Kansas paid former football player Caperton Humphrey more than $50,000 in benefits to ensure his silence after he left the team amid harassment and threats, The Kansas City Star reported Sunday.
Humphrey and his family said four teammates who played on defense threatened and harassed him, as well as loosened the lug nuts on his car. The 6-foot-2 fullback, who is from West Virginia, played at Eastern Kentucky in 2016 and at Kansas the following two seasons. He caught three passes for 29 yards in his Jayhawks career.
He left Lawrence, Kan., in the spring of 2019 shortly after former teammates entered his apartment and threatened him, he said. His teammates lived in the same apartment complex, and Humphrey’s father had reported to the school that some of them were selling drugs there.
“They bought him off. That’s what they did,” Humphrey’s father, Jamie, told The Star. “They bought him off to keep his mouth shut.”
Caperton and Jamie Humphrey said once then-Jayhawks coach Les Miles learned of the escalating situation between the sides — before the alleged apartment incident — his solution was for them to fight it out on the practice field.
Caperton Humphrey said Miles wouldn’t meet with him and his family. Miles did agree to talk with the fullback and four teammates, and recommended they apologize to each other. They didn’t.
“I came out of that meeting, and I was like, (Forget) this,'” Caperton said. “They don’t want to talk to my family. They don’t want to do anything to help me. Why sit in this misery and fear for my life over something dumb?”
Miles, former Kansas athletic director Jeff Long and other university officials wouldn’t comment to The Star.
Jamie Humphrey said he was informed after the alleged apartment incident that the university wanted to strike a deal. Under the terms, the younger Humphrey would leave campus, take online classes from West Virginia and not talk about his time with the team in exchange for his tuition and a monthly stipend being paid through May 2020, when he was expected to graduate, plus moving expenses back home. The Humphreys also were not allowed to speak about the agreement or make disparaging comments.
“They chose the four football players over Caperton,” Jamie said.
The family apparently is speaking out now as they consider legal action against the university. Caperton Humphrey said he allowed himself to dream, while with the Jawhawks, that he could pursue a pro football career, perhaps as an undrafted free agent in the NFL or in the CFL.
“It cost me everything,” Caperton Humphrey said.
According to his father, Caperton has lingering emotional issues and is undergoing therapy.
Miles and Kansas parted ways earlier this year amid allegations that Miles made sexual advances toward female students and also made comments about women in the athletic department that were sexist or insulting when he was the head coach at LSU.
Long subsequently was fired.
