Brown: Discipline Is Internal

Texas Coach Mack Brown said Tuesday that two Longhorn football players who had been questioned by Austin police regarding an alleged assault had been disciplined and that the team was moving forward in its preparation for the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4.

Defensive back Cedric Griffin and running back Ramonce Taylor were questioned by police about an early-morning incident Dec. 10, but charges have not been filed.

“Obviously, we had a few young guys that were out later than we would like for them to be a couple of weeks ago,” Brown said, addressing the issue publicly for the first time.

“We’ve dealt with them within our team and we’ve talked to the team about it.... At this point, no one has been charged and we’re moving forward. We handle all of our discipline in house and we do not expect anything past where we are today.”

Brown did not elaborate on the punishment. Both players are practicing with the team.

Brown said he’d warned the team about staying out late -- the alleged incident Dec. 10 occurred at about 3 a.m. -- and also reminded players that he would impose a strict curfew after they arrived in Los Angeles on Dec. 28.

“We have people check rooms,” Brown said. “We knock on doors and look in and make sure they are in bed.... We’ve been to 14, 15 bowl games and I don’t remember an incident, so they’ve done a good job of that in our past.”

Brown said the team and the university have given Austin police their “full support” in the investigation and that the incident has not been a distraction for the team, which has had “very physical” practices the last two days.

“Right now there’s nothing but allegations,” Brown said. “And it’s a very minor part of our football team.”

-- Peter Yoon