Incoming freshman linebacker Braden Jones suffered two severe bruises to the right side of his brain and cuts around his right eye after being assaulted early Saturday morning by a Vanderbilt football player outside a fraternity house on the Vanderbilt campus in Nashville, Tenn., police said.
Following the attack, in which Jones said he was punched three times in the head after falling unconscious, friends placed an emergency call at 4:28 a.m. Saturday to request an ambulance. Medical staff arrived shortly thereafter, transporting Jones to the emergency room at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Doctors treated him in the intensive care unit, and released Jones from the hospital Monday morning. Vanderbilt neurosurgeons informed Jones that he would be unable to compete during his freshman season, recommending that he refrain from physical contact for four to six months, Jones said.
Doug Wolford, a sophomore reserve linebacker for the Commodores, was charged with felony aggravated assault by Nashville’s Metro Police Department on Monday. He posted $3,500 bail later that night, and was released pending an August 22 settlement docket. The 6-foot-3, 241-pound Wolford is a cousin of longtime NFL offensive lineman Will Wolford.
Jones, who is 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, said he and a female friend from his hometown of Harrisburg, Ill., were in Nashville visiting his brother Loren, a student at Vanderbilt. Jones recalled that he and a group of his brother’s friends encountered two Vanderbilt football players, including Wolford, after midnight in a Wendy’s parking lot. Jones said he and other members of his group made sarcastic remarks about the Vanderbilt football team’s poor record, but he said the meeting was not violent.
Speaking on behalf of Wolford, Nashville lawyer Bryan Lewis disputed nearly every aspect of Jones’ story as told to The Summer Northwestern and reported by The Tennessean. The trouble, according to Jones, began a couple hours later at his brother’s fraternity, Alpha Omicron Pi.
“The guys we met at Wendy’s apparently went back to get some friends because four guys showed up at my brother’s fraternity,” Jones said. “I’m not sure why they singled me out. I wasn’t bigger than everyone else in the group. Maybe they were aware that I was a Northwestern football player, but they came back with something to prove.
“The last thing I remember was one guy pushing me, and me pushing back,” Jones continued. “His second push made me trip over a curb, and I was trying to get up when he slammed my head on the ground. The next thing I remember was lying on the curb with my neighbor from home cradling me and asking whether or not I could remember my name.”
Jones also said alcohol had been part of the evening, but denied it was a factor.
“We had something to drink, but I don’t think anyone was intoxicated,” he said.
Lewis claimed that his client has been severely misrepresented, and that there are two sides to every story.
“After talking with several witnesses, I have a very different opinion of what happened,” Lewis said. “I believe Mr. Jones was just as involved, or even more involved, than Mr. Wolford in this fight.”
Lewis said witnesses told him Jones berated his client in the Wendy’s parking lot upon learning Wolford played for the Vanderbilt squad that finished 3-8 last season. Lewis also argued that it was Jones and his friends who approached Wolford later that morning, and that Jones initiated the physical altercation.
Vanderbilt head football coach Woody Widenhofer issued a statement Tuesday through the Commodores’ athletic media relations department.
“Not only will Doug need to deal with the Metropolitan legal system and Vanderbilt’s judicial affairs office,” the statement said, “but he also must deal with our football team and with me. The matter will be handled appropriately.”
Jones’ father, Larry, a family physician in Harrisburg, said his son is currently suffering a great deal of pain, but also said they expect Braden to make a slow yet complete recovery. Larry Jones said that NU head football coach Randy Walker and linebackers coach Jay Peterson both contacted his family, wishing Braden a swift recuperation and reassuring him that he still has a place on the team.
Jones also said Walker wants Braden to come to Evanston within the next two weeks to be evaluated by a team neurosurgeon. Braden was due to undergo another CAT scan on Wednesday to search for further brain damage.
