What we learned from Wednesday’s hazing press conferences

Former Northwestern players confirmed and expanded their hazing allegations against the Wildcat program in a pair of press conferences on Wednesday in Chicago.

The first press conference was held by attorneys from the Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard law firm on behalf of an unnamed player who filed suit on Tuesday.

In the second, attorneys Ben Crump and Steve Levin of the law firm Levin & Perconti, as well as four former players, addressed the media. The second group has yet to file suit, but one is expected soon.

WildcatReport didn't attend the event, but followed reports from ESPN's Adam Rittenberg and InsideNU. Their tweets are linked in the story below.

Here are our takeaways:

The hazing was not limited to football. Patrick Salvi Jr., who is representing the anonymous player, said that the abuse and toxic behavior at Northwestern "goes well beyond the football program."

He mentioned baseball, softball, volleyball and cheerleading as other sports where he has heard of other hazing incidents.

He further claimed that hazing in softball and volleyball was so bad that players "quit games" and "transferred," and that a hazing incident in volleyball "appears to have led to the cancellation of a game."

Crump, an attorney representing 15 athletes who have yet to file suit, said that the athletes involved are both male and female.

"This is not just relegated to the football program, said Crump. "From our conversations with young men and women, this goes into other sports programs."

We learned the identities of some of the football players involved. In the second press conference, former Wildcat players Tommy Carnifax, Warren Miles-Long, Simba Short and Lloyd Yates spoke to the media about their experiences at Northwestern. None were the initial whistleblower who initially reported the incident in November of 2022.

Miles-Long, who played from 2013-17, played running back for four years, and then moved to linebacker for his fifth year. He was also a special teams standout.

Yates played at Northwestern from 2015-17, starting as a quarterback and moving to wide receiver. He played in just two games in 2017.

Short played just one season at Northwestern in 2015 and medically retired.

Carnifax played from 2016-19 and appeared in four games. He was injured for much of his career.

The players alleged that hazing was widespread. Crump said that he has talked to more than 50 former NU athletes about hazing at Northwestern.

"It is apparent to us that it is a toxic culture that was rampant in the athletic department at Northwestern," he said.

Miles-Long claimed that the Northwestern football program was one where "sexual violence and sexual assault was rampant."

As to why the players didn't report the abuse, Crump said that they were afraid to come forward.

"People ask, 'Why didn't they say something?' Some of them did try to say something and they were retaliated against," he said.

Yates said that the hazing culture was "so strong" that players felt obligated to participate or they would risk losing playing time or trust.

"The university and football program has let us down. ... We were thrown into a culture where physical, emotional and sexual abuse was normalized," he added.

The players were traumatized by the hazing. The players said that the hazing they experienced at Northwestern did lasting damage that in some cases carried over after their careers.

"We were physically and emotionally beaten down, and some players have contemplated suicide as a result," said Yates, who added that the experience was especially difficult for players of color.

Carnifax agreed.

"This is a little bit of closure," he said. "I spent the last four years hating myself and what I went through." He added that his own father didn't believe his claims of hazing within the football program.

Players claim that coaches were aware of and even took part in the hazing. Yates made an explosive claim that assistant coaches were involved in the hazing.

"I find it hard to believe that they were not aware of what was taking place," he said. "A lot of different coaches took part in it in explicit manners. It took place in close proximity to a lot of the staff. It's hard to take a blind eye."

Similarly, attorney Parker Stinar, who is representing the anonymous player, said that his firm has reports that coaches "were aware" of the hazing.