Former Northwestern football players describe 'rampant' and 'devastating' hazing

CHICAGO - Former Northwestern University football players on Wednesday detailed harrowing allegations about a culture of hazing and abuse within the program.

In the first lawsuit filed against the university, the former football player is referred to as "John Doe." 

Even unidentified, his account has encouraged others to come forward. He is holding accountable university presidents, the Board of Trustees, the football head coach and the athletic director.

John Doe was on the football team from 2018 through 2022 and says he suffered sexualized hazing and physical abuse, that the culture included racism. Locker room incidents involved nudity and sexual acts that caused humiliation and permanent harm. 

The lawsuit alleges the university failed to prevent it and fired football coach Patrick Fitzgerald knew it was happening.

At a Wednesday news conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Chicago attorney Steven Levin said they have not filed a lawsuit yet on behalf of any athletes but represent 15 people and have been in touch with dozens of former athletes. Crump said the majority of those are football players.

One player came forward, saying victims were afraid of losing scholarships and additional abuse. Lloyd Yates was a quarterback in 2015-2017. He graduated in 2018.

Yates went from a quarterback in the Big Ten to not even being able to watch football.

Yates, now 26, reflected on his experiences getting hazed while with the program.

The incidents included acts of sexual misconduct and what the school called "forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature."

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"I was conditioned to think this stuff is normal, and this was what goes on in college football, this is what goes on in these locker rooms. And I think Northwestern has a bit of work to do to make things right, and make sure that this culture doesn’t exist," Yates said in a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune.

"We would get ambushed by you know, 10 different guys, and then they would come hold you down. They would put you in the doggy-style position and proceed to dry-hump you. Guys would take turns, and it’s just a very degrading, dehumanizing, embarrassing act."

One of the acts that was initially reported by a former player was an exchange of the football between a quarterback and a center, mimicking a snap, while both were naked. Yates, then a QB, said he was forced to take part.

"He snapped me the football, just like you would see on Sunday, but I was in the locker room simulating the act, with no clothes on. So obviously, that experience before I had to go on the field and practice with my teammates, was very uncomfortable… it’s just humiliating."

The hazing forced Yates to not even be able to watch the sport, let along fall out of love with it. The assaults also left him with nightmares and anxiety.

Warren Miles Long, a running back on Northwestern’s football team starting in 2013, said players were put into a culture where sexual violence and hazing was "rampant." He said new recruits had no sense of whether it was normal or limited to Northwestern.

An investigation into the matter resulted initially in a two-week suspension for head coach Pat Fitzgerald, but he has since been fired as the story has garnered more attention, and more accusations came about.

The investigation did not find proof that Fitzgerald knew about the hazing, but former players are adamant that he did. Fitzgerald has since hired a legal counsel.

Illinois, like nearly all states in recent decades, has criminalized hazing. It is typically a Class A misdemeanor, which can carry up to one year in prison. Under Illinois law, failure of a school official to report hazing is also a crime — a misdemeanor — and can carry a maximum penalty of between six months and a year in prison.

A "hazing prevention" page on Northwestern’s website includes descriptions of Illinois hazing laws.

Yates said every member of team were victims, "no matter what our role was at the time," and lamented the school and team’s lack of leadership.

"The university and football program let us down and that’s why we are here today," Yates said, surrounded by some teammates, who have also retained Crump and the Levin & Perconti law firm.

In a letter to Northwestern’s faculty and staff, Schill wrote that an outside firm will be hired to evaluate how the school detects threats to student-athletes’ welfare and to examine the athletics culture in Evanston, Illinois, and its relationship to academics at the prestigious institution.

Northwestern fired Fitzgerald last week after a university investigation found allegations of hazing by 11 current or former players, including "forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature," Schill wrote.

Fox News' Ryan Gaydos and The Associated Press contributed to this report.