CSUN Safety Suspended After Missing Road Trip

A senior leader and one of the top defenders on the Cal State Northridge football team was suspended indefinitely on Monday, three days after he chose to stay behind on a road trip.

Gerald Ponder, the Matadors’ starting free safety, did not practice after briefly meeting with Coach Bob Burt. They are scheduled to speak today at greater length.

Burt said he will make a final determination about Ponder’s status after conferring with Northridge assistant coaches and team leaders.

“This is a team issue,” the coach said. “But eventually, the bottom line is that it comes down to me.”

Contacted at home Monday afternoon, Ponder declined comment, saying only: “I’ll just let Northridge coaches talk about it.” Last season, Ponder tied for the team lead in tackles and was honored with the Matadors’ Defensive Coaches Award.

Ponder, 22, missed Northridge’s game at Nevada Las Vegas on Saturday, saying he did not board the team bus to protest a one-game suspension Burt levied against Vincent Johnson.

Johnson, a junior cornerback, returned to practice on Monday, and Burt said he was “back and in good graces.” Johnson declined to answer questions after practice.

Burt suspended Johnson for cursing Athletic Director Bob Hiegert at a meeting last Thursday of the university’s Athletics Congress. Johnson said he swore at Hiegert in retaliation for the administrator’s use of profanity earlier in the week during a meeting with the football team.

Joseph Vaughn, a junior from Palmdale, has replaced Ponder as the Matadors’ free safety. He made two tackles and broke up a pass as Northridge (2-3) upset Nevada Las Vegas, 24-18, for its first win over a Division I-A team since 1976.

By returning to practice, Johnson reclaimed his starting position, defensive coordinator Mark Banker said. Robert Crosby, who started in Johnson’s place and made an interception at UNLV, moves back to second-string.

Besides Ponder, offensive guard Jon Beauregard was the only healthy player to miss practice on Monday. Beauregard, who temporarily left the team last week, was attending to personal business and is expected to rejoin the Matadors today.

In another development, Ron Kopita, Northridge’s vice president, said Johnson is the only member of the football team who has come forward to claim Hiegert was “abusive” in his meeting with the squad last week.

“The difference between locker room conversation and profanity that might be considered abusive in nature is up to one’s interpretation,” Kopita said.

Hiegert said he did not recall using profanity during his half-hour session with the team one day after the players boycotted a practice. However, asked if he said he was “tired of all the bull. . .,” and the players had better have their “. . . on the bus,” Hiegert said he “might have.”

Kopita, who said he would investigate, has discussed the incident with Burt and Hiegert.