Nigel Bethel, II, Reinstated to Texas Tech Football Team

Texas Tech has announced that it will re-instate Nigel Bethel, II, to the football team. Bethel will serve a three game suspension, equivalent to 25% of the season to match the suspension Battle will serve. He will serve the suspension in the year he will first play for Tech. Essentially saying that he will not serve the suspension during a redshirt year.

From the official Texas Tech release

Freshman defensive back Nigel Bethel has been reinstated to the Texas Tech Football program after being initially dismissed from the team for his role in an incident at the Texas Tech Student Recreation Center on June 28.

"This is an unfortunate situation with a unique set of circumstances and there are no winners," said Kirby Hocutt, Director of Athletics. "Every decision related to this case has been the right one at that particular time based upon our principles, student-athlete code of conduct and team rules. As I continued to work with Coach Kingsbury and Coach Whitaker, we looked at the totality of the situation and have arrived at this decision. Two talented young people made a mistake, have shown remorse and learned some very valuable life lessons."

The stipulations of his reinstatement call for him to miss 25 percent (three games) of his first season.

And here are the statements from the individual players, Bethel first, then Battle:

"I am thankful for the opportunity to come back to Texas Tech," said Bethel. "I take full responsibility for my actions and I would like to let everyone know that this won't happen again. It's not who I am and I am sorry for the embarrassment this has caused. I want to thank Amber Battle for accepting my apology and for coming forward to say that I deserved a second chance. I would like to thank everyone at Texas Tech, including the coaches, for believing in me and giving me a second chance to show my ability and to receive an education from Texas Tech."

"I'm relieved that Nigel is receiving a second chance because I believe in second chances," said Battle. "We were both at fault in this situation and I believe our punishment should be equal. This is a good opportunity for us to learn from our mistakes and I think we both have. Hopefully now we can move forward and focus on helping our teams compete at the highest level."

Interesting question was raised during the press conference that neither teams will institute any new rules regarding fraternization among their players and other students.

Also, it appears that Amber Battle will not have her suspension or punishment amended and will miss the month of November.