EX-BU player in limbo amid sexual assault scandal signs with Jets

Defensive tackle Jeremy Faulk, a junior college transfer who was kicked off the Baylor football team and wrongfully stripped of his scholarship at the height of the school’s sexual assault scandal, has signed with the New York Jets, his agent confirmed to KWTX.

"He is absolutely excited," agent Markeeth Taylor said. "Still a little bit shocked, but he's ready to get going."

Faulk partipated in the Jets' mini-camp in early May, but has since been waiting to find out if the NFL would take a shot on him.

"I expected someone to sign him," Taylor told KWTX. "I told him it might take a little while because of all the dust, but he just had to sit back and be patient and someone would give him an opportunity."

Faulk, an undrafted free agent, was a rare junior college player who entered the NFL draft, but his journey to the NFL has been unique.

In 2015, Faulk was named Defensive Player of the Year by the NJCAA while playing for Garden City Community College in Garden City, Kansas.

That same year he was recruited to play for Baylor, but before the 2016 season ever started, Faulk was kicked off the team and wrongfully stripped of his scholarship after Baylor administrators learned he had been accused of an assault that had not yet been investigated.

In secret recordings KWTX obtained of a meeting between football staff and then Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford shortly after the May 26, 2016 firing of head coach Art Briles, Crawford told the group she handed over the player’s name because she was asked by a member of the board of regents to disclose the names of any player accused in a Title IX case.

Faulk told KWTX when he was kicked off the team and wrongfully stripped of his scholarship, he was left with no place to stay, no food, and slept on the streets of Waco until his mom could get the money to fly him home to Florida.

Jeremy later appealed the school's decision to strip him of his scholarship and won.

A woman who served on the appeals committee was later fired from Baylor and filed a lawsuit claiming she was retaliated against for making the decision to reverse Faulk's case. Baylor denies her claims but sources tell KWTX the employee later reached a confidential settlement with the university.

After being kicked off the Baylor football team, Faulk re-enrolled at Garden City Community College in Kansas from which Baylor recruited him.

Faulk's coach at Garden City, Jeff Sims, told KWTX that the staff had hoped Faulk would be able to transfer to another major college program, but said no one would touch him because "the name Baylor is scary to schools."

After months in limbo, Faulk's Title IX case was suspended at Baylor.

No criminal charges have ever been filed.

Faulk helped lead his team in Kansas this past season to a junior college national championship.

Taylor says Faulk will have his first scrimmage with the Jets on Saturday.