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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, September 7, 2009

CFB: RB LeGarrette Blount does not practice with Ducks


By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer

Running back LeGarrette Blount did not practice with Oregon on Monday even though he was allowed to under a season-long suspension for a postgame punch in the Ducks’ opener.

The team did not immediately comment on Blount’s absence. Players at practice were instructed not to discuss it.
Blount punched Boise State’s Byron Hout in the jaw after the 16th-ranked Ducks’ 19-8 loss to the No. 14 Broncos on Thursday night. Hout was knocked to his knees.
On Friday, Oregon coach Chip Kelly suspended Blount for the rest of the season, effectively ending his career with the Ducks. But Blount was kept on scholarship and allowed to practice.
Previous reports said that Blount was expected to be at Monday’s practice. He was instructed not to speak to the media.
The workout was the team’s first since Blount’s suspension was announced. Oregon hosts Purdue on Saturday.
Over the weekend, Blount and Kelly called Hout and Boise State coach Chris Petersen to apologize.
Hout yelled in Blount’s face and tapped him on the shoulder pad before catching the right to the jaw. Petersen was trying to pull Hout away when the defensive end was hit.
There was immediate outcry over the punch, which was captured on the national television broadcast of the game.
Blount had apologized after the game when he spoke with reporters. He has not commented since.
“I just apologize to everyone that was watching this, ESPN, national TV. I just apologize to all of our fans, all of Boise’s fans,” he said. “It was just something that I shouldn’t have done. I lost my head.”
Hout faced internal discipline by Boise State but was not suspended. On the Western Athletic Conference teleconference Monday, Petersen said he believes “we’ve done the right thing” in not suspending the defensive end for any games.
Oregon president Richard Lariviere called Blount’s actions reprehensible. Oregon athletic director Mike Bellotti, who stepped aside after 14 years as coach of the Ducks this summer, called the punch “an egregious error.”