OUR VIEW: Utah State’s bad athletes

Utah State University is proud of its athletes. They go forth and represent the school with physical prowess, dazzling audiences with touchdowns, slam dunks, slapshots and routines on the uneven bars.

They’re great, but sometimes, off the field, they make some very, very poor choices.

For example, Jerome Dennis, who averaged 27.7 yards per kickoff return for the second best in USU history, chose to steal $1,538.48 in merchandise from the USU Bookstore. Now that’s a poor choice.

Ripping off the school that allows one to shine on the field is a horrible thing to do. Not only did Dennis make a bad choice by stealing, but also Judge Thomas Willmore poorly chose to suspend 330 days of Dennis’ 365-day sentence. Dennis still has to pay back the bookstore, but he should stay in jail for purposefully disrespecting his school.

Then there’s Dontá Candler, arrested Tuesday for forgery, theft, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Now, Candler hasn’t been charged yet, but if the charges are brought against him and he is found guilty, he should still be able to go to all football games, but only watch from the stands like the rest of the students.

Shouldn’t USU’s athletes be held to a high standard? They should be examples since the university is giving them an opportunity to do what they love, register early, etc. Unfortunately, some only serve as an example of what not to do.