Just posted an update on Victor Hampton’s situation to gogamecocks.
The USC signee, who was arrested for underage drinking Friday after taking brandy to Darlington High, likely faces re-assignment to Darlington’s alternative school as a result of his arrest.
He’ll have a disciplinary hearing in the next week or two.
If he gets shipped to the Darlington County Intervention School, he can still get his diploma from Darlington High, which is critical in staying on track to be eligible.
But Hampton has other hurdles to clear: He has yet to make the necessary test score to qualify.
The legal ramifications seem pretty clear cut: The 17-year-old Hampton has a bench trial set for Wednesday in Darlington city court. He could request a jury trial, which would push things back.
Or he could plead guilty, pay a fine, surrender his license and have the matter resolved.
Steve Spurrier has yet to comment on Hampton’s situation, and likely won’t this week. USC media relations director Steve Fink said Spurrier is out of the office.
Given his history, Spurrier would likely say USC planned to wait for the legal process to play out before making any decisions.
Taken alone, the underage drinking charge would not be a deal-breaker. Yes, Hampton exercised extremely poor judgment – as he admitted in a statement released last week through his mentor/attorney – in taking liquor to school. But it is not anything too egregious.
The issue for Hampton is what appears to be a pattern of behavior. The defensive back attended three schools before enrolling at Darlington last fall – and left all of them under shaky circumstances.
Hampton has one prior arrest – a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge from 2008 he says was dropped. He says most of his problems at his other schools involved fights or a general attitude problem with respect to coaches.
He had been doing well in Darlington before Friday’s incident, according to coaches and administrators at the school. Cheveron Scott, the Darlington lawyer with whom Hampton lives, encouraged Hampton to smile more often after he moved from Charlotte last summer.
Talking to folks at USC, it seems the school will stick with Hampton, assuming he makes his test score and keeps his nose clean the rest of the school year.