Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Temple's Praise Martin-Oguike given extra year of eligibility



Praise Martin-Oguike will be a redshirt junior in 2015 after he was given an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA.


Martin-Oguike, a key contributor for Temple's defensive line in 2014, missed both the 2012 and 2013 seasons. In 2014, he had 37 tackles and 7.5 sacks.


"I said throughout this process that I just want to get back to the life I had before," Martin-Oguike said in a Temple statement. "There was a path that I was on, to play four years of college football and get my college degree, then hopefully, have an opportunity to play at the next level. I'm working towards that goal and I'm very thankful that I'm back on that path."

He missed those two seasons because of rape allegations. In 2012, he was accused of sexual assault in his dorm room and expelled from Temple. As the case moved on, prosecutors in 2013 withdrew the charges of forcible rape, false imprisonment and other offenses because of a lack of evidence. Martin-Oguike's attorney had said the relationship with the woman was consensual.


His attorney also said that one of the reasons the charges were withdrawn was inconsistency in the woman's text messages. Martin-Oguike had allegedly texted the woman about the incident and the attorney had said she wasn't truthful about the incident in texting others.


Martin-Oguike was reinstated to Temple in January 2014.


"I can't imagine what Praise and his family were put through from the time those accusations were made," Temple coach Matt Rhule said. "Hopefully he - and the rest of our players for that matter - learn from that experience how close they are to having the privilege of playing college athletics taken away. Fortunately, in this instance, Praise has been able to restore his life and his reputation. He has done everything we've asked of him since returning to the team."


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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!



From Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo Sports - Temple's Praise Martin-Oguike given extra year of eligibility


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