Syracuse dismisses pair of players charged in burglary

Thanks to an off-field “issue,” the Syracuse playing careers of two Orange football players have come to an abrupt end.

In a press release, Syracuse announced that junior defensive end Markus Pierce-Brewster (pictured) and junior defensive tackle Davon Walls have been dismissed from the program. While the release stated that the bumbling duo were dismissed for violating unspecified team rules, it’s not hard to figure out the specific reason behind the punitive measure.

Last week, each player was charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor petit larceny in connection to an on-campus burglary. The linemen were accused of stealing about $950 worth of electronics, including a 19-inch television, Xbox, two iPods and several video games. From last week:

The football players were allegedly caught on camera during the commission of the burglary, with Pierce-Brewster acting as a lookout “while Walls entered an unlocked apartment.” Walls subsequently emerged from the apartment with the stolen items, which Pierce-Brewster helped him load into a vehicle. Not only that, the paper writes, “video also allegedly shows Walls and Pierce-Brewster taking the stolen property into their own apartment, also within range of the cameras.”

One of the more ironic parts of the story is that two of the men who lived in the apartment burglarized by the Orange football players were subsequently arrested themselves for a pair of burglaries committed minutes after they were burglarized.

Pierce-Brewster, who played in 12 games last season, and Walls, who played in three, had pleaded not guilty to the charges.