BLACKSBURG, VA (WTKR)- A former Frank Cox football star is set to restart his athletic and academic career after being found not guilty of murder earlier this year.
Isi Etute will enroll at Iowa Western Community College, according to ESPN, and will suit up for the 2022 season. Iowa Western finished with a 10-1 record last year and was ranked as the No. 2 junior college in the country.
Etute was found not guilty in the beating death of Blacksburg resident Jerry Smith. The linebacker found Smith on the dating app Tinder, where Smith portrayed a women to lure college-aged men to his apartment for sex. Etute received oral sex from Smith during their first encounter and returned days later to determine whether Smith was a man or a woman. Upon using his cell phone flashlight to see his face, Etute punched Smith several times and kicked him in the face. A freshman linebacker at Virginia Tech at the time, Etute testified that he saw Smith reach towards his mattress and feared for his life. Police discovered a knife under his mattress.
The former Cox star was found not guilty on May 27 of this year after the jury found his self-defense argument plausible. He entered the transfer portal in June.
