The Miami Hurricanes suspended redshirt freshman safety Avantae Williams on Thursday after he was arrested and charged with aggravated battery on a pregnant victim.
Williams, a consensus four-star recruit from DeLand, Fla., was ranked as the nation’s No. 1 safety by Rivals and ESPN in the Class of 2020. He sat out last season due to an unspecified medical issue.
According to public records, Williams, 20, was arrested by the Miami-Dade Police Department on Wednesday and jailed on a $10,000 bond.
Williams was arrested after an argument with his child’s mother, who is also pregnant with his baby, according to a police report obtained by the Miami Herald.
The couple had broken up and Williams allegedly told the woman to move out of their residence. “When I return from practice you need to be gone,” he told her, per the report. When he returned and she was still packing, he allegedly grabbed her by the hair and threw her onto a bed. Police said he grabbed her by the hair a second time and threw her outside the home, causing her to strike her head on the ground.
A neighbor called 911 and Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue transported the woman to West Kendall Hospital, where she reportedly had “multiple bruises to her arms,” a bruise on her neck and two broken fingernails.
“He was immediately suspended from all team activities,” said Camron Ghorbi, Miami’s assistant athletic director for communications.
The Hurricanes, coming off an 8-3 season in 2020, open the 2021 campaign against defending national champion Alabama on Sept. 4 in Atlanta.
–Field Level Media