EUGENE -- Wide receiver Jamere Holland has been dismissed from the University of Oregon football team, Coach Chip
Kelly announced Sunday.
Kelly said the dismissal was for a violation of team rules. In the two-paragraph announcement, he did not specify what Holland had done wrong.
Holland's Facebook page, for now readily available for anyone with a Facebook account, has a posting from late Saturday night that makes reference to the DUII citation given early Saturday morning by Eugene police to linebacker Kiko Alonso. He was the sixth player in the last month to fall into criminal issues.
Holland writes that Alonso has been dismissed from the team. The UO athletic department has made no such announcement, a spokesman Dave Williford said Sunday.
Holland suggests that the reasons for a dismissal were "weak, weak (expletives) quote me." In the same post, he wrote "(Alonso) slipped up but ive been slippn up, and I'm still here . . . "
Late Sunday morning, Holland had a post that toys with idea of writing something to "(expletive) with the reader's heads, I wish I could block whites as friends and only have blacks LOL, cause apparently I'm misunderstood."
Williford declined to say whether the Facebook postings played any role in Holland's dismissal. He said “violating team rules” could be anything from not meeting academic or athletic standards to embarrassing the university.
According to the athletic department website, Holland was a transfer from USC and was the fastest player on the Duck squad with a 4.51 second 40 yard dash.
The press guide says:
First displayed potential against Purdue that excited coaches during spring drills, catching four passes for 71 yards against the Boilermakers . . . Speed allowed him to turn quick out pattern into 40-yard gain in home opener . . . Turned in probably his most satisfying performance against his former teammates, with his 17-yard scoring catch among his three receptions for 33 yards against USC . . . Has exhibited signs of consistency as of late, following up effort against the Trojans with a 40-yard scoring catch at Stanford to go along with two carries for another 38 yards . . . Has caught passes in each of his last four games since his breakout against USC . . . Team's fifth-leading receiver has caught 13 passes for 199 yards and two scores.
Last Friday, Kelly held a press conference to deal with a perception that his program was rife with players enmeshed in legal troubles.
"If a player doesn’t live up to the standards we have for the football program, then they’re not going to be here,'' Kelly said then. "But I’m also not going to follow our kids around every Friday or Saturday night so I can see what happened to them.''
“I will tell everybody here that the rules of our football team is that you have to be honest, you have to tell the truth," he said, "because if I can't trust you, you can't play here.”
Kelly said he would "deal with individual situations and the punishment will fit the crime."
In concert with Kelly's conference, University of Oregon president Richard Lariviere issued the following statement:
"The University of Oregon has clear expectations of how its student athletes are to behave both on and off the field of play. Lately, several of our athletes have fallen far short of these standards. This is simply unacceptable.
The University of Oregon does not tolerate inappropriate conduct from any of its students. I know athletics director Mike Bellotti and head coach Chip Kelly share my concern about recent events involving UO players and are working hard to address these incidents. I have every confidence that they will restore the UO athletic program’s long and proud tradition of sportsmanship and integrity. Our loyal fans and alumni expect no less and neither do I."
