Michigan defensive backs – graduate Gemon Green and sophomore Ja’Den McBurrows – were assaulted in the tunnel by a handful of MSU players on Saturday night.
The incident is currently under police investigation. Michigan State suspended four players – cornerback Khary Crump, cornerback Angelo Grose, defensive end Zion Young and Tank Brown – for their roles. More discipline could be on the way.
Green, who’s family is seeking to press charges, suffered a concussion and cuts to his face after having a helmet swung at him repeatedly. McBurrows is dealing with facial injuries, believed to be a broken nose among other things.
Michigan defensive back Rod Moore, who is a close friend of McBurrows, found out with the rest of the world what happened on Saturday night. It still had not sunken in as of earlier this week.
“I found out probably after everyone got in the locker room,” Moore, who had an interception in the win, said. “I just saw everybody getting mad about it. I’m like, ‘What happened?’ And I figured it out. It was just like, it’s uncalled for. It was a football game. There’s no reason for the team to do something like that, especially just to two people and not have the whole team behind them. That’s how I feel.
“I’ve seen the first video and I’m really close with Ja’Den. To see that video of him, I couldn’t keep watching it, because I like defending my brothers and stuff. I couldn’t be up there to defend him. And especially Gemon, all of us being from the same room. It was just like, we couldn’t defend him, it made everybody upset.
Michigan vs. Michigan State rivalry takes on darker tone
MSU’s rivalry with Michigan has always been heated, but Moore has been caught off guard by the extracurriculars. The Ohio native grew up thinking U-M/OSU was bad.
The in-state game has only gotten uglier.
“I thought that Ohio State and Michigan was more so chippy,” Moore said. “But you can see the in-state rivalry is more of a personal thing than it is just football.”
Michigan players are still recovering from the weekend as it prepares for its game vs. Rutgers. The message from the players who have spoken since has been similar.
“You don’t like seeing those types of things,” junior running back Blake Corum said. “There has never been a fight in the tunnel. Obviously, teams have talked multiple times. We’ve been down. We’ve lost. Teams talk. There’s never ended up being a fight.
“It’s okay to talk trash and do that, but when you start doing other things, then it’s like, ‘Come on. Are we really doing this?’ I know as a man, I wouldn’t have felt good ganging up on a couple players. That’s not how I roll. But to each his own.”
