Austin Scott, who you may remember as the starting running back of the 2007 season, filed a lawsuit against the District Attorney’s Office, Centre County, Penn State police, and the woman who started it all by accusing him of rape in the first place. Scott is seeking damages for the case snuffing out aspirations of an NFL career, reasoning that his dismissal from the team prevented him from being drafted. Per the CDT:

The suit, which was filed Tuesday in federal court in Williamsport, focuses mostly on why prosecutors and police pursued allegations against him that didn’t hold up in court.

Rape, sexual assault and other charges were withdrawn against Scott when a Superior Court judge ruled a jury would hear that his accuser made very similar, but false, allegations against another man four years prior.

While one could reason that Scott (whose production in Happy Valley was disappointing in light of his five star recruit status) had only a slim chance of making it in the NFL in the first place, that doesn’t completely bar rhetoric about what could have been.

The fact that Scott was kicked off the team before he had a chance to defend himself in court is disconcerting, particularly because of the fact that the charges were withdrawn. Yet at the same time, the incident occurred during a string of personal misconduct incidents from members of the football team, and from a PR stance, the University would have had a hard time affording the tailback the benefit of the doubt. All opinions aside, this is a situation in which an individual’s abuse of the legal system caused something that can never be undone – only mitigated by the seeking of damages.