Receiver Erskin speaks about Leavitt accusations

Neither University of South Florida officials nor the external investigator leading an ongoing investigation into an alleged incident between USF football coach Jim Leavitt and sophomore walk-on Joel Miller will talk publicly, but former USF receiver Colby Erskin spoke out Wednesday during a radio interview.

In an interview with WDAE's Steve Duemig, Erskin reiterated what he told FanHouse.com in a story published earlier Wednesday: That Joel Miller told him Leavitt grabbed Miller by the throat and struck him twice in the face at halftime of a Nov. 21 game against Louisville.

"I was talking with him about it in the locker room after a practice, and he asked, 'What do you think I should do?' I told him you need to go talk to Athletic Director Doug Woolard and tell him what happened," Erskin said of his conversation with Miller. "He was scared that he was going to get kicked off the team, and if he didn't get kicked off the team, that he wasn't going to be given a fair shot to play.

"I was like, 'Look, man, the truth is, he did this. It's wrong. Everyone saw it. And you've got a better chance of playing, because most likely he's going to be gone.' You can't do something like that out in everyday life, why would he be able to do it? He is supposed to be our leader. He is supposed to be our head coach. He lost control. Obviously, he can't control himself."

Erskin, a senior receiver who suffered a season-ending knee injury in October and has played in only six games during three seasons, was not in the locker room at the time of the incident.

In what has been a story of contradictions from the beginning, Erskin is the first player to publicly suggest Leavitt acted inappropriately.

The allegations were first reported by FanHouse.com citing unnamed sources, Miller's high school coach and Miller's father, Paul Miller. The Millers rebutted the original story, with Joel Miller telling ESPN that Leavitt grabbed him by the shoulder pads to motivate him.

Leavitt has denied any wrongdoing from the start and was in Houston on Wednesday night recruiting when reached by The Tampa Tribune.

In responding to a new allegation by Erskin, Leavitt strongly denied he or athletic trainer Jeremy Lees threw out the contents of Erskin's locker into a trash can, where Erskin told FanHouse.com he found his belongings Monday when he returned to campus for the first time in a few weeks.

"Jeremy held his stuff, never threw it out. We never threw his stuff in the garbage. We never do that, and I didn't do it personally," Leavitt said. "(Jeremy) cleared out the locker in a holding pattern just to see if Colby was going to come back or not. It was nothing like what was reported. And that is the absolute truth.

"Colby didn't come to our awards banquet and he didn't make the trip to Toronto for the bowl. He is the only person who didn't come to our bowl game. And he never even talked to me about it. I didn't even know if he was coming back."

Leavitt said he was on the road with assistant coach Carl Franks recruiting for most of the past three days and has not spoken to Erskin. Leavitt said he has been nothing but supportive of the often-injured receiver during his career at USF after giving Erskin a spot on the team as a favor to longtime friend Sam Roper, Erskin's coach at Seminole High. He later put him on scholarship because of Erskin's commitment despite three major knee surgeries.

"I don't have anything against him," Leavitt said. "I haven't touched any of his stuff."

Erskin graduated with a criminology degree in December. He said he told external investigator Tom Gonzalez the same story he told FanHouse.com about finding his belongings in the trash and what Miller told him happened during the locker room incident.

"I've asked everybody who was in the locker room when it happened if they saw it, and they told me exactly what they saw, and it's all the same story," Erskin said during the WDAE interview. "There is no way (it's fabricated)."

Gonzalez did not return a call seeking comment, and no USF athletic department officials are speaking about the investigation while it's ongoing.

Paul Miller, Joel's father, said he called Duemig after hearing Erskin's interview Wednesday and got into a heated argument with the local sports radio personality about the depiction of his son.

"I got upset when they called him coward," Paul Miller said. "He's not a coward. He is actually considering making a statement. My wife (Kathy) also wants to talk about it. I don't know when. The whole thing is just sort of crazy right now."