COLLEGE FOOTBALL CRIMINALS : VARIOUS INCIDENTS INVOLVING DIVISION I PLAYERS ON THE RISE.

Byline: Bart Hubbuch and Liz Clarke Dallas Morning News

Once rare, reports of college football players in trouble with the law now roll in with numbing regularity. They became almost as much a part of the landscape last season as pep rallies and polls.

Four arrests at Texas Christian. Seven at Miami. Nine at Clemson. A staggering 18 at Virginia Tech. A fraternity brawl involving 31 players at Rhode Island.

Each day, it seems, brought a new spate of incidents and suspensions for what in many cases is conveniently termed ``violation of team rules,'' never to be discussed publicly unless an arrest report surfaces.

In the past year, more than 70 NCAA Division I athletes, the vast majority football players, at 21 schools in 18 states have been arrested for offenses ranging from drug possession to sexual assault.

Anecdotal evidence indicates crime involving college football players is on the rise - and widely disproportionate to the overall student bodies at the schools involved.

``Is the problem worse now in college football? Yes, it's worse,'' said Florida State's Bobby Bowden, who just completed his 31st season as a Division I-A head coach. ``Unfortunately, it's a sign of the times. It's bad enough to make me think our nation needs a moral awakening.''

``This is happening everywhere,'' said Kansas State coach Bill Snyder. ``So many of them (players) have a background where, when they walk out their front door at home, the only thing they see is a drug dealer or a drive-by killer or people getting shot at.''

At Nebraska, a program rocked by off-field scandal the past two years, an Omaha World-Herald study revealed 13.2 percent of the 129 players on the Cornhuskers' 1995 Orange Bowl roster were arrested for misdemeanor or alcohol-related offenses since entering school. Conversely, only six percent of a random sample of 300 non-football undergraduate male students at the school had been arrested in the same time span for identical offenses.

``In a given period of time, every school's going to be vulnerable to (legal problems),'' said Tennessee athletic director Doug Dickey, whose program has been hard hit by off-field incidents. ``The important thing is that I don't think any of them are related. It's just kids making mistakes.''

What observers can't agree on are the reasons. Theories abound. Among them:

Increased media scrutiny.

Alcohol and drug abuse and the continued availability of steroids.

Leniency on the part of coaches and university officials.

Football's inherent violence.

Dramatic changes in NCAA rules regarding athletic dormitories.

The increase in recruits coming from single-parent or fatherless households.

What's disturbing to many, though, is that crimes involving football players are increasing at a time when entrance requirements have never been higher and scholarship limits have never been stricter. According to the College Football Association, NCAA Division I-A schools had an average of only 54.4 scholarship football players in 1995, compared with 69.4 in 1978.

Even more troublesome is the number of football arrests involving violence against women. Former Nebraska running back Lawrence Phillips is the most publicized case, but nine of the 22 alleged incidents at Miami, Clemson and Virginia Tech involved football players physically or sexually assaulting women.

The NCAA had hoped to stem the tide of criminal incidents in part by overhauling the system of lavish, athletes-only dormitories used by many schools.

The ban on athletic dorms, which took effect in August, defined them as housing occupied by 50 percent or more by athletes. Similarly, dorm wings and floors in which more than half of the occupants are athletes have been disallowed.

But some administrators scoff at changes in the dorm system.

``I don't think it has anything to do with living conditions, no matter what people say,'' Dickey said. ``We've probably had as many guys get in trouble who lived in a dorm as we have guys who didn't. It's more the people you're dealing with.''

Conversely, coaches such as Steve Spurrier of national-champion Florida welcomed the dismantling of the dorms, even though it gives them fewer chances to supervise their players.

``If they're going to get in trouble, it doesn't matter where they live,'' Spurrier said of his players. ``But we like it at Florida that they're spread out amongst the regular students. They can be more of a normal student by living with the other students on campus.''

Observers say, however, that athletes affected by the dorm rule move in greater numbers to off-campus housing. More often than not, they share quarters with teammates, which - without supervision - is a volatile mix. Even the players agree it's an invitation for trouble when the parties involved often are no more than 19 or 20 years old.

Trouble looms particularly when those campuses are in rural or isolated areas. One such school is Clemson, founded as a military academy tucked in the northwest corner of South Carolina. It can be a tough place for an athlete to adapt, said fullback Emory Smith, younger brother of Cowboys star Emmitt Smith.

``Around this area, a lot of people put a big emphasis on football,'' Smith said. ``Anything we do will be put in the paper. It's not right that people do that - put us in the spotlight - but you can't do anything about it.''

Clemson coach Tommy West says his program is under control despite the arrests of nine players since February on charges ranging from aggravated sexual assault to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

In July, a nightclub dancer said she was sexually assaulted by seven Clemson athletes, including five football players. That case was investigated, but no charges have been filed.

West admits his players' actions, which he characterizes as ``poor decisions,'' have embarrassed not only the players but their teammates, families and Clemson. University president Deno Curris sent a letter to trustees and boosters last summer apologizing for the incidents.

Clemson's response has been a five-point plan that includes:

Background checks on potential recruits.

More education for athletes regarding appropriate sexual relations and the legal definition of assault.

Requiring athletes to live in supervised campus housing during the summer, which runs counter to the NCAA's new policy of ``mainstreaming'' college athletes when possible.

West's punishment of the accused generally has been to let the legal system run its course, then deal with each athlete individually.

That resulted in the return of four of those arrested to the roster this past season, including tailback Sam Zanders (charged with marijuana possession in April), starting tailback Raymond Priester (charged in July with billing long-distance phone calls to a retired woman) and linebacker Adrian Dingle and defensive lineman Eric Williams (two of the four accused in February of raping a freshman).

The rape case was dropped when the woman, who has since transferred, decided not to testify the morning the trial was to begin. West suspended all four players in February 1996. By the time the case was dismissed, one had withdrawn from Clemson and another had transferred.

After expressing his disapproval of ``group sex,'' West re-instated Dingle and Williams. Neither was allowed to return to campus housing, and both were ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.

Since succeeding Ken Hatfield in late 1993, West has told his players his No. 1 rule was no drugs. That's why the two players charged with marijuana possession with the intent to distribute were dismissed from the team. They were wide receiver Antwuan Wyatt, the Tigers' best offensive player in 1995, and Anthony Downs, a second-team tailback in whose apartment Clemson police found 36 bags of marijuana.

Another player, charged with simple possession, was allowed to return to the team.

``We've got our standards that we're going to live by,'' West said. ``If that means we'll play with 40 players, we'll play with 40 players.''

West was confronted in September by about 100 student leaders, angry about what they feel is the school's tarnished image. Faculty member Cecil Huey, who represents Clemson to the NCAA, shares the concern but stands by West.

``Football is an opportunity for boys to become men, a way of continuing to grow and learn,'' Huey said. ``If we say you can't play football here any more, that might by the worst thing for them.''

In the past two years, 10 Tennessee football players have been arrested, although charges against two were later dropped. Three of the incidents involved violence against women.

One local sportswriter compiled an ``all-incident'' team. During the 1990s, every position but punter is represented. At running back alone, the charges include forgery, drug possession, sexual assault, theft, driving while intoxicated, assault and domestic abuse.

Knoxville, Tenn., is the second-largest metropolitan area in the Southeastern Conference, but outgoing Tennessee safety Jason Parker says simple boredom is the root cause of many of the school's incidents.

``There's really nothing to do around here,'' Parker said. ``It's a small town, and the smallest thing you do, all eyes are on you. It's tough.''

Players also feel increasingly isolated from the student body, which Parker said often sees them as little more than helmeted mercenaries.

``As soon as you get out of uniform, they don't care about you,'' Parker said. ``And I don't know that it's just Tennessee. I think it's everywhere.''

Parker was among five Tennessee football and basketball players suspended by the school in 1995 for making 17,000 fraudulent phone calls with the access number of an Office of Student Life employee. He was suspended for the summer and fall semesters, returned in the spring of 1996 and was back as a starter at free safety last season.

``Phone calls - that's really petty stuff if you ask me,'' he said. ``I just got caught.''

Many players say they are unprepared emotionally for college life, which is one reason why second-year Miami coach Butch Davis has instituted a ``life-skills'' program.

Beginning last fall, all of Davis' players were required to go through the nine-month program that counsels athletes on drug abuse, anger and stress management, finances and time management.

Davis suspended six players, who ultimately missed a combined 12 games. Four of the six were back in uniform for the Hurricanes' critical Oct. 12 home game against Florida State, a game Miami lost, 34-16.

The sixth player, wide receiver Jammi German, originally was suspended for the season. But he was reinstated for the Hurricanes' 31-21 victory over Virginia in the Carquest Bowl, a game that featured a pre-kickoff brawl instigated by Miami players.

Davis, meanwhile, refused to suspend defensive back Tremain Mack, of Tyler, Texas, after his indictment in Texas last summer for passing a bad check. Mack ended up being suspended by Davis for two games last fall after he was subsequently arrested for driving under the influence. It was his sixth arrest in four years.

He capped his junior season by being named Most Valuable Player in the Carquest Bowl and subsequently declared early for the NFL draft.

Additionally, Davis didn't suspend offensive tackle Ricky Perry after his arrest for aggravated assault with a firearm in November 1995 until the incident was publicized last summer. That was after the 6-7, 300-pound Perry was arrested for allegedly beating a 17-year-old date and burglarizing her home.

Davis explained that he took into account psychologists' opinion that the overriding cause for the incidents was ``misdirected grief'' from the April 13 beating death of linebacker Marlin Barnes.

Barnes, a popular Hurricanes player, and acquaintance Timwanika Lumpiks were found murdered in Barnes' apartment. Five of Miami's six players arrested in the off-season had a direct relationship with Barnes, Davis said. German, suspended for leading a summer assault on a Miami track athlete, was Barnes' roommate.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Anecdotal evidence indicates crime involving college football players is on the rise - and widely disproportionate to the overall student bodies at the schools involved. ``Is the problem worse now in college football? Yes, it's worse,'' said Florida State's Bobby Bowden, right, who just completed his 31st season as a Division I-A head coach. ``Unfortunately, it's a sign of the times. It's bad enough to make me think our nation needs a moral awakening.''

(2) Coaches such as Steve Spurrier of national-champion Florida welcomes the dismantling of the dorms.

Daily News File Photo