Missouri RB Derrick Washington ‘Permanently Suspended’ From Football Team

The University of Missouri announced on Wednesday that starting running back Derrick Washington has been “permanently suspended” from the program. The school added that “this decision will affect his existing athletic scholarship as long as he remains enrolled at Mizzou.”

Washington was formally charged with sexual assault on Monday and was suspended from team activities last week.

The charge stems from allegations filed by a former tutor that Washington assaulted her on June 19th of this year. A protective order was filed on the June 22, but both parties missed a court date the following month and caused the charges to be dismissed. The Prosecutor’s Office picked up the case, however, and pursued the charges against the senior running back.

Now that we’ve tiptoed around the legalities of the case: what is clear for Washington is that this is very bad news for Mizzou’s offense, a pass-first attack that had used Washington as a powerful counterbalance against defenses looking to stop the Tigers’ aerial game. Replacing him will not be easy, and given how long these cases take to resolve his absence could be a long one indeed.