A college football coach is in hot water after laying a hit on one of his players.
Mike Kramer, head coach of the Idaho State Bengals, shoved senior wide receiver Derek Graves during practice on Oct. 3.
Graves told ESPN's Outside the Lines that he filed a police report over the incident on Sunday. Now the Pocatello, Idaho Police Department is conducting an investigation to see if the coach should face criminal charges over the shove.
Graves has been suffering neck spasms since the incident and hasn't been cleared to get back on the football field by Idaho State's team doctors. Graves said that he's isn't planning on suing over the incident at this time.
Graves was lined up across from a freshman cornerback when his receivers' coach asked him to find an older player to go up against. When the more veteran cornerback lined up across from the senior receiver, Kramer walked over, got in Graves' face and pushed him to the ground, yelling, "He's a varsity f—— player."
Graves said that the shove was uncalled for and that he didn't do anything to provoke his coach.
"This was not football related," said Graves. "This was something more than that."
Graves has 36 receptions on the season through four games, for 306 yards and one touchdown. He hasn't played in a game since that Oct. 3 practice.
Kramer was formerly the head coach at Montana State, but was fired after several of his players had been arrested during his time there. Kramer began coaching at Idaho state in 2011. The team went 2-9 last year and are 1-5 to start the 2012 season.
