Third University of New Mexico football player suspended

By Joseph Kolb ALBUQUERQUE N.M. (Reuters) - The head football coach at the University of New Mexico has suspended a third team member in as many months after the player was arrested this week on charges of breaking into a former girlfriend's apartment, a school spokesman said on Wednesday. Starting lineman Jamal Price, 21, was charged on Monday with breaking and entering, according to a criminal complaint. He said he was attempting to retrieve personal belongings from the woman's Albuquerque apartment. UNM head football coach Bob Davie announced his indefinite suspension on Tuesday, and said he was disappointed he had to address another legal incident involving his players. "I look at these three incidents and the embarrassment it has caused this program," Davie said. "We need to concentrate on the 102 athletes coming out to our first practice Thursday." Two other players, SaQwan Edwards and Crusoe Gongbay, were arrested in April on suspicion of raping and kidnapping a female UNM student from an off-campus party. Those charges were later dismissed by the district attorney. Frank Mercogliano, director of media relations for the university's athletic department, said Edwards and Gongbay would remain suspended from the team pending the outcome of an investigation by UNM's Office of Equal Opportunity. All three of the suspended players would have been starters on this season's team, team officials said. (Reporting by Joseph Kolb; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Peter Cooney)