WSU LB Logan Tago arrested for 2nd-degree assault and 2nd-degree robbery

As if the Washington State Cougars needed more to worry about this week, the team suffered another setback on Monday when rush linebacker Logan Tago was arrested for second degree assault and second degree robbery, both felonies.

If Tago is guilty, it likely means the end of his WSU football career since Mike Leach has long held that stealing is one of three offenses that will cause automatic dismissal from the football team. The other offenses are hitting a woman and doing drugs.

Pullman Radio, which first reported the news, said Tago and several other men approached a 23-year-old man carrying a case of beer on California Street in Pullman in the early morning on June 4. The victim claims the group demanded his beer. When he refused, the group allegedly assaulted him causing a concussion and stole the beer.

Police arrested Tago when he arrived at the police station for an interview following a lengthy investigation, having finally gathered enough evidence to positively identify one of several suspects as Tago. No other arrests have yet been made.

Tago, a sophomore from American Samoa, started WSU’s season-opener against Eastern Washington and is listed as a possible starter on the team’s Week 3 depth chart for its game against Idaho on Saturday. He is sixth on the team with seven tackles.

Legal issues have suddenly become a major topic of concern for the Cougars football team, who went from Sept. 8, 2014, to Jan. 16, 2016, without an arrest. Besides that string of good behavior, however, WSU football players are not strangers to run-ins with the law.

Former San Jose Mercury News reporter Mike Rosenberg published a report in August 2015 saying that WSU’s football team had 31 players arrested over the previous five years, seven more than any other FBS school.

Tago’s case marks the third ongoing assault investigation involving WSU football players. Safety Shalom Luani was arrested in late August for second-degree assault and police say they will recommend charges to the Whitman County prosecutor.

Meanwhile, detectives are still investigating football players for their alleged roles in a fight at a house party this summer that left a victim with a broken jaw.

This story was originally published September 13, 2016 at 11:32 PM with the headline "WSU LB Logan Tago arrested for 2nd-degree assault and 2nd-degree robbery."