Hundreds of thousands of high school athletes aspire to play college football and, eventually, on Sundays in the NFL.
Jeremy Sprinkle was halfway through the dream when he crashed into his own roadblock Tuesday.
Sprinkle, a senior tight end for the Arkansas Razorbacks, was scheduled to start Thursday night for Arkansas in the Belk Bowl against the Hokies of Virginia Tech.
Belk, a large chain of retail stores, sponsored the game in Charlotte, NC; along with that sponsorship, Belk gave each player from both teams a gift card worth $450 for use in one of their Charlotte stores during a ninety-minute shopping spree, which occurred on Tuesday. Apparently, Jeremy Sprinkle overindulged.
To the tune of $260 dollars' worth of merchandise.
The Arkansas tight end bought all he could on his gift card, then decided to shoplift what his card's limit wouldn't cover. Store security caught him in the act, called Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police and has him arrested and charged.
Razorback coach Brett Bielema, who suspended his starting tight end for the bowl game, told the media "Throughout his career...Jeremy has displayed numerous times the qualities we want to represent our program. We have standards...that must be upheld on a daily basis, and unfortunately...he failed to do that."
Sprinkle, according to NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr, is the number 7-rated tight end in the upcoming NFL draft. Prospective draftees undergo rigorous background interviews by NFL front office personnel prior to the draft, and his shoplifting incident is sure to garner intense scrutiny from interested teams. Though the incident isn't a certain death blow to his chances of being drafted, Sprinkle's stock will surely take a hit...which might lead to his going undrafted, costing him a large chunk of money from whoever he may sign with.
All for two-hundred-sixty dollars' worth of merchandise.
Arkansas lost to Virginia Tech, 35-24.
Jeremy Sprinkle
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