Patterson Defends TCU Players

TCU coach Gary Patterson came to the defense of two Horned Frogs players facing robbery charges.

Senior defensive end Mike Tuaua and freshman backup wide receiver Andre Petties-Wilson were arrested Monday and charged with one count of robbery with bodily injury stemming from a Sept. 4 incident.

Both players were suspended from the team and have missed the past two games after third-ranked TCU’s season-opening win at Minnesota.

“Outside in our community and with kids, (Tuaua) is the most liked kid we have on team besides (quarterback) Trevone Boykin,” Patterson said. “The facts will be fact, and those facts will someday come out.”

A Fort Worth police report indicated that the two players were arrested after another TCU student alleged that Tuaua and Petties-Wilson stole beer from his friends and then attacked them. Tuaua told police that there was pushing and shoving and he punched a man to get him off his teammate, adding that he didn’t know what happened to the beer.

Both players were released Monday from jail after posting $15,000 bail. Tuaua started five games last year and was expected to play a key role on defense this season.

“I’m just telling you as far as just a person, I’m not going to let you say, well, this kid is a bad person,” Patterson said. “If he made a mistake, he made a mistake.”

Patterson went on to say the TCU case paled in comparison to the sexual assault complaints that defensive end Sam Ukwuachu faced this summer at Big 12 rival Baylor.

“It’s not even close to what happened south of here,” Patterson said.

TCU plays at Texas Tech this weekend in a Big 12 game.