And now we know a little more of the rest of the story.
Wednesday, long-time Michigan State commitment Donovan Winter didn’t take part in his Florida high school’s National Signing Day ceremony because of what his head football coach described as “a long story.” It was subsequently learned that the reason for the three-star’s absence was because he was sitting in jail after his arrest on charges of burglary and larceny of a firearm, although few details were available at the time.
The Orlando Sentinel has since obtained the police affidavit of the incident, a portion of which is detailed below:... an officer stated he was dispatched to a scene to check out a trespassing violation.
Upon arrival at a residence in Chuluota, in East Orange County, Rebecca Thurmond met with the officer and advised that her daughter’s boyfriend, Winter, was on the property and she wanted him cited for trespassing. She then, however, said Winter had already left the property.
The officer also reported in the affidavit, “While conversing with Thurmond about her legal options, Thurmond’s daughter advised that while Winter was on scene, he told her that he stole her father’s gun. I had [the daughter] provide a written sworn statement, and went to the garage with father, Kenneth Thurmond, where he kept the gun, to confirm it was stolen. Kenneth confirmed that [a .22-caliber rifle] was stolen from where he last had it in his garage. Kenneth also advised that a box of .22 ammunition was stolen as well, but the case the gun was in, was still there.”
Winter was arrested a short time later without incident and subsequently released from jail after posting bail.
Winter was rated as the No. 50 weakside defensive end in the country in this most recent class. In addition to MSU, the Florida product holds offers from, among others, Kentucky, Michigan, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
As Winter is unsigned, MSU, or any other team for that matter, is not permitted to address his situation and what impact it could have on what if any future he has with the Spartans. There is at least one report, however, which states that there will be no future for the defensive lineman in East Lansing.per @chrissolari says the MSU relationship w/ Donovan Winter-3 star DE from FL is over.
— Matt Shepard (@ShepMatt) February 2, 2017