Eight North Dakota State University football players, including four starters, will remain on the roster while criminal charges against them for forging signatures on ballot initiative petitions are resolved, their coach said Tuesday.
The players were paid $9 an hour to gather signatures for two citizen initiatives, which sought to set up a state conservation fund and make marijuana legal for medical treatments. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said many of the petition signatures were copied from phone books or fabricated.
North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger said the alleged fraud made both initiatives ineligible for a statewide vote in November.
Stenehjem said 11 people have been charged in the case, including the eight players for the defending Football Championship Subdivision champions.
Four are starters -- running back Samuel Ojuri, defensive backs Marcus Williams and Brendin Pierre, and offensive lineman Josh Colville. Backup defensive backs Bryan Shepherd and Aireal Boyd, reserve middle linebacker Antonio Rodgers and Demitrius Gray, a freshman wide receiver, also face charges. Gray is a redshirt and does not travel with the team.
Williams is a junior cornerback who played at Hopkins High School and earned All-America honors for the Bison last year. Colville is a redshirt freshman who played at Minnetonka.
Bison coach Craig Bohl said the players have cooperated with investigators and any team discipline will be decided after they finish legal proceedings. The players will be eligible to play this weekend against Colorado State, he said.
Mathieu back at LSU Tyrann Mathieu, a 2011 Heisman Trophy finalist, has enrolled at LSU. Whether the player known as the Honey Badger ever plays football for the Tigers again remains to be seen.
