Wisconsin Badgers: Quintez Cephus Reinstated

The Wisconsin Badgers receiving corps may have gotten a boost as the season approaches as Quintez Cephus has been reinstated to school and the football team.

The Wisconsin Badgers football team got a boost on Monday morning when it was announced that wide receiver Quintez Cephus had been reinstated to the school. He was then reinstated to the football program later in the afternoon, a major addition to an already strong receiving corps that could end up as the best in the Big Ten.

From the University’s statement:

"“Quintez Cephus has been reinstated as a UW-Madison student, allowing him to return to school. He has officially rejoined the football program and we are working through eligibility issues before he can participate in a game.“UW Athletics takes allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously. We know that sexual assault and sexual harassment have profound impacts on college.”"

It wasn’t revealed what those eligibility issues could be, but it has been speculated to be related to academics as Cephus was suspended before the fall semester ended last year and therefore couldn’t finish his classwork. He won’t be eligible to play in games until those issues are resolved.

Cephus was expelled from the school last fall after he was ruled to have violated the school’s non-academic conduct code following his arrest for sexual assault. Cephus was found not guilty earlier this month of one count of second-degree sexual assault of an intoxicated victim and one count of third-degree sexual assault from last fall.

Following his acquittal, Cephus and his attorneys have been vocal about getting him reinstated to the school and team as well as clearing his record. They had a press conference on August 12th to put pressure on the school and make their side known publicly.

The event was attended by over a dozen of his teammates, including quarterback Jack Coan, running backs Garrett Groshek and Jonathan Taylor, center Tyler Biadasz, and linebackers Chris Orr and Zack Baun.

Seven of Cephus’ teammates (Coan, J. Taylor, Orr, Baun, Biadasz, Groshek, and AJ Taylor) also wrote to Chancellor Rebecca Blank a letter asking for Cephus to be reinstated, citing him as a “caring, loving, trustworthy, loyal, appreciative, authentic, open-minded and truly special person.”

If Cephus gets granted eligibility to play this season, it would be a massive boost to what would now be an extremely explosive Wisconsin offense. In 2017, Cephus caught 30 passes for 501 yards and six touchdowns despite missing the final five games of the season with a broken leg.

As a deep threat, Cephus was able to open the offense even with Alex Hornibrook throwing the ball and was a big part of why Hornibrook had his best season as a Badger that year.

Named consensus honorable mention All-Big Ten, Cephus was expected to be the leading receiver and an NFL Draft prospect in 2018 before leaving the team to deal with his legal issues, which led to his suspension from the team and expulsion from the school.

Now, Quintez Cephus is back in Madison and working with his teammates again, and his return could lead to big things for the offense, as well as hopefully helping him move on past a rough chapter in a young life.