Behind The Snowballs: How Delone Carter Got Here

Delone Carter was arraigned today in court on a misdemeanor assault charge related to SnowballGate '10.  So what does that mean?

Is Delone Carter in jail?

No, he was released on his own recognizance which is a fancy way of saying he was released.

Is Delone Carter an active member of the football team?

No.  In fact, Syracuse not only suspended him from the football team but also banned him from stepping foot on campus until the matter is resolved. Yikes.

Is Delone Carter fighting this at all?

Sounds like he's deciding whether or not to challenge the suspension and banning but something tells me its not worth the hassle it will create.

Did William Hotaling officially identify Delone as the puncher?

No he did not.  In fact, Hotaling told police he didn't know who punched him.  He was shown six photographs of the possible assailants (which we assume included one of Delone) and he could not identify him then either.

So how the hell did Delone get arrested?

Apparently, the police did some good cop/bad cop with Ryan Gillum when they brought him in with Delone because Gillum flipped on him!

Gillum, who was released without being charged, gave police a statement Wednesday identifying Carter as the person who threw the punch. He also told police two other former football players, Donte Davis and Daniel Bailey, were with him and Carter the morning of the incident.

"The two guys were laughing about it and they both denied it and that’s when Delone punched the kid," Gillum said. "He only punched him once but the kid went down hard. I didn’t know Delone was gonna punch the kid."

Ouch, dude.

Is that all the police have to go on?

Well there's also a report from Public Safety about the incident in which Gillum told officials that Carter threw the punch. So...guess the cat was out of the bag (and if that's the case, then it makes the fact that Gillum was handcuffed when being taken in that much more confusing).

Yeah so why did they handcuff the players?

According to detectives, they were afraid the players would flee while getting changed in the locker rooms.  Really?  I don't know if I believe that, but, alright.

Well, at least everyone has been honest and forthcoming this entire time, right?

Rood indicated Gillum had originally claimed he loaned his vehicle to Carter on the night of the incident and that Carter claimed he had loaned the vehicle to someone else.

Oh dear.

So is Ryan Gillum better off not even walking back into that locker room no matter what happens?

Probably.  I mean, right or wrong, he sold Delone out.  Regardless of how you feel (and what you would have done), do you think a room full of football teammates are going to take too kindly to that?  Guess it depends on whether or not the team feels like Delone was in the wrong.  Either way though, like Carmelo taught us, there is a code.

Are they both suspended indefinitely?

According to Doug Marrone, not yet. Just the spring.

"I just want everyone to know that I’ve been consistent in the past of not divulging anything for the team violations," Marrone said. "They’ve just been suspended for that. As of right now, they have just been suspended for the spring."

However as things begin to add up, it becomes harder and harder to think Carter will play for SU again.  Let's see how it all unfolds. According to the D.O., "more to come on Delone Carter's arraignment today. Lots of interesting components to this case."  Great...