By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE – East Carolina running back Giavanni Ruffin was arrested for failure to appear in court. Ruffin had been dealing with a death in the family and left the state to attend to the family matter and missed his court date. According to the WITN website, Ruffin was released on $2,000 bail Tuesday morning.
The senior running back was arrested in March with former East Carolina running back Brandon Jackson for being intoxicated and resisting and obstructing. It was an incident that led the school to cut ties with Jackson and suspend Ruffin from practice for four weeks.
On Tuesday, Pirates’ coach Ruffin McNeill addressed the issue.
“Ruffin has done a good job of obeying team rules,” McNeill said. “What he missed last week was due to a funeral which I mentioned in my press conference on Monday. … Due to a funeral he missed a court date. He is going to handle it. He has already handled it. … He is going to play (Thursday) and be ready to go.”
Ruffin is the team’s second leading rusher with 255 yards and has scored one touchdown. The Pirates (5-4, 4-1) will face UAB (3-6, 2-3) on the road Thursday night.