Nebraska’s Avery Moss banned from campus, won’t play for Huskers in 2014

An incident that occurred over a year ago will keep Avery off Nebraska’s campus -- and its football team -- until at least 2015.

The Omaha World-Herald has confirmed that Moss has been banned from the NU campus until at least Dec. 31 of this year. Moss appealed the original ruling -- and lost -- and has one appeal remaining; if that appeal is denied, he will be facing a four-year ban, effectively ending his time in Lincoln.

In mid-December of 2012, a female employee of an on-campus convenience store accused Moss of twice exposing himself to her in the span of four hours. The alleged victim filed a complaint with the university police department, and subsequently picked Moss out of a photo lineup.

The defensive end was charged with public indecency, disturbing the peace and failing to appear, ultimately pleading no contest on the public indecency charge. Despite the charge and conviction, Moss played in all 12 regular season games in 2013.

The ban was triggered not by the charge itself but by what Moss described as a technicality.

For 2013, Moss said he was allowed on most parts of campus, but not residence halls. At some point he returned to the residence halls in December. Moss said a misunderstanding of when he could return triggered the ban.

“It was a procedural screw-up,” Moss said. “It had nothing to do with me acting out again…they wanted me to do something and I misinterpreted it. I thought I was allowed to go back into the residence halls after a academic year – that’s what it seemed like at first – and afterward it was presumed to be whenever Dr. Hecker said so.”

The ban also explains why Moss sat out Nebraska’s appearance in the Gator Bowl. The original reason given by the football program was Moss was “

returning home for a personal matter.”

As a redshirt freshman in 2013 -- he received a medical waiver for the 2012 season -- Moss started three of the 12 games in which he played. Moss’ 4.5 sacks were second on the team while his eight tackles for loss were fourth.

Moss, who has been in counseling according to his lawyer, told the World-Herald that he has considered transferring to another program but would like to return to the Cornhuskers. Such a development will be directly tied to his final appeal.