Joe Mixon is a former running back at the University of Oklahoma, a potential first-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, and a walking controversy. Video has been made public of Mixon punching a woman and another allegation of violence is coming out and hurting the running back’s stock.
Gil Brandt was the Vice President of Player Personnel for the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1988 and won two Super Bowls while in Dallas. Brandt recently released a list of the top 150 2017 NFL Draft prospects and Mixon was nowhere to be found.
Mixon was left off partially because of the punching incident in college and also some possible altercations back in high school.
“I just wouldn’t draft him,” Brandt said. “His problems started back in high school.”
Brandt is referring to an alleged incident coming from a man named Anthony Hernandez who claims Mixon punched his daughter way back in high school.
“I know for a fact he threw my daughter to the ground and hit her. I went to the school and . . . they hid him in the office. He got no punishment. The police even came. I was escorted off the campus as if I did something wrong. These are simply the facts, he’s a woman beater,” Hernandez said in a report read by the lawyer for Amelia Molitor, the victim in Mixon’s highly publicized incident at Oklahoma.
The running back denied hitting another woman and wasn’t charged for the high school incident. PFT later reported on Wednesday that the allegation against Mixon was redacted (which didn’t stop Brandt from bringing it up in the first place).
“I have recently learned that a comment I made about Joe Mixon on social media a few years ago is now receiving a lot of attention. I want to explain that comment and clarify that I do not believe Joe ever did anything to hurt my daughter,” Hernandez wrote.
“My daughter went to Freedom High School with Joe, and they have been friends for much of their lives. Once, when they were in school together, my daughter had a minor disagreement with some of her classmates that got blown out of proportion. Like any father would, I reacted emotionally. Unfortunately, I did so before I had all the facts. Now, having talked to my daughter and investigated the whole story, I realize that I was mistaken about Joe’s involvement. I definitely overreacted, and I regret that my words might have given some people the wrong impression about Joe. I know that Joe did not hurt my daughter, did not intend to, and would not do so.
If there’s a reason for NFL teams to not draft a player, they’ll take it. It doesn’t seem like that will be the case with Mixon, and some team will eventually end up taking up at some point during the draft’s seven rounds. The NFL Draft is scheduled to take place from April 27-29 in Philadelphia.
