Someone Jacked Patrick Peterson's Watch?

quote:

---

Express players didn't meet any coaches at LSU, but just as they did at FSU, they watched players take part in voluntary workouts. Then they boarded the bus and got comfortable for the long drive to Oxford, Miss. About 45 minutes into the drive, Goetz received a disturbing call from Peterson, the LSU cornerback, and another from LSU assistant coach Billy Gonzales. Someone from the Express had stolen Peterson's watch from the LSU locker room. A security camera had captured the theft. LSU coaches didn't know the culprit's identity, but they would soon enough by matching Express players' photos with the surveillance video. Goetz and his fellow coaches fumed. Goetz grabbed a microphone and blasted the players. He told the culprit to send him a text. He wouldn't reveal the player's identity to his teammates, but he would get the watch back. For the next few hours, coaches priced flights and bus tickets and debated whether to ship the offending player home. On the road to Oxford, Goetz received a text from the thief. That night, he collected the watch to send back to Peterson. After a mostly sleepless night, Goetz decided not to send the player home. Had an SI.com reporter not been in the traveling party, Goetz admitted, he probably would have jettisoned the player. But since doing so would have made the thief so easy to identify, Goetz held back. He wanted the player to learn his lesson, but he didn't want to see him blackballed entirely. That, Goetz admitted, might happen anyway. In the insular college football coaching community, coaches talk.

---