SI.com
Published: September 9, 2011
By: Jeff Benedict & Armen Keteyian

Despite the absence of starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson, LSU defeated Oregon 40-27 in its opener in Dallas last Saturday. But a criminal investigation in Baton Rouge may determine whether LSU will be able to maintain its No. 2 ranking. After an off-campus brawl at a bar appropriately named "Shady's" on Aug. 19 that left one man with three fractured vertebrae, Jefferson and teammate Joshua Johns were charged with second-degree felony battery and suspended indefinitely (both have pleaded non-guilty).

"The punishment he'll get from the legal system is nothing compared to punishment suffered as a result of his suspension," said Jefferson's lawyer, Lewis Unglesby, who added that he was confident his client would be exonerated.

SI.com
Published: May 9, 2011
By: Jeff Benedict

SportsIllustrated
Published: March 2, 2011
By: Jeff Benedict

On Sept. 22, 2010, police responded to a 911 call reporting that a man was choking a woman outside a dorm at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. When officers arrived, they found Chatham student Donna Turner bent over on a porch, crying and vomiting. She identified her attacker as Jeffrey Knox, a freshman defensive back at the University of Pittsburgh.

On March 31, 2010, 16-year-old Viliseni Fauonuku, his cousin Sam Langi and five other young men were in the garage of a house in West Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake City. A man who rented the house called the garage a "smoke shop"; where he and his friends went to smoke cigarettes during Utah's frigid winter months. It was also a known hangout where local kids came and went.

Two of those present were, like Fauonuku, still in high school, and none was over 20 years old. Only one of the five young men knew Fauonuku, though others knew of him: He was a star defensive lineman on nearby Bingham High's football team. He had unmistakable long, black hair and a powerful physique—290 pounds on a 6-foot frame—that had gotten the attention of college recruiters.