Can a football player be charged with assault?

If the question is seeking to analyze on the field action,
I think as previously asserted, the case has to be really egregious. The closest I could
come up with would be the then- Tennessee Titans player Albert Haynesworth stomping on
opponent Andre Gurode's face.  The incident was so awful and heinous that the Nashville
District Attorney considered pressing assault charges regarding play on the field.  For
the most part, legal authorities have respected the autonomy of league offices
monitoring and policing the conduct of their athletes.  Outside the field might be a
different story.  Indeed, a football player can be charged with assault. There have been
plenty of examples of this.  The most recent I can come up with is something that
transpired in Knoxville, Tennessee with members of the Tennessee Volunteer Football
team.  Involving several members of the team, Sophomore Darren Myles, Jr. was charged
with assaulting a police officer after a late night altercation at a bar.  The immediate
reaction was to dismiss the player from the team, while lawyers for the University
argued that the athletes did not start the altercation that led to their arrests.  In
general, I would say that an athlete has some advantages and disadvantages in cases of
assault or something of such a caliber.  On one hand, they are able to post bail and
enjoy the immediate advantages of legal counsel on behalf of the organization of which
they are a part.  Even the most flagrant cases of assault do not result in an
organization immediately cutting ties with the athlete.  In the case of the Tennessee
Volunteer athlete Darren Myles, he was dismissed from the team only because this was his
second offense in the span of three months.  The disadvantages would be the publicity
generated and that the public is, frankly, becoming fatigued with hearing stories of
their beloved athletes involving themselves with the law in a negative fashion.  The
legal system does not make exceptions in charging football athletes, or any athlete,
with assault when the circumstances warrant and the evidence
merits.