An incident from the running back’s past has jeopardized the promising sophomore’s future. Smallwood was arrested Monday by the University Police as a fugitive from justice.

The immediate word was that he was wanted for something that happened in Wilmington, Delaware, where Smallwood is from, but details were difficult to collect except to say that it was serious — serious enough to be held in the North Central Regional Jail without bail awaiting extradition.

Late Monday night, Wilmington’s News Journal revealed just how serious it was: Smallwood will be charged for intimidating a witness to a 2012 murder.

On multiple occasions in March and May 2013, Ivey said, Smallwood “called to try to get a witness to come and make a false statement to police recanting previous statements” that implicated Lloyd.

Police did not disclose how Smallwood was identified in the alleged witness tampering attempt or how the matter came to authorities’ attention.

I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but witness intimidation is not a small matter, and Delaware lawmakers proposed strong legislation two months ago to combat it. House Bill 177 was signed into law May 28.

The University Police Department is to comment this morning —  a message has been left already — and Dana Holgorsen, who Monday said he has been briefed on the arrest and would act when appropriate, should probably act soon. He’s been pretty consistent in handing out indefinite suspensions for like matters in the past, and he certainly does not want this following him to the Big 12 media days next week.

UPDATE:

According to WVU PD, Wilmington police and a rep from SAGO arrived in Morgantown Monday, interviewed Smallwood and executed arrest warrant.

— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) July 15, 2014

Before you ask: SAGO is state attorney general office. The extradition paperwork was started yesterday, which means Smallwood is headed back to Delaware soon. At 11:07 a.m., the NCRJ site still classified him as an inmate.