Oklahoma's Dede Westbrook is one of the top wide receivers in college football, but the senior's game film alone won't speak for him as NFL clubs evaluate his draft status in the coming months. He'll have to speak for himself, as well, because club executives will ask him plenty about two arrests dating back to 2012 that were reported by the Tulsa Worldon Sunday.
The Heisman Trophy finalist was arrested twice on misdemeanor family violence complaints prior to his arrival at OU, first in 2012 and again in 2013, according to the report. In the first incident, Westbrook was reportedly accused of throwing the mother of his two children to the ground at her residence. The charge was rejected by the Milam County (Texas) district attorney months later, per the report. In the second incident, Westbrook allegedly bit the same woman and struck her with a closed fist. Charges in that case were filed by the district attorney, but later dismissed because prosecutors could not locate the woman, according to the report.
"There were some disagreements in the past that were cleared up years ago," Westbrook said in a statement to the Tulsa World. "We have resolved our issues and are focused on the future."
That answer might be all Westbrook will provide for the moment, but NFL clubs will want to know much more in building an evaluation for his draft status.
As a senior, Westbrook (6-foot, 176 pounds) will enter the 2017 NFL Draft. He caught 74 passes for 1,465 yards and 16 touchdowns this season for the Sooners, production that helped him win the 2016 Biletnikoff Award as college football's top receiver, and attend the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York Saturday as a finalist. NFL personnel executives will have a chance to ask Westbrook about the incidents at both the Reese's Senior Bowl, an all-star game in Mobile, Ala., to which Westbrook has already accepted an invitation, and at the NFL Scouting Combine. The combine, a week-long evaluation opportunity for NFL clubs of 300-plus draft prospects in Indianapolis, begins in February.
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