Former Texas OG Rami Hammad arrested on stalking charge at Baylor

The football career of former Texas Longhorns offensive guard Rami Hammad is now in jeopardy after the current member of the Baylor Bears was arrested on Monday on a felony stalking charge, according to the Waco Tribune.

A late addition to the 2013 Longhorns signing class, Hammad spent one season in Austin before transferring to Baylor, where he was expected to start at right guard in 2016 after playing in 13 games last year.

The last Texas fans had heard from him was when he tweeted in February about hearing stories of players who wanted to leave the ‘Horns and play for the Bears following several departures from head coach Charlie Strong’s program.

But now Hammad is facing an indefinite suspension from the football program, as well as possible jail time as a result of a stalking incident with his ex-girlfriend on July 7 and continued attempts to contact her after police told him not to:

The woman told Hammad, a 21-year-old junior from Irving, to leave before she went into the class, but he waited for her outside, according to the affidavit. Seeing him waiting, the woman was afraid to leave alone and asked for the professor’s help.

She and the professor left together, and Hammad followed them to the professor’s office, where he began knocking on the door for several minutes, according to the affidavit.

After unsuccessful calls to Baylor athletics, the professor and student decided to call police, saying they feared for their safety, according to the affidavit.

The woman also told police that Hammad had physically abused her in the past.

In the midst of a tumultuous offseason that has included the removal of the Baylor president, athletic director, and head football coach because of the ongoing scandal at the university, it’s notable that the woman and her professor first tried to call the athletic department given that the Pepper Hamilton Findings of Fact found that football coaches and staff took actions “to actively divert cases from the student conduct or criminal processes.”

Now it appears that similar behavior is still happening at Baylor that could allow football coaches or staff or other members of the athletic department to continue keeping cases out of those student conduct or criminal processes.

In this situation, no one responded, but the attempt to contact the athletic department and the actions of Hammad suggest that new interim head coach Jim Grobe was not entirely accurate at Big 12 Media Days when he claimed that “we do not have a culture of bad behavior at Baylor.”