LSU To Pay $1.9 Million To Settle Rape, Sexual Misconduct Claims Vs. Ex-Star Derrius Guice

BATON ROUGE - LSU's athletic department, football program and University as a whole have admitted to no wrongdoing or liability in a lawsuit concerning rape and sexual misconduct accusations by four former female students against star running back Derrius Guice while at LSU from 2015-17.

But LSU will be paying $1.9 million to the 10 women who sued LSU, including two who accused Guice of rape, according to information from a public records request by the Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper recently. LSU president William Tate signed the settlement agreement after LSU and the 10 women reached a settlement agreement early this week, and the case was dismissed. 

The settlement would be $190,000 for each of the 10 women if divided evenly, but it could be divvied up differently. The 10 women sued LSU for taking little or no action against Guice. That amounted to federal law violations as Title IX law says institutions such as LSU must investigate such misconduct on campus. LSU officials instead discouraged the women from reporting the rape and sexual assault complaints against Guice. And in some cases, LSU officials "overtly prevented them" from reporting, according to the women.

Former Washington Redskin and ex-LSU Tiger Derrius Guice after a game at Green Bay in 2019. (Getty Images)

The settlement agreement states that the $1.9 million payout should "not be construed as evidence or an admission of any liability, unlawful conduct, or other wrongdoing."

LSU Paying Nearly $2 Million To Make It Go Away

So then, LSU and its lawyers, how should we "construe" it? Is the $1.9 million walking around money? Feel good funds? Or hush money? LSU must have a tidy, separate account for that one. Remember, fired football coach Ed Orgeron got $17 million to walk away quietly back in 2021. 

RELATED: Ed Orgeron Was Paid Off To Keep Quiet

In return for shelling out $1.9 million, LSU also got the women to agree not to sue them again in the future over the claims or grant any interviews to media. The women cannot "participate in any press conference in this matter or submit to press interviews or respond to press inquiries regarding the terms and conditions of this agreement."

"Submit to?" Interesting wording. A person submits to something bad, you know, like a breath test when pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving. One agrees to or grants an interview, which can be fun and rewarding. Attorneys from both sides also agreed not to discuss the case. 

Derrius Guice Got Away From LSU Free

Guice had apparently gotten away with it all when he left LSU after his junior season in 2017 without ever receiving any discipline from the football program or the university, despite both entities having knowledge of the numerous accusations against him. That knowledge came out in an investigation of LSU's history of mishandling sexual assault cases by an outside law firm called Husch Blackwell in 2020 and '21.

Without that knowledge of the accusations, the then Washington Redskins picked Guice in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and he signed for $4.5 million over four years.

He missed all of the 2018 season, however, with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and played in only five games in 2019 because of knee injuries, gaining 245 yards on 42 carries.

Derrius Guice playing against Notre Dame for LSU in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, on Jan. 1, 2018. (Getty Images)

Then on August 7, 2020, police arrested Guice on felony charges of strangulation of his girlfriend and misdemeanor assault and battery charges from three domestic violence incidents at his home in Loudoun County, Virginia, near Washington D.C. Less than two hours later, the Redskins released Guice. And he has never played in the NFL again.

Guice's lawyers settled with Guice's alleged victim in 2021 for an undisclosed amount of money, and all the charges were dropped. The NFL then ruled that Guice would be suspended for the first six games of the next season he plays in, should he be acquired by an NFL team. But that has not happened.

Derrius Guice Was A Las Vegas Knight Hawk In 2023

Now 26, Guice played during the 2023 season for the Las Vegas Knight Hawks, a professional indoor football team. He played in two games, gaining 13 yards on eight carries with three touchdowns and caught two passes for 30 yards. Any future football plans are unknown.

Guice, a Baton Rouge native who went to Catholic High, remains one of LSU's and the Southeastern Conference's greatest running backs in history. In his junior year in 2017, he became the first SEC running back to rush for 250 yards or more in three career games - 252 at Arkansas in 2016, 285 at Texas A&M in 2016 and 276 at Ole Miss in 2017. The 285-yard game was the LSU record for rushing yards in a game, but now stands at No. 2.

A spectacular player, Guice gained 3,074 yards rushing with 29 touchdowns in his three seasons at LSU. But the only action LSU ever took regarding the accusations against him and his arrest with the Redskins was to remove his name from its record books.

Former LSU wide receiver Drake Davis (2016-17) was also part of the lawsuit as one of the 10 women accused him of repeatedly beating her. That went to trial, and he pleaded guilty to a battery charge and violating a protective order.

Husch Blackwell's exhaustive investigation into LSU's mishandling of sexual assault cases - primarily those of Guice and Davis - concluded in 2021 by stating that LSU officials repeatedly looked the other way when alleged victims informed them about such incidents. Associate athletic directors Verge Ausberry and Miriam Segar were each suspended for failing to serve the women making the accusations and protecting Guice and Davis. The punishments were very light, though.

No one was fired, and several clearly should have been.

LSU Dropped The Ball With Derrius Guice

Previous LSU football coaches Les Miles and Ed Orgeron each coached Guice and either knew about or should have known about how he allegedly was treating women. Had either or both of them put aside how great a player he was and disciplined him, he may still have a future in football. And, more importantly, fewer women would have been hurt.

Guice received little or no counseling while at LSU, despite officials knowing of his possible issues with women and his general behavior.

"I was drunk and passed out on my bed. I never gave him consent," one of his alleged LSU female victims said in a USA Today article in 2020. "I just wonder sometimes, does he even know that that was wrong?"

Another Guice accuser told USA Today in 2020 of a disturbing comment by a nurse to her at LSU's health center when she was being treated for a rape, allegedly by Guice in 2016.

"You probably shouldn't report it," the nurse said. "He's like a god around here. It probably would get pushed under the rug."