Florida International tight end Jonnu Smith, who made the preseason Mackey Award watch list for best tight end in college football, will miss the rest of his senior season after his girlfriend poured a pot of boiling water over his head.
Per a police affidavit, Smith’s five-months pregnant girlfriend Mary Gaspar said that she was feeling stressed about the couple’s relationship on Halloween when she decided to boil a pot of water and dump it on Smith’s head. Via the Miami Herald:
The two argued through the day over the attention Smith was paying her and their relationship. While in Smith’s dorm room and “feeling extremely emotional and stressed,” she told police, she boiled a pot of water. Then, she walked over to Smith and poured it on him.
When Smith didn’t react strongly enough for her, she started hitting him with her open hands, she told police.
According to the Herald, Smith suffered “severe burns on his head, neck, back, a shoulder and an arm.” The Herald’s David J. Neal reports that Smith has been seen on campus since the incident but will not be able to return to the field for the FIU’s final two games. Smith, who also missed last week’s game against Western Kentucky, will finish the season with 441 yards and three touchdowns on 39 catches. Per the Herald, he will leave FIU with the fifth most catches, yards, and third most touchdowns in school history.
The Panthers, who are 3-7, fired head coach Ron Turner after the fourth game of the season.
