Suspended USC kicker Matt Boermeester won't be back with Trojans (Update)
Update: July 31 – 10 a.m.
Matt Boermeester’s girlfriend, Zoe Katz, told the Los Angeles Times the kicker was removed from the team after an “unfair” Title IX investigation into an alleged incident between the two.
In the statement, Katz said she and Boermeester have dated for more than a year. The Title IX investigation began, Steigerwalt said, after a neighbor witnessed Boermeester and Katz roughhousing. The neighbor told his roommate, who told a coach in USC’s athletic department that Boermeester was abusing Katz. The coach then reported the incident to the Title IX office.
Katz said she was summoned to a mandatory meeting with Title IX officials, where she told investigators that the two were playing around. Katz was subsequently told that she “must be afraid of Matt,” she said. She told officials she was not. Boermeester has not been arrested or charged with a crime.
“When I told the truth about Matt, in repeated interrogations, I was stereotyped and was told I must be a ‘battered’ woman, and that made me feel demeaned and absurdly profiled,” Katz said. “I understand that domestic violence is a terrible problem, but in no way does that apply to Matt and me.”
Katz said that she has “never been abused, assaulted or otherwise mistreated by Matt.”
Original story: July 27 – 11:30 a.m.
The man who kicked the winning field goal for USC in the Rose Bowl won’t be on the field with the Trojans in 2017.
Kicker Matt Boermeester, who had been suspended from the team for what the school said was a conduct issue, is not part of the program. A spokesman for the team told the Los Angeles Times that Boermeester is not enrolled in classes at USC.
Boermeester kicked a 46-yard field goal as time expired in the Rose Bowl to give USC a 52-49 win over Penn State. He was 18-25 on field goals and 53-54 on extra points in 2016.
The school announced Boermeester’s suspension in February and said at the time that he was being investigated for a violation of the school’s code of conduct.
USC was picked Wednesday as the Pac-12 champion in the conference’s preseason media poll. A Trojan title would be the school’s first since the Pac-12 started its title game in 2011 and the first for the South Division.
According to Rivals site TrojanSports.com, Michael Brown is currently listed as the starting kicker on USC’s depth chart.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
