UW football running back arrested, charged on rape allegations

Tylin “Tybo” Rogers, a running back for the University of Washington football team, has been charged in King County Superior Court with the rape of two women.

Rogers, 18, was arrested around 9 a.m. Friday in the 3900 block of Montlake Boulevard, where Husky Stadium is located, the Seattle Police Department said in a blog post. He was released from jail after posting bond.

On Tuesday, he was charged with one count of second-degree rape and one count of third-degree rape.

Rogers missed one game after the rapes are alleged to have happened but then played in both the Sugar Bowl and the national championship game.

A University of Washington spokesperson provided a statement, saying the Intercollegiate Athletics Department is aware of the arrest.

“The student-athlete has been suspended from all team activities until further notice,” UW athletics spokesperson Jeff Bechthold said in the statement. “The UW will continue to gather facts and cooperate with law enforcement, as requested.”

Rogers, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound running back from Bakersfield High School in California, played in 12 games during his freshman season, carrying the ball 44 times for 184 yards.

He also had six catches for 72 yards and made three tackles mainly as a special teams contributor. He enrolled at Washington in time to participate during the 2023 spring practices and quickly rose in the depth chart because of a season-ending injury to tailback Cameron Davis.

Rogers was suspended early in UW’s fall camp for violating team rules, before eventually making his Husky debut against Michigan State on Sept. 16.

He also did not travel with Washington to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 Championship game on Dec. 1.

Prosecutors say the rapes occurred between late October and November of last year. Both women attended universities in the area.

Rogers allegedly raped the first woman after meeting her on the dating app Tinder, prosecutors wrote. Before meeting, the woman told Rogers she did not want to have sex, according to the charges.

The second woman said she met Rogers at a Halloween party last year. Later, after matching on Tinder, the two talked briefly and decided to meet in person, charges say. Rogers raped her during their meetup, prosecutors allege.

Prosecutors say one of the women filed a Title IX complaint against Rogers with the university in late November. The woman also posted on social media about the assault to warn others, police said.

Police investigators believe there’s a connection between the Title IX complaint and Rogers being taken off the active travel roster for the Pac-12 Championship game.

“We’re working through some things, some challenges he had off the field,” Ryan Grubb, then Washington’s offensive coordinator, told Sports Illustrated’s FanNation site Inside the Huskies on Dec. 15. “I can’t comment on what it was exactly, but Tybo’s done a great job with being here, listening to directions and just working through this moment and really being a good steward of the team.”

Rogers went on to play in both of Washington’s College Football Playoff games in January. He had five carries for 19 yards against Texas in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, then added a carry and a catch against Michigan in the CFP championship game.

Grubb, coach Kalen DeBoer and athletic director Troy Dannen, who were all at Washington at the time, are no longer part of the university’s athletic department. DeBoer departed for Alabama on Jan. 12, briefly taking Grubb with him before the offensive coordinator returned to Seattle as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator. Dannen abruptly exited March 20 to take the athletic director job at Nebraska.

Neither Grubb nor DeBoer responded to The Seattle Times’ requests to comment on the case.

“I wasn’t here for that,” new Washington coach Jedd Fisch said after UW’s fourth spring practice on Tuesday. “That had nothing to do with what we do here. As soon as I found out about the allegations, as soon as it was brought to our attention, he’s been suspended indefinitely. I have no comment about what happened in the past. That has nothing to do with me.”

Fisch said he wasn’t aware of Rogers’ previous suspension until recently.