"A Lot of Nonsense"

Coach Al Golden said this weekend that he fully expects highly-rated signee Tony Cornelius to join the Temple football squad this fall. Cornelius, a tailback from Boca Raton (Fla.) High School, was arrested last month and charged with loitering, prowling, and carrying a concealed weapon, according to the Palm Beach Post. Golden called the incident, “A lot of nonsense.”

Coach Al Golden said this weekend that he fully expects highly-rated signee Tony Cornelius to join the Temple football squad this fall.

Cornelius, a tailback from Boca Raton (Fla.) High School, was arrested last month and charged with loitering, prowling, and carrying a concealed weapon, according to an article in the Palm Beach Post. Golden called the incident, “A lot of nonsense.”

According to the article, which appeared in the Post on March 27, Cornelius and two acquaintances were arrested in the early morning hours on March 9 after Delray Beach police witnessed them driving through a neighborhood with a spotlight mounted on their car and stopping three times to interact with people standing near the street.

The police reportedly found a BB gun under the driver’s seat and one of the passengers reportedly told police that they were driving around “just trying to scare white people.”

“A lot of nonsense, to be honest with you,” Golden said of the incident. “There’s never been any follow-up to it. We talked to all the parties involved. It was outrageous, the claims that he was involved with. A lot of people at that school love Tony, and Tony lives in a very diverse, shall we say, community down there in Boca.”

Were Cornelius and his acquaintances arrested simply because they were three black kids driving around in a white neighborhood?

An attempt to reach Cornelius on Monday was unsuccessful.

“I’ve had nothing but great interaction with him, and it’s the same thing with the people at his school,” Golden said. “They all feel very strongly about him. So we’re excited to have him come up.”