Alfonzo Dennard, the 23-year-old seventh-round pick out of Nebraska, who played his way into the starting defensive backfield of the New England Patriots last season, was sentenced to a 30-day jail sentence set to begin in March 2014. He also will get 24 months of probation for each charge as well as 100 hours of community service. Dennard was facing a maximum of six years in prison.
The jail sentence stems from an April 2012 incident in which Dennard was charged with assaulting a police officer outside of a Lincoln, Nebraska nightclub and resisting arrest. The incident occurred days before the 2012 NFL draft and marred his stock. According to a report on Profootballweekly.com prior to the 2012 draft, Dennard was compared to Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Javier Arenas, who was selected in the second round of the 2010 draft. Dennard was eventually was taken in the seventh round by New England.
The assault was not Dennard's first public incident involving fighting. He was thrown out of the 2012 Capital One Bowl for engaging then-South Carolina wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey, who is now with the Chicago Bears.
His Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini and current head coach Bill Belichick wrote letters on his behalf speaking to his character in an effort to reduce his sentence.
Because of the timing of his sentence, Dennard will not miss any regular season or training camp time, although his conditioning will likely suffer due to the month he will miss in the spring of 2014. Still, Dennard is escaping with the ability to keep his career intact.
Dennard played his way into the cornerback rotation last year and eventually claimed a starting spot alongside Aqib Talib. In ten games, including six starts, Dennard intercepted three passes and returned one of them for an 85-yard touchdown. He racked up seven pass defenses, forced one fumble, and made 35 tackles.
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