Ault won't punish players involved in June 18th fracas

Nevada Wolf Pack coach Chris Ault said Wednesday that no football players will be suspended in connection to the downtown Reno bar fight in June that resulted in a shooting that seriously injured wide receiver Brandon Wimberly.

"No laws were broken by our players," Ault said. "There is nothing to suspend them for."

The Reno police department, Ault said, is continuing its investigation into the shooting.

"As far as our players are concerned, the matter is closed," Ault said. "I told the police, if one of our guys committed even so much as a misdemeanor, tell me. But they did not break any laws. They did not break any team rules."

Ault said four Pack players were directly involved in a physical and verbal altercation with another group of men at the Freight House District restaurant in downtown Reno near Reno Aces Ballpark in the early morning hours of June 18. Another two Wolf Pack football players, Ault said, were also present at the restaurant and witnessed the altercation.

The confrontation continued outside the restaurant where Wimberly was shot in the abdomen.

"We had a talk with all of the players involved and our whole team," Ault said. "It's like I told them, 'Nothing good happens after midnight.' Those are situations they should know to avoid. No question. I am very disappointed in them for that. They know that.

"But as far as suspensions, no. I'm not going to have a curfew on my players in the summertime."

Ault, though, said that if the incident had happened during the regular season, suspensions would have been handed out. If nothing else, Ault said, the players would have broken team curfew rules during the season. Wimberly, according to police reports, was shot at 2:30 a.m.

"Without a doubt," Ault said. "Everyone involved would have been suspended. But that's a whole different deal. There were no team rules broken in this incident."

Ault said that he does not have curfew rules in the summer although some players are enrolled in summer school and taking part in summer team workouts at the university.

"I don't believe in that," Ault said. "I never have. How can you police that? You can't. I don't prevent my players from going to parties. I never have. There comes a point where you have to treat your players like men and trust they will do the right thing. And when they don't, then you step in.

"Believe me, the players involved in this know that if they are ever involved in something like this again then they are immediately off the team for good."

Wimberly, a junior this season, suffered damage to his intestines and colon and was in intensive care.

"When this first happened I thought we were all going to have to go to a funeral," Ault said. "That's how serious this was. That's how lucky (Wimberly) was."

Ault, though, said that Wimberly has recovered from his injuries and has enrolled in summer school at Nevada.

"He's going to graduate in December," Ault said.

Ault said that Wimberly will not play this season. The wide receiver, though, will have at least one more year of eligibility remaining after this season.

That doesn't mean, however, that Wimberly won't contribute to the 2011 Wolf Pack, Ault said.

"He owes this football team because of what he did," Ault said. "He knows that. He accepts that. He's going to be a source of inspiration for our entire team this season. He's going to be around this football team at practice and at games. We're going to use this as motivation for our football team to show them how lucky they are to be given the opportunity to play college football."

The 22-year-old Wimberly, from Gardena, Calif., originally signed a Letter of Intent with Oregon State during his senior year of high school in 2007. After spending the 2007 season as a grayshirt student at Oregon State, Wimberly transferred to Nevada in the spring of 2008 and red-shirted during the 2008 season.

He came to Nevada from Oregon State with assistant coach Nigel Burton. Burton, now the head coach at Portland State, was the Oregon State cornerbacks coach from 2003-07 and came to Nevada in 2008 as defensive coordinator and left the Pack after the 2009 season.

Wimberly made an immediate impact at Nevada, becoming the Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2009 after catching 53 passes for 733 yards and six touchdowns.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Wimberly was named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list in 2010. He went on to catch 41 passes for 482 yards and no touchdowns for the 13-1 Wolf Pack in 2010.