The Kansas University athletic department is hot water following some rather horrifying allegations from a former player. According to The Kansas City Star, Caperton Humphrey was offered roughly $50,000 in hush money to leave the program and never disclose the harassment he dealt with during his time with the Jayhawks football team.
According to the article, Humphrey was being harassed by several teammates, and it got so bad that at one point in February of 2019, four teammates arrived at Caperton’s appartment while his family was in town (for his safety), and threatened to beat up Caperton, his 15-year-old brother, and his father Jamie.
For months, four of these men had been his teammates on the Kansas Jayhawks football team. Now they and about a half-dozen others were in Humphrey’s living room, threatening him, his father Jamie, and even Caperton’s 15-year-old brother. Seconds later, Jamie Humphrey dialed 911, putting his phone on speaker before setting it on a countertop.
Prior to that terrifying altercation, which was the tipping point for Caperton at Kansas, he had gotten into an argument with a pair of teammates. And the following day, while driving his vehicle, he noticed the lug nuts on one of his tires was loose.
After Caperton Humphrey said he had an argument with a pair of teammates — and the next day discovered someone had loosened the lug nuts on one of his tires — he filed a police report. When that same feud led to arguments before workouts in the locker room, Jamie Humphrey reported that to a lifelong friend in KU’s compliance office and also told him the players were selling drugs. The information was eventually funneled to football coach Les Miles who, according to Caperton Humphrey, told the players to watch themselves.
Following the altercation in the apartment, Caperton and his father requested a meeting with then-head coach Les Miles, but it was declined. Rather, Miles met with the players and told the to apologize. Neither side did. Miles offered to allow the boys to “settle their differences on the football field,” but Caperton and Jamie had heard enough.
A few weeks later, Caperton and his family were gone. They went back home to West Virginia, but not before receiving an offer from the school to keep quiet about the entire ordeal.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NCAA stories via Google! Follow Us
The deal, in essence, would be this: If Caperton left Lawrence, took KU online classes in West Virginia, and he and his family agreed to not talk about his experiences with the football team, he would continue to be paid his tuition and monthly stipend money from spring 2019 through his expected graduation date in May 2020…
The value of Caperton’s tuition total with the offer would be slightly higher than the $28,431.08 the Humphreys paid during the 2017 spring, summer and fall semesters combined before he was put on scholarship. The stipend checks of roughly $1,289 per month also would add up to $18,331.20, according to an email sent to Jamie by KU’s assistant athletic director for student services.
There was more to the pact than tuition and stipends, though.
Through KU Athletics’ Student Assistance Fund, the Humphreys would be reimbursed 58 cents per mile for their trip back to West Virginia. Caperton, in addition, would have his meals, lodging and transportation paid for by KU Athletics for his return, with KU also footing the bill for shipping his personal belongings more than 700 miles from a storage unit in Lawrence. Caperton estimated the latter cost alone was around $5,000.
Add it all up, and it comes out to over $50,000.
The Kansas City Star reached out to Les Miles, and three other members of the Kansas athletic department but did not receive any feedback. You can see their entire article here.
