Wikipedia

Derrius Guice

Derrius Guice (/ɡaɪs/ GEISS;[1] born June 21, 1997) is an American professional football running back who is a free agent. He played college football for the LSU Tigers, where he was the first player in Southeastern Conference (SEC) history with three career games of 250 or more rushing yards before being selected by the Washington Redskins in the second round of the 2018 NFL draft.

Derrius Guice
refer to caption
Guice with the Redskins in 2019
Personal information
Born: (1997-06-21) June 21, 1997 (age 27)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.
Height:5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight:225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school:Catholic (Baton Rouge)
College:LSU (2015–2017)
Position:Running back
NFL draft:2018 / round: 2 / pick: 59
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Rushing yards:245
Rushing average:5.8
Rushing touchdowns:2
Receptions:7
Receiving yards:79
Receiving touchdowns:1
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Guice appeared in just five games in two years in the NFL due to multiple knee injuries and was released in 2020 after being charged for crimes related to domestic violence. LSU disassociated itself from Guice and removed all of his statistics from their record books in 2021 amid claims that the school had mishandled accusations of multiple rapes committed by him during his time there.[2]

Early life

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Guice was born to parents Derek and Beulah Guice on June 21, 1997, in a poverty-stricken section of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, known as "the Bottom".[3][4] On May 3, 2003, Derek was killed after being involved in a fight at a Denny's restaurant, with Guice learning of it after seeing the scene on the news.[3][5] As a way to deal with his emotions and not feeling safe at home, Guice focused his life around football, with his powerful running style being described as "running angry".[5][4]

Guice first attended McKinley High School. Due to his mother not liking the culture of McKinley, which she also attended, as well as his talents on the football field, Guice, along with three close friends and fellow football teammates, were given a scholarship to attend the predominantly white and affluent private school Catholic High.[5][4] Guice would come home crying, Guice begged his mother to allow him to transfer back to McKinley. However, his mother said there was no way he was going to leave the scholarship behind, asking him about how many kids in their neighborhood had the same opportunity he did.[5]

As a junior, Guice met Stephanie de la Houssaye, a white guidance counselor at the school. De la Houssaye gravitated toward the three boys, and Guice specifically, because of their struggles at the school and her ability to relate to them, as she had also grown up in poverty.[5] Guice first befriended de la Houssaye after she had taken him home following a gang-related altercation at his house that left Guice unconscious.[1] Over the course of his junior year, Guice began spending more time at the de la Houssaye household, eating dinner with her and her husband and children and going on vacations with them, eventually moving in with them.[5][4] Catholic administrators had an issue with the close relationship, telling her to limit her guidance to school hours or she would lose her job.[5][4] De la Houssaye chose to continue personally helping Guice over the job, with her stating that she never regretted the decision.[5] Guice, when speaking about the situation while in college, claimed that the situation reminded him of the 2009 film The Blind Side, in which another black football player is taken in by a white family due to troublesome circumstances at home.[5]

As a senior, he rushed for 1,341 yards with 21 touchdowns. Catholic went 9–2 on the season and lost 25–23 to New Orleans Brother Martin in the LHSAA Division I quarterfinals at BREC Memorial Stadium, after Guice was stopped on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game.[6] After his senior season, Guice played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and was awarded the Pete Dawkins Trophy.[7] Guice was rated by Rivals.com as a five-star recruit and was ranked as the second best high school running back at the time, behind Damien Harris.[8] He committed to Louisiana State University (LSU) to play college football, fulfilling a promise he made to his father before his death.[4][9][10]

College career

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Guice spent his true freshman year at LSU in 2015 as a backup to Leonard Fournette. He played in all 12 games, rushing for 436 yards on 51 carries with three touchdowns.[11] Guice entered his sophomore season again as a backup to Fournette. He started his first career game in place of an injured Fournette during the team's second game of the season and ran for 155 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.[12] Against the Arkansas Razorbacks on November 12, Guice rushed for 252 yards, which was the second most in a game in school history. The total included a school-record 96-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.[13] Two weeks later, against Texas A&M, he set the school single-game record by rushing for 285 yards, breaking the previous mark set by Fournette earlier in the season by one yard.[14]

He became only the fourth running back in Southeastern Conference history to record multiple 250-yard rushing performances in a career, following Bo Jackson, Herschel Walker, and Moe Williams.[15] He was named to the Associated Press first-team All-SEC team following the regular season.[16] Guice saw limited play in several games in the first half of his junior season due to a left leg injury. In a game against Ole Miss that season, he rushed for 276 yards, becoming the first player in SEC history with three career games of at least 250 rushing yards.[17]

College statistics

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LSU Tigers
Year Games Rushing Receiving
Att Yards Avg Long TD Rec Yards Avg Long TD
2015 11 51 436 8.5 50 3 5 20 4.0 10 0
2016 12 183 1,387 7.6 96 15 9 106 11.8 29 1
2017 12 237 1,251 5.3 59 11 18 124 6.9 20 2
Career 35 471 3,074 6.5 96 29 32 250 7.8 29 3

Professional career

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Pre-draft

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Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand span 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split Vertical jump Bench press
5 ft 10 1⁄2 in
(1.79 m) 		224 lb
(102 kg) 		30 3⁄4 in
(0.78 m) 		9 3⁄4 in
(0.25 m)		 4.49 s 1.55 s 2.62 s 31 1⁄2 in
(0.80 m)		 15 reps
All values from NFL Combine[18]
 
Guice alongside former Redskins team president Bruce Allen in 2018

In January 2018, Guice announced that he would forego his senior year at LSU in favor of the 2018 NFL draft. Guice attended LSU's pro day in April 2018, but opted to stand on his combine numbers and only performed positional drills. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Guice was projected to be a first or second round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked among the best running backs of the 2018 class.[19][20][21]

Predicted as a first round pick before the draft, Guice reportedly had his draft stock fall due to questions about his character and other incidents during the drafting process, such as an alleged verbal altercation between himself and Howie Roseman, executive of the Philadelphia Eagles.[22][23] Roseman and other Eagles personnel denied it took place, with Guice stating that the incident, as well as other rumors of him being lazy, immature, and dishonest, were not true.[22][23][24][25] Another issue allegedly occurred at the NFL Combine, where Guice claimed that he was asked if he liked men during an interview with a team, as well as if his mother "sells herself".[26] The NFL later investigated the claims, but found no proof it had happened.[27]

Washington Redskins

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Guice was eventually selected in the second round, 59th overall, by the Washington Redskins.[28][29] On May 10, 2018, Guice signed a four-year, US$4.54 million contract with the team.[30] In the first preseason game of his rookie year, Guice sustained a torn ACL, which ended his season.[31]

 
Guice (left) with Jamal Adams following a game against the New York Jets in 2019

Guice made his regular season debut in the opening game of the 2019 season against the Eagles. There, Guice rushed 10 times for 18 yards and caught 3 passes for 20 yards, but left the game with an injury to his right knee. The Redskins would go on to lose the game 32–27.[32] It was later revealed that Guice had suffered a torn meniscus, requiring surgery, with him being placed on injured reserve on September 13, 2019.[33][34] He was designated for return from injured reserve on October 28, 2019, and began practicing again with the team.[35] He was activated off injured reserve on November 7.[36] In Week 11 against the New York Jets, Guice rushed seven times for 24 yards and caught one pass for a 45-yard touchdown in the 34–17 loss.[37] In Week 13 against the Carolina Panthers, Guice rushed 10 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns in the 29–21 win.[38] The following week, he suffered an MCL sprain and was placed on injured reserve on December 10, 2019.[39] Guice was waived by the team on August 7, 2020, following charges of domestic violence.[40] After the charges were dropped in 2021,[41][42] the NFL suspended Guice at the start of the 2021 season for six games for violating the league's personal conduct policy.[43]

Vegas Knight Hawks

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On February 23, 2023, Guice signed with the Vegas Knight Hawks of the Indoor Football League (IFL).[44] He was released on June 21, 2023.[45]

Personal life

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Guice was the first athlete to sign with Top Dawg Entertainment's sports division agency, a record label better known for representing musical artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q.[46] Guice is a fan of and often livestreamed video games such as the Madden NFL series and Fortnite Battle Royale during his time with Washington.[47][48][49]

Following a visit to the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in June 2018, Guice set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign for cancer research and raised over US$21,000 within a week.[50][51]

In November 2016, Guice's brother Derrick was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder following an incident where he was the driver of two gunmen who shot at a man on his porch in Baton Rouge.[52]

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On August 7, 2020, Guice was arrested and charged with counts of strangulation, assault, battery, and destruction of property that stemmed from three separate domestic violence incidents that had taken place at his home in Loudoun County, Virginia earlier that year.[40] The felony charge of strangulation was dropped in January 2021,[41] and the four remaining misdemeanor charges were dropped in June 2021 following an undisclosed settlement between Guice and his former girlfriend.[42] The arrest led to him being released by Washington.[40] Later in August 2020, Guice was accused by two women of sexual assault that occurred during two separate instances while he was a freshman at LSU in 2016.[53]

Soon after the rape accusations were made public, another former LSU student announced that she had filed a police report against Guice in 2016 for taking a partially nude photograph of her without her knowledge and sharing it with some of his football teammates, a felony under Louisiana law. Although the incident was reported to both LSU police and LSU's athletic department, Guice was not given any disciplinary action by the university.[54] In March 2021, a 74-year-old woman accused Guice of sexual harassment from an incident at the Superdome in 2017.[55] The following month, LSU announced it had disassociated itself from Guice, banning him from the athletics program indefinitely. It also removed all of Guice's statistics from its record books.[56]

References

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  1. ^ a b Martin, Kimberley. "Why did Derrius Guice's draft-night drop hurt so badly? Start back at 'The Bottom.'". Washington Post. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  2. ^ Jacoby, Armour, Luther, Kenny, Nancy, Jessica (November 16, 2020). "LSU mishandled sexual misconduct complaints against students, including top athletes". The Advertiser. Retrieved May 22, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Dellenger, Ross (October 19, 2015). "LSU's Derrius Guice runs for murdered father, hard-working mom, hard-driving coaches". The Advocate. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Derrius Guice Full Story - Rolling With The Rookies - Hyundai (Video). HyundaiUSA. April 18, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mueller, Tim (December 27, 2016). "Run Angry". Bleacher Report. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  6. ^ Roser, Jerit (November 21, 2014). "Brother Martin stuffs two-point attempt to escape Catholic-Baton Rouge comeback, 25-23". The Times-Picayune.
  7. ^ Lopez, Andrew (January 3, 2015). "LSU commitment Derrius Guice named MVP of the 2015 U.S. Army All-American Bowl". NOLA.com. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  8. ^ "Derrius Guice, 2015 Running Back - Rivals.com". N.rivals.com. October 15, 2014. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  9. ^ Smith, James (May 31, 2014). "Catholic-Baton Rouge running back Derrius Guice commits to LSU". NOLA.com. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  10. ^ Dellenger, Ross (June 28, 2015). "Catholic High RB Derrius Guice commits to LSU". The Advocate. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  11. ^ Martin, Hannah (July 10, 2017). "More mature Guice ready for leadership role, out of shadow of Fournette". The Reveille. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  12. ^ Mickles, Sheldon (September 10, 2016). "Stepping in: Derrius Guice nets 155 yards in filling in for injured Leonard Fournette". The Advocate. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  13. ^ Lopez, Andrew (November 12, 2016). "See LSU RB Derrius Guice's record-setting 96-yard touchdown run". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
  14. ^ Garcia, Art (November 25, 2016). "Derrius Guice runs for 285, 4 TDs as LSU blasts Texas A&M". UPI.com. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  15. ^ Bewers, James (November 24, 2016). "Derrius Guice gives glimpse of the future while rewriting LSU's fast-changing record book". The Advocate. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  16. ^ "It's a Sweep: No 1. Alabama Cleans up on AP All-SEC Team". ABC News. Associated Press. December 8, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  17. ^ Stultz, Brian (October 21, 2017). "Derrius Guice accomplishes SEC history with 3rd game of 250-plus rushing yards". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  18. ^ "NFL Draft Profile: Derrius Guice". National Football League. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  19. ^ "*Derrius Guice, DS #2 RB, LSU". draftscout.com. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  20. ^ "NFL Derrius Guice -ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  21. ^ "The 2018 NFL Draft Big Board, Vol. 2". si.com. March 7, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  22. ^ a b Bergman, Jeremy (April 28, 2018). "Around the NFL Executive: Derrius Guice rumors about immaturity". NFL.com. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  23. ^ a b Zangaro, Dave (April 28, 2018). "Howie Roseman denies reports of Derrius Guice altercation with Eagles". nbcsports.com. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  24. ^ Allen, Scott (May 4, 2018). "Trust Chris Thompson: Redskins rookie Derrius Guice's video game habit isn't a problem". Washington Post. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  25. ^ Adelson, Eric (April 27, 2018). "Derrius Guice says questions about his character are 'coming out of the middle of nowhere'". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  26. ^ Owens, Jason (March 8, 2018). "Draft prospect Derrius Guice asked at NFL combine if he likes men, if his mom sells herself". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  27. ^ Manza Young, Shalise (April 25, 2018). "NFL says investigation uncovered no evidence Derrius Guice was asked inappropriate questions". yahoo.sports. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  28. ^ Rittenberg, Adam (January 10, 2018). "LSU's Derrius Guice entering NFL draft". ESPN. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  29. ^ Keim, John; Rothstein, Michael (April 28, 2018). "Derrius Guice drafted by Redskins after week of combined-related controversy". ESPN.com. Associated Press. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  30. ^ "Spotrac.com: Derrius Guice contract". Spotrac.com. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  31. ^ Patra, Kevin (August 10, 2018). "Redskins RB Guice out for season after tearing ACL". NFL.com. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  32. ^ "Jackson shines in Philly return, Eagles beat Redskins 32-27". www.espn.com. Associated Press. September 8, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  33. ^ Maya, Adam. "Derrius Guice undergoes surgery for torn meniscus". NFL.com. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  34. ^ Daniels, Tim. "Report: Redskins' Derrius Guice Placed on IR After Surgery for Knee Injury". Bleacher Report. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  35. ^ Paige, Sayer (October 28, 2019). "Derrius Guice Back Competing On The Practice Field". Washington Football Team. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  36. ^ "Redskins Activate RB Derrius Guice Off Injured Reserve". Washington Football Team. November 7, 2019.
  37. ^ "Sam Darnold throws 4 TD passes, Jets rout Redskins 34-17". www.espn.com. November 17, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  38. ^ "Guise, Redskins hold on to beat Panthers 29-21". www.espn.com. December 1, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  39. ^ Keim, John (December 10, 2019). "Sources: Redskins RB Derrius Guice has left MCL sprain". ESPN.com.
  40. ^ a b c Fortier, Sam; Jhabvala, Nicki; Carpenter, Les (August 7, 2020). "Derrius Guice arrested on domestic violence charges, released by Washington's NFL team". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  41. ^ a b "Felony charge dropped against ex-NFL player Derrius Guice". InsideNoVa.com. January 25, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  42. ^ a b Augenstein, Neal (June 23, 2021). "Assault, battery charges dropped against ex-NFL player Derrius Guice". WTOP-FM. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  43. ^ Keim, John (August 13, 2021). "Free-agent RB Guice suspended 6 games by NFL". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
  44. ^ nfl1000 (February 23, 2023). "Former NFL 2nd Round Pick Derrius Guice signs with the Vegas Knighthawks - Shady Sports Network". shadysportsnetwork.com. Retrieved February 24, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  45. ^ "Transactions".
  46. ^ Rovell, Darren (January 19, 2018). "Derrius Guice signs with agency that reps Kendrick Lamar". ESPN. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  47. ^ Suss, Nick. "Derrius Guice responds to notion of video games being 'off-field issue'". SECCountry.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  48. ^ Toney, Nick (June 7, 2018). "Battle Royale: Why Fortnite Conquered NFL Locker Rooms". NFL.com. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  49. ^ Fortier, Sam (August 3, 2018). "For fans, playing Fortnite with Redskins' Derrius Guice is 'just like talking to your friend'". Washington Post. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  50. ^ Bratton, Michael (June 25, 2018). "Derrius Guice helps raise $15,000 in two days following visit to Baton Rouge cancer center". Saturday Down South. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  51. ^ David Smith, Michael (June 30, 2018). "Derrius Guice raises $21,000 for cancer center". Pro Football Talk. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  52. ^ "Baton Rouge man allegedly involved in shooting arrested, is LSU football player's brother". The Advocate. November 4, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  53. ^ Jacoby, Kenny; Armour, Nancy (August 18, 2020). "Two women say ex-Washington RB Derrius Guice raped them at LSU when he was a freshman". USA Today. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  54. ^ Jacoby, Kenny; Armour, Nancy; Luther, Jessica (January 5, 2021). "Judge orders LSU to turn over complete police report sought in USA TODAY lawsuit". USA Today. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  55. ^ Dunleavy, Ryan (March 27, 2021). "74-year-old woman accuses Derrius Guice of sexual harassment: 'He scarred me'". New York Post. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  56. ^ Dinich, Heather (April 23, 2021). "LSU Tigers banning RB Derrius Guice, firing longtime law firm". ESPN. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
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