College Football Cracks Down On Gun-Related Celebrations

Minnesota defensive back Justin Walley receiving a 15-yard penalty for "simulating brandishing a weapon" seemed to catch Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck off-guard, but it has been a point of emphasis in recent Big Ten coaches meetings that it could be called.

Walley received the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in Minnesota's 24-17 win over No. 11 USC after the senior defensive back lifted up his jersey to allegedly simulate holding a gun in his waist. Fleck didn't like the call and Gophers teammate Koi Perich later called the penalty "terrible," but college coaches nationwide, including in the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference, have recently been warned it was going to be enforced to try to curtail gun-related celebrations. 

"Simulating brandishing a weapon" isn't an automatic unsportsmanlike penalty the way simulating the firing of a weapon is, but it falls under taunting. That makes it a judgment call of the official and is a point of emphasis as the celebration starts to crop up around the country. 

Steve Shaw, the national coordinator of officials, discussed it in recent weeks with conference official coordinators who then took it back to their league's coaches and administrators. In just the last couple weeks, it was emphasized in both the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference that gun-related celebrations were a major no-no and would result in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. 

"I don't recall last year ever seeing brandishing a weapon," Shaw told CBS Sports. "So what happens is a couple people do it, a couple people see it and it starts to grow. That's why we're just trying to set expectations with everybody so they know where we are with all of it."

Brandishing a weapon can result in a misdemeanor or felony offense, depending on the state and the perceived intent, and is defined by law as "to display all or part of the firearm, or otherwise make the presence of the firearm known to another person, in order to intimidate that person, regardless of whether the firearm is directly visible to that person." 

Walley was one of two gun-related celebration penalties that elicited a lot of attention and reaction over the weekend. The more egregious, or at least more obvious, one came in the South Carolina-Ole Miss game when Gamecocks freshman Dylan Stewart simulated firing multiple shotgun blasts at Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart after sacking him. Simulating the firing of a weapon is in the rule book and an automatic 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty every time. 

After the game when South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer was asked if he addressed it with Stewart, he gave a frustrated one-word answer: "Yes."

"From a broader perspective, we don't want to condone any kind of gun violence as part of our game," Shaw said. "We can't write a rule for everything because our players are going to be creative and we don't know what's coming next week. But when we see something like this begin to get a foothold, it's important that we address it as a group."

College football isn't alone in that department. The NFL has clearly made it a priority this season, doling out significant fines to five players already this season for gun-related celebrations. On Sunday, Giants receiver Darius Slayton was penalized for a finger gun celebration after a 41-yard catch against the Seattle Seahawks.