I just want to throw out there that it really isn’t morally questionable or “victim shaming” for Illini fans (or others who somehow “know” TSJ) to have TSJ’s back 100% at this moment. If your brother got charged with this and maintained his innocence, you’d have faith in him until you had reason to doubt him, without necessarily having anything to say about the alleged victim’s character either. And in at least some sense, Shannon is a member of our Illini family.
Obviously, if more damning evidence comes to light, this goes out the window. But fully supporting him now is morally defensible and even more understandable for all of us to do. Doesn’t mean you HAVE to “take his side” at this stage, of course … needless to say, this is a tragic situation and a complicated issue. But there’s a very coherent argument that the “default” is to trust him until more facts come out. And I think at this point that’s where I am.