A former Florida State football player who was suspended back in May after a Title IX investigation found him responsible for dating violence could be enrolling in the school again in the near future, and the victim in the case is furious.
Tashan Reed of The Athletic reported on Tuesday that Josh Ball, a former four-star recruit who started nine games at offensive tackle for Florida State in 2017, is attempting to play for the Seminoles again. He would need to first be reinstated by the university, but sources told Reed that Willie Taggart and the FSU coaching staff are open to letting Ball back on the team if that happens.
Ball transferred to Butler County CC in El Dorado, Kan., after he was suspended, and Butler head coach Tim Schaffner told The Athletic in a text message that “it is my understanding that FSU would love to have him back on their team.”
Ball’s suspension came after his ex-girlfriend, Sandra Sellers, received an injunction against him last year after she filed paperwork seeking “protection against dating violence.” Sellers said Ball assaulted her on several occasions where he slapped, shoved and grabbed her in 2016 and 2017.
In a statement on her Instagram story Tuesday, Sellers blasted Taggart and Florida State for reportedly considering allowing Ball to re-enroll at the school and play football again.
“I am trying to put this behind me. But I will not be silenced or intimated by this repeat sexual and physical abuser,” she wrote, as transcribed by The Athletic. “His reprehensible behavior is public record. For Willie Taggart to even consider bringing him back on campus is a physical threat to me and any other woman at FSU. He’s been given multiple chances and was enabled by the previous coaching staff who even conspired to cover up his behavior and blame me. Trust me when I say FSU does not want to reopen this wound.”
Ball was never charged by Tallahassee Police or the state attorney’s office after Sellers filed the complaint. After he was suspended following a Title IX investigation in May, Sellers took to social media to thank Florida State for making its campus a safer place.
