On the third day of the NFL draft, general manager Thomas Dimitroff made the most controversial pick of his tenure when he selected Notre Dame linebacker Prince Shembo, who revealed at the scouting combine that he was investigated in a sexual-battery incident.
Shembo never was charged in connection with the incident that occurred in his dorm room Aug. 31, 2010. The alleged victim, after reporting the incident to officials, committed suicide 10 days later.
“Pretty much, it was an unfortunate event,” Shembo said. “My name was pretty much cleared. It’s behind me now, and I just want to focus on playing football for the Falcons.”
The team, which has avoided several players in Dimitroff’s previous six drafts for character issues, said it completed a thorough background check of Shembo. Since the Michael Vick federal dogfighting case of 2007, the Falcons have made a point to draft players regarded as having high character.
“We are very, very aware of the seriousness of the incident,” Dimitroff said. “Obviously it’s a sad situation for the young lady involved. We’ve done a lot of research on many levels from a security standpoint. We’ve done our due diligence as far as making sure that we feel comfortable in making that decision.”
Shembo had to explain the incident to the team. The incident involved the touching of the victim’s breasts, according to The Chicago Tribune.
The victim reported the incident to university officials and allegedly received a threatening text from one of Shembo’s friends.
“All I can say is that I met with all of the Falcons guys, and I told them exactly what happened,” Shembo said. “I had a great time talking to them. They were able to see me, and now I’m just ready to play for them.”
Shembo was removed from at least one team’s draft board, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported before the draft.
Shembo expressed remorse for the victim.
“I have a lot of remorse for the girl,” Shembo said. “Anytime that someone experiences death … it’s always very sad. But I told you what I had to say before.”
Shembo’s father immigrated to the United States from the Congo in 1986. Over his career at Notre Dame, he posted 145 tackles (24 1/2 for loss), had 19 1/2 sacks and 35 pressures.
Shembo started 34 of 51 games at Notre Dame. He played 26 games at right outside linebacker and eight on the left side. He’s considered a 3-4 outside linebacker.
In addition to selecting Shembo, the Falcons drafted running back Devonta Freeman in the fourth round (103rd overall), cornerback Ricardo Allen in the fifth round (147th) and linebacker Marquis Spruill in the fifth round (168th) after making a trade with Minnesota.
The Falcons sent their sixth-round (182nd) and one of their seventh-round (220th) picks to the Vikings for the fifth-round pick.
The team had two compensatory seventh-round picks and selected Connecticut linebacker Yawin Smallwood (253rd) and South Dakota linebacker Tyler Starr (255th).
The Falcons started the final day of the draft by taking Freeman, who hopes to follow in the footsteps of another Florida State running back. Freeman, 5-foot-8 and 206 pounds, was selected with the 103rd overall pick.
The last time the Falcons had a smallish running back from Florida State, things worked out pretty well.
Warrick Dunn was signed in free agency in 2002 and rushed for 5,981 yards and 30 touchdowns over six seasons. He helped the Falcons advance to the NFC Championship game after the 2004 season.
Freeman, while helping the Seminoles win the BCS championship, rushed 173 times for 1,016 yards last season. He became FSU’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Dunn accomplished that feat in 1996.
The Falcons have running back Steven Jackson, who turns 31 in July. Freeman likely will compete for playing time against backup Jacquizz Rodgers. The dependable Jason Snelling retired after eight seasons with the team.
“I really like him as a third-down back, a chance of pace back,” said NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly, a former NFL general manager.
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