Rutgers is separating itself from Ray Rice in light of the release of a video on Monday depicting the former Scarlet Knights running back punching his then-fiancee.
A school spokesperson said that pictures and video highlights of Rice will no longer be shown at Rutgers football games because the running back is no longer an active NFL player.
"We update the 'Knights in the NFL' weekly to reflect active players in the league," spokesperson Tom Luicci said. On Rutgers' official website, Rice was removed from the list of players currently in the NFL. Luicci did not comment on if pictures of Rice would be removed from the school's football facility.
The Ravens announced Monday that Rice's contract has been terminated.
Also on Monday, the NFL announced that based on the new video evidence, Rice has been indefinitely suspended.
"The video I saw this morning was difficult to watch as a husband and a father. There is nothing that can justify what I saw on that video," Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said, according to NJ.com. "Family is family. But at Rutgers we hold ourselves to an extremely high standard. And we expect a lot out of our players. We expect a lot of our coaches and our staff members we have here in the Hale Center. And we expect a lot of our alumni and because of those expectations this is a sad day."
Although Flood has been Rutgers' head coach for just two-plus seasons, he is plenty familiar with Rice, who last played for the Scarlet Knights in 2007. Flood was the team's offensive line coach and running game coordinator beginning in 2005.
Rutgers athletic director Julie Hermann said in a statement: "It was very disturbing to see the video this morning. As we go forward this serves to reinforce the ongoing need to educate and bring awareness to the issue of domestic violence."
Janay Palmer, Rice's fiancee at time time of the February incident, has since wed Rice.
The NFL, which suspended Rice for two games after a separate video showed Rice dragging a motionless Palmer off an elevator, released a statement that it had not seen the video previously. After Rice's two-game suspension, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced a change to the league's Personal Conduct Policy, resulting in a stronger punishment for assault, battery, domestic violence or sexual assault with physical force (six-game suspension without pay for a first offense).
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread.*
