It's never good to be in the headlines this time of year.
Pitt offensive lineman Alex Bookser was arrested Sunday morning and charged with eight vehicular charges, including misdemeanor driving under the influence, after he was accused of crashing his SUV into two parked vehicles on campus, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The newspaper indicated Bookser was also charged with accidents involving damages to attended and unattended vehicles, failure to obey stop signs, driving at an unsafe speed, careless and reckless driving and operating a vehicle without an official certificate. He is scheduled to appear in Pittsburgh Magisterial District Court for a preliminary hearing on June 26.
Not good news.
Bookser, of course, is a key figure on Pitt's offense. With the Panthers' offensive line in a partial rebuild with the loss of two starters that were just drafted to the NFL, that unit isn't expected to be as strong as it was last year. Not a train wreck, mind you - just a little weaker.
Bookser is one of the reasons for some optimism on the line because he is a returning starter and played quite a bit two years ago. An experienced player, Bookser adds quite a bit to the line.
I don't want to get into the silly discussion of ranking DUIs/reported DUIs. I know there's going to be a lot of comparisons made to what Tyler Boyd did just prior to his senior season but driving under the influence is a bad situation no matter where you are. Even if it's not a populated area, you run the risk of hurting yourself.
All that being said, this seems like it could have been very, very bad. Hitting cars? Police officers drawing firearms? Yikes. Driving under the influence in Oakland is just a bad deal. Congested streets, one-way streets, and not to mention drunk students milling around all hours of the night. That no one was hurt as seems to be the case is obviously great news.
All eyes will be on Pat Narduzzi for this regarding a suspension. Boyd, you might remember, got a game. But he also had three fewer charges than what Bookser seems up against and Bookser is reported to have hit cars, hit a building, and there's some video of the incident.
The elephant in the room will be if Bookser plays against Penn State in the team's second game of the year. Missing the Panthers' game against Youngstown State wouldn't be as big of a deal. But if he's not there in Happy Valley, that would make winning an already difficult game even tougher.
Regarding that suspension, too, I'm not sure we can expect to hear a decision soon. While Narduzzi can act swiftly if he so chooses, he also didn't announce Boyd's suspension until about two months after the charges were reported - and that was in part because the season was closer to kickoff.
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