Tennessee Volunteers WR Nu’Keese Richardson arrested on three counts of armed robbery

By Adam Silverstein
November 12, 2009

Tennessee Volunteers freshman wide receiver Nu’Keese Richardson (Pahokee, FL) and two of his teammates were arrested Thursday at 2 a.m. on three counts of armed robbery, according to several Knoxville, TN, news agencies. Richardson and freshman cornerbacks Janzen Jackson and Mike Edwards were sought and captured by police officers after allegedly using a semi-automatic weapon to rob a customer outside a Pilot convenience store. According to the police report:

The victims stated that a black male then approached, wearing a black hoodie, brandished a black semi-auto handgun, opened the drivers door and stated, “Give me everything you have.” The victims stated that a black male then exited from the passenger side of the Prius, wearing a black hoodie, walked around to the front passenger door of their car, opened it, and stated, “Give us everything you’ve got.”

The victims stated that they all presented their wallets to the suspects and showed them that they did not have money. The victims stated that a third black male then approached and told the other two black males, “We’ve got to go.” The victims then stated that the three got into the Prius and that it was last seen traveling southbound on Volunteer Blvd West.

The victims positively identified Edwards and Richardson as the two who approached their vehicle and demanded everything.

After stopping the Prius on Neyland Drive near Leinard Lane, police found the three players along with Marie Montmarquet, 22, in the car. A search of the vehicle recovered a pistol, two black hoodies and a marijuana grinder. Police would also find a clear plastic bag of marijuana in Montmarquet’s pocket. She told police both the marijuana and the grinder belonged to her, and she was charged with possession of both an illegal substance and drug paraphernalia.

“At this time we are currently evaluating the circumstances surrounding an incident involving Mike Edwards, Janzen Jackson and Nu’Keese Richardson,” Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said in a statement. “Any decisions or comments regarding their status will not be made until the evaluations are complete.”

A big deal was made of Richardson’s commitment to Tennessee, seeing as he was verbally committed to the Florida Gators and spurned them on National Signing Day by secretly committing to the Vols and head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin would later brag about stealing Richardson away from the Gators, making him the subject of false recruiting violation accusations against Florida head coach Urban Meyer .

Reports coming out of Knoxville last week stated that Richardson’s disappointing freshman season was leading him to consider transferring. After skipping practice, he was disciplined by Kiffin, who later said that everything was fine and Richardson was ready to rejoin the team and contribute. Kiffin stated he was proud of the street cred afforded to him by being mentioned in a Lil’ Wayne rap lyric; OGGOA wonders if he is happy with this kind street cred, too.

Thanks to GoVolsXtra for the police report and the Palm Beach Post for the mugshot.

[UPDATE:] Richardson, Edwards are being held in Knox County Jail on $19,500 bond, while Jackson is being held on $15,000 bond. Below is exclusive video of the entire arrest courtesy of KVLT-TV.

20 Comments

  1. MJ says:

    This is a sad and disturbing story. What in the world are 2 of the most highly sought after recruits in the nation last year doing in a situation like this? Potential for great things may be gone with one dumb mistake.

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  3. Sarasota 'cane says:

    Unbelievable! This brings to mind Maurice Clarett and Willie Williams. You don’t just decide in your freshman year of college to commit an armed robbery. These kid’s have done this before and thought they could do it again.

    AND YOU DONT COMMIT AN ARMED ROBBERY IN A TOYOTA PRIUS!

  4. Drew 4 Orange and Blue says:

    I would prefer we let the facts come out before any of us rush to judgement but if this does pan out thank God we didn’t get this kid after all….it will be kind of ironic that the one kid Lame Kitten made such a fuss over stealing from us has blown up in his face

  5. Mr2Bits says:

    Buwhahahahahahahahaha, serves your little punk ass right. Can take the kid out of the hood but you can’t take the hood out of the kid. Enjoy your prison time there Nukeese, don’t drop the soap.

  6. O-town Gator says:

    As the cliche goes, “He who laughs last laughs best” – and in this case Urban Meyer gets the last laugh.

    So much for those charades of Kiffin’s last year when he wrongly accused Coach Meyer of cheating and pulled that stunt at Pahokee HS during his recruitment – it’s come back to bite him in his arse. As things turned out and as Hollywood Bob Redman mentioned last year when he spoke at a Gator Club event I attended, Nu’Keese was bad news. Indeed, what goes around comes around.

  7. The facts are out on this one…they’re all above. The players were positively identified by the victims, had the weapon and hoodies in the car and were arrested on the spot. The UT SID department even confirmed the arrests. Will be interesting to see if Kiffin dismisses or simply indefinitely suspends the players. Can’t wait to see how the media covers this – doubt it will be as big of a deal as one player going for another’s eyes inside a pile.

  8. Brittany says:

    I don’t understand when people do such stupid things. You’re a young kid, you have the chance to play college football for four years then possibly go on to the NFL and you decide to commit armed robbery instead? It’s ridiculous. But, and this sounds horrible but I don’t care, at least he went with the Vols and it’s not one of our boys doing this.

  9. Sarasota 'cane says:

    When you’re looking for quick money at 2am on a school night, the crack pipe cannot be too far behind! What a waste!

    I wonder which of the three is the “leader”, and which ones are the followers! One or more of these fools has done this before, perhaps many times before. Somewhere today on a High School or NCAA roster there are probably one or more kid’s who have committed murder, rape, robbery, etc., and our kid’s are sitting right next to them! Crazy times!

    P.S. If you want to know what these thugs think like, go listen to the interview of the kid who witnesed the gang rape out in California. He was afraid to call for help because he thought he would be labeled a “snitch”, but he had no problem watching the rape for over a half hour!

  10. ReptilesRule says:

    The most ironic thing was that Kiffin had JUST been bragging about the lack of arrests at UT and also that this involved Nu’Keese Richardson in a freakin ARMED ROBBERY! Kiffin and his staff have been very heavily negative recruiting against Florida, trying to convince the parents of recruits that he runs a very disciplined ship while pointing to UF arrests. Well, back to the drawing board on that one! AND BY THE WAY…that’s ARMED ROBBERY these guys are accused of, not some suspended license or bar fight or altercation. Can’t sugercoat this Kiffey Boy!!! But remember, you can take comfort in the fact that your program is getting more publicity!!!

  11. Drew 4 Orange and Blue says:

    I would love it if this backfired on his recruiting…..out of our arrest does any one know how many actually ended up in charges being filed? 4 Star and 5 Star combination… WOW…can anyone estimate how overrated their 2009 class is looking at this point!!!! I love it!!!

  12. Sarah says:

    Hm. I wonder how Kiffin is going to cover this up and blame it on someone/something else.

  13. Drew, the Gators have had their fair share of bad arrests – most recently Jamar Hornsby for stealing a dead eoman’s credit card and using it to buy $700 worth of stuff. Bad arrests are immediatley dismissed from the team. Will be interesting to see what Kiffin does

  14. Mr2Bits says:

    Gotta love how they rob someone while wearing their “Impossible is Nothing” football team garb….brilliant.

    On a side not, isn’t 15k bond a little low for someone who just pointed a gun in someones face and robbed them? Not much standing between the trigger and their fingers there.

  15. Reptiles – that is ironic!

    Mr2Bits – apparently it is was an air-powered pellet gun. Still the same charges.

  16. gatormiami says:

    This will get less natl cover than Spikes eye poke retaliation! Could have been predicted… Richardson’s lack of character was obvious last January… now more obvious. Lets see how many more recruits choose to follow these 3 crooks to Tennessee… Go get um Lane! Only the best, with the finest character….to UT.

  17. gatormiami says:

    I’ll bet there’s going to be a scramble for Lane’s so-called committed recruits. Might just be a few minds changed…you think? This is just what you deserve Bozo!

  18. gatormiami, that’s exactly what I told Andy Staples of SI…this story will get less national coverage than Spikes.

  19. Brittany says:

    Oh, no doubt this will get less coverage. Which is ridiculous.

  20. Dru2012 says:

    I’m with “Sarasota ‘cane” on this one–the two primary actors (as per cop-speak) have done this before, the crack pipe, the waste, etc. The other stuff, recruiting, Kiffen’s hypocrisy exposed and all the rest automatically come to mind. Most of all, I watch that clip and think: “There goes your sure-thing-life, through your fingers and into the wind…”

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