Police are investigating an incident between Idaho State University head football coach Mike Kramer and ISU wide receiver Derek Graves.
The incident took place during practice at Holt Arena on Oct. 3.
A video of the incident obtained by ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” shows Kramer running across the practice field before appearing to shove Graves to the ground.
Several ISU players, according to anonymous sources, have said they believe Graves oversold the push and flopped.
Graves told “Outside The Lines” that Kramer was upset when there was a change in defenders in an one-on-one drill.
According to Graves, he was originally facing off against a freshman cornerback. Sources said the freshman cornerback was Richard Blackmon III. Allegedly Graves’ position coach Anthony Tucker said to him “Hey, lets get an older guy out there.”
Graves then signaled for a veteran cornerback to participate in the drill. Kramer ran across the field and allegedly said, “He’s a varsity f—— player” before pushing Graves to the ground.
According to Graves, Kramer did apologize to him after practice. Pocatello City Attorney Dean Tramner said Kramer then apologized to the team the next day and told them it would never happen again.
Since every practice is video taped for coaching purposes, Graves was able to record the incident with his smart phone off of a monitor used by the university before the practice film was erased on Friday.
Tramner said he would like to see if the original footage can be retrieved.
“It would be nice to see what transpired up to the time of the alleged shoving incident,” Tramner said.
After receiving the complaint, city police began the investigation and notified the university. ISU has hired former FBI agent Pete Welch to investigate the incident.
When our paper went to press, a citation had yet to be filed. According to Tramner, under Idaho statue the legal standard for simple battery states there needs to be a deliberate attempt to cause harm by Kramer or the action had to cause injury.
Since the incident, Graves said he has suffered from neck spasms. Graves did return to practice the next day but has not played in a game since.
He said he wants to return to the team as soon as the ISU medical staff clears him to play.
Mark N. Levine, Idaho State University Director of Marketing & Communications issued ISU’s official statement regarding the matter.
“Upon learning of the incident, Idaho State University immediately launched an investigation into the matter involving Derek Graves and coach Mike Kramer. We are still in the midst of conducting a thorough investigation.
Idaho State University takes this matter very seriously and owes it to all parties involved and our constituents to thoroughly investigate the situation in a fair and balanced manner.
Because this is also a personnel matter and is still an active investigation, the University can offer no further comment.”
Idaho State University Athletic Director Jeff Tingey declined to comment on the incident.
“University personnel do not comment on these issues,” Tingey said. “As a whole we don’t comment on personnel issues. There’s an ongoing investigation and we can’t comment.”
Idaho State Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Steve Schaak wouldn’t provide any further details other than Graves had not been available for the last three games.
The “Idaho State Journal” asked if Kramer would be commenting on the incident and Tingey said, “I can’t speak for Coach Kramer.”
Kramer has acknowledged the incident, referring to it as a 600-pound gorilla, but has not elaborated on it. ISU officials said any decision on disciplinary action against Kramer would have to wait until the police investigation is complete.
